I have a kid. That means that every recipe I make either comes with a helper (known as the Tiny Kitchen Assistant) or his alter ego, Captain Distracto, who wants me to play baseball or Legos or do anything other than cook as dinnertime approaches.
Most of the meals are kid-friendly and easy enough to make in 30-45 minutes on a weeknight. The rare, time-consuming “weekend recipes” will be noted accordingly. Believe me, if I can make dinner six nights a week, you can, too.
Where do my recipes come from? Many are things that I’ve made for ages. Some are modifications of a single recipe; I link to or reference the original recipe wherever possible. Others are a strange hybrid of recipes that I find online; if I want to find a good stew recipe, for example, I’ll look at half a dozen and pick and choose the elements and techniques that work best for us.
Ready to cook?
Recent Recipes
Try Something New: The $5 Challenge
A few weeks ago, Jim of Muddy Dog Coffee posted a link on my Facebook page: the $5 Challenge from Slow Food USA. The idea was to create a home cooked meal for less than $5 per person, the average price of a fast food value meal, to dispel the myth that ordinary people can’t […] Read More
Try Something New: Roast Bison
We would go to Betty’s for dinner every Sunday night. The meal was always the same: roast beef. Every. Single. Week. A few weeks ago, I was chatting with my friendly local butcher about the general absence of bison. He explained that it didn’t typically sell well, but that he’d give it another go and […] Read More
Polenta with Roasted Vegetables
Polenta is an excellent base for all kinds of foods, but particularly rich, savory flavors. I’ve paired it with short ribs and beef stews, but it wasn’t until I faced a glut of soon-to-be-expiring farmer’s market veggies in my crisper drawer that it occurred to me to roast them and serve over a base of […] Read More
How to Cook: Polenta
Good grief, people! How have I managed to go so long without sharing how to make polenta? Really, it’s inexcusable. I know you’ve probably been buying that polenta-in-a-tube at the store. I’ve stood in line behind many people who’ve purchased the polenta log. “Making it at home takes so much time,” they tell me. “You […] Read More
Pineapple Curry
Back in April, I was in DC for a conference and got the chance to go out for an excellent Thai dinner with the ever-cool Dr. KC and the cutest little baby in the entire DC metro area. I scanned the menu and quickly spotted something that sounded uniquely wonderful: pineapple curry. Yum! As it turned […] Read More
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