As I mentioned recently, we’ve had quite the zucchini bounty this year. When we got back from some time out of town and I went to check the garden, I found a real-life zucchini version of James and the Giant Peach. Seriously, a kid and some bugs could …

I like to to say I’m a California girl born and bred, but when I hit the tender age of seventeen I was ready for anything but. I wanted away from brown hills and palm trees, dry desert air and eternal sunshine. So when I graduated from high school, I lost no time in packing up my life and heading for college in New England.

New England was a revelation – the summers were a deeper green than I have ever seen, shading through a multicolored fall into a grey and black and sometimes white winter. I dove into the culture, donning peacoats and woolen scarves, going apple picking and clam digging. I picked leaves in the fall and lilacs in the spring. And even now my years in Connecticut have changed me, making people who are die hard Easterners think I must be one too.

For more on my California Girl tendencies and a recipe for tacos, clock on the post title above.

My daughter loves the show Good Eats, because the show’s theatricality and knowledgeable host Alton Brown makes food science fun.One night Alton was doing a show on peaches and made individual upside down peach cakes. The little delights were calling o…

My daughter loves the show Good Eats, because the show’s theatricality and knowledgeable host Alton Brown makes food science fun.One night Alton was doing a show on peaches and made individual upside down peach cakes. The little delights were calling o…

When CK and I were first dating he lived in Westborough which was just a short jaunt to the Cold Stone Creamery on route 9. When you’re thin and in brand new love it’s easy to forget that one day four years later all of those trips to Cold Stone C…

One of my favorite recipes on this site is our beef stroganoff made with strips of top sirloin that have been fried in butter. In the recipe several commenters offered their takes on the dish, including making it with ground beef instead of top sirloin strips. The main advantage of ground beef is clearly budget, and if worked properly you can also have wonderful flavor. First, get ground chuck. Chuck is the shoulder cut of beef, the shoulder muscles being well worked from the grazing action of the steer. More muscle action equals more flavor, and a tougher cut of meat. Chuck is notoriously tough as a steak (ask my father who used to try to cook chuck steaks in his poor bachelor days), but one of the most flavorful parts of the animal. Grinding the meat tenderizes it, but the flavor is still there. Second, take the time to properly brown the meat. In other words, don’t stir it! Just let it cook, on relatively high heat, until well browned, before giving it a stir. The browning is what gives you the flavor. Use the cooking of the onions and mushrooms to scrape up any of the browned bits, and deglaze the pan to get the rest. It’s also important to salt while you cook. If you get to the end of this recipe and it’s dull, it’s because you haven’t salted it enough. Experiment with the spices if you want. A little ground nutmeg can give it a lift, as well as tarragon.

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Summer’s Seductress | TheKitchenSinkRecipes.com.

lobster rolls | smitten kitchen.

I’m starting to feel the slightest chill of fall in the air right about this time of year. Granted, I know that some of you have already experienced some early snowfalls, but it’s still fall in my mind. Fall is the start of comfort food season and…

It’s Condiment Week on Panini Happy!
There’s nothing like bright, flavorful condiments to kick up panini, so I thought I’d step away from the grill this week and focus on these often unsung treats. I’ll be making three different ones this week…