Recipes

Wheatberries (or wheat berries) are a nutritional powerhouse because of their balance of protein, fiber and carbohydrates.  They also have a great chewy texture, a mild nuttiness and can take on flavors of their surroundings really well.  The gotcha to all of this is that they will take more time to cook than your other grains, […]

Crispy grilled red potatoes, grilled onions and fresh herbs.  These three come together to make a pretty amazing side dish.  But how do you get the potatoes crispy on the outside and not overcook the inside?  The secret is slightly cooking them first in the microwave Whenever I’m cooking a […] Beet Hummus is pretty […]

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe While I’m a huge fan of the big, hearty, chewy grains like barley, farro and wheat berries, I’m not as big of a fan of the long cooking times.  Here’s a very simple recipe for cooking barley that uses a pressure cooker, or an Instant Pot, to cut the cooking […]

Hearty Red Chard From green kale to red kale, from collard greens to beet greens, there is a tremendous assortment of hearty leafy greens in the late season that are perfect for cooking with the flavors of your main dish.  All of these greens sauté quickly and are easy to reheat — making them something you […]

When you’re just getting started with your food blog, getting the content strategy right is essential. And then it’s time to figure out how the content will be discovered. Here I’ll share the basics of Food Blog SEO that are important for Google, and other crawlers, to find your recipes. I say basics, because SEO […]

As a general rule, anything is better when frittered.  And way back, there used to be a Southern restaurant in Chicago that had these amazing deep fried corn fritters.  While I’ve never been able to find anything as close to their recipe, I think these are still pretty delicious Yellow […] There are a couple […]

Most of my traffic related to my pressure cooked ham recipes are clustered around three different times: the Thanksgiving Ham, the Christmas Ham and the Easter Ham. Even if your leftover bone-in ham isn’t related to some sort of religious occasion, you might still be wondering what can be made […] Recently, I received an […]

As I mentioned in my Cooking Tenets, I’ve bought a lot of cookbooks, but have a small number that are my Go-To references on a regular basis.  Many of them have been dogeared, bookmarked and spilled upon many times.  Nearly everything I include here on the blog used one of these books for inspiration or reference. […]

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe If you love the earthy, nutty, salty, umami packed flavor of fresh parmesan, then you’ve surely done your best to grate a chunk of parmesan down to the rind and get every last bit. But what do you do with leftover parmesan rinds? While I’ve heard some people eat them, […]

[Originally published on Jan 31, 2013 – Updated with a new technique and recipe] When it comes to steak, I’m a purist and like to go solo.  Hold the sauces, the grilled onions and the crumbled cheese, please.  Just the big beefy flavor of a properly seared & grilled steak. […] Simple Awesome Cooking uses […]

I love quinoa, and I love salsa, but never had I thought of combining them in the same dish until attending a Chicago media event to preview upcoming menu items at the Corner Bakery.  One of the dishes they served was a quinoa salad made with a corn and black […] Simple Awesome Cooking uses […]

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe [Originally published on Jan 31, 2013 – Updated with a new technique and recipe] When it comes to steak, I’m a purist and like to go solo.  Hold the sauces, the grilled onions and the crumbled cheese, please.  Just the big beefy flavor of a properly seared & grilled steak. […]

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe Have you ever tried to find a breakfast cereal that’s low in added sugars, has ingredients you recognize and also isn’t priced like a precious metal? Yeah, it’s hard. That’s how I came to using soy pulp (the leftover solids from homemade soy milk) to make this amazing Okara Breakfast […]

While I’ve never done a blind tasting, my guess is that 10 out of 10 people would be able to tell the difference between jarred pasta sauce and homemade pasta sauce….and prefer the latter.  So if you’re looking for a recipe for homemade pasta sauce from scratch, keep reading. This is […] Simple Awesome Cooking uses […]