Brussels Sprouts have been quite the turnaround vegetable the past few years.  Quickly rising from bad childhood memories to the Number 1 side dish on nearly every restaurant menu in America.  In these Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts, I use a two temperature cooking method to get them tender in the […]

Apple Butter was always a real treat growing up.  What I never realized is just how easy it is to make at home.  And ironically, there isn’t any butter involved in the preparation. While thumbing through a popular cooking magazine, I noticed an advertisement for Vitamix blenders that included a […]

Before two kids were in the house, there was a lot more time to plan out and prepare a weeknight dinner.  So finding ways to cook something everyone likes (e.g. pizza), that’s healthy and kid friendly….and can be ready in under 30 minutes is a never-ending quest. Oh, one more […]

There are two great things about day old baguette.  One is croutons.  The other….garlic bread.  It’s stupid easy and will make you wonder why you ever bought something like this pre-made and frozen. For every foot of baguette, you’ll need 2 Tablespoons of butter and 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. […]

As our son worked his way through more and more types of solid foods, macaroni and cheese was inevitable.  It is a pretty simple dish to prepare, after all.  The big stumbling block for me was the whole notion of cheese coming in powder form.  That’s not really cheese.  Not […]

Breakfast is serious business. So there are times, like Saturday mornings, when I don’t mind putting a little extra effort into making some really delicious blueberry pancakes.  Fortunately, they really aren’t that hard to make.  And they are significantly better than anything you’ll get out of a box or shakeable […]

French Toast on its own can be a real treat.  Throw in some bananas, nutella and fresh berries and it goes over the top.  I originally made this for Christmas Day brunch and recently had it requested for Mother’s Day as well.  This is also probably near the top of […]

When I was working in Santa Monica, fish tacos were a staple at lunchtime.  The great thing is that there’s no shortage of places in Southern California, like Sharkee’s, to get some great tacos. While each place has their own preferred fish, these baja tilapia fish tacos are the closest […]

If there’s one thing I love in the morning, it’s a hot breakfast involving eggs, meat, vegetables and a side of fresh fruit.  However, I don’t have that kind of time and really love finding easy breakfast ideas with eggs.  These quinoa egg cups are also sturdy protein breakfast muffins […]

If you spend much time poking around in the food blog world, you may come away thinking that January is National Quinoa Month.  I’ve noticed that, in particular, there are a lot of vegetable quinoa burger recipes popping up. Great idea, I thought.  What I tried to take away from […]