One of my favorite items from May’s Chicago Food Swap were Swedish Cinnamon Buns by veteran swapper Rachel. These yeasty sweet buns sprinkled with pearl sugar disappeared all too quickly the day after the swap, leaving me with nothing but crumbs and a burning desire to bake some more. If the mention [...]

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Middle Eastern-inspired stuffed peppers with lamb, rice and dried fruit.

I suppose there is no need to mention (again) that my husband is not as adventurous an eater as I am. As a result of to his aversion to seafood and his avoidance of pork, I have a fairly limited universe of meats to [...]

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Dora had some of the hottest food swap offerings with home-cured gravlax and dill labneh cheese.

Sunday May 12 was not just Mother’s Day; it was the latest meeting of the Chicago Food Swap! Our host for this Mother of all Food Swaps (ha!) was The Scrumptious Pantry, a company that produces heirloom pantry [...]

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Perfectly smooth potato from the OXO Adjustable Potato Ricer.

Later this month, I am going to Philadelphia to attend a conference for food bloggers entitled Eat, Write Retreat. I am looking forward to an intense weekend of speakers, demonstrations, great meals and making connections with others in my field. I know that I will [...]

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A savory bread pudding makes a fabulous brunch dish or vegetarian dinner.

When everyone else is going out to eat is my favorite time to stay home. Who needs the crowds, the stressed-out waitstaff or the “special” menu, where special is just a euphemism for “overpriced?” That’s why you won’t see me eating out [...]

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A healthy and yummy breakfast cookies with no nuts or peanuts? Yes please!

After I spent all last week wanting to eat my Glazed Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies for breakfast, it occurred to me: why not eat cookies for breakfast? I brought up the idea of a breakfast cookie to my friend Chef Druck, who [...]

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Festive, heart-shaped shower desserts.

Twenty-seven years ago, a family moved into the house across the street from mine. This family had two little girls, ages three years and six months. I was thirteen at the time and could just see the babysitting money in my future. I did indeed end up babysitting for the [...]

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Fluffy rolled oats from Hazzard Free Farm

Back in March when I attended the Good Food Festival, I met some folks from Hazzard Free Farm, a Certified Naturally Grown farm near Rockford, Illinois. Hazzard Free Farm grows heirloom grains, like blue and red cornmeal, barley, wheat and oats, and sells them to many of [...]

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This past weekend I attended a lecture by best-selling author Michael Pollan at nearby Elmhurst College. Pollan, a science journalist, is best known for his writing about food and agriculture, including the books The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which is about how our food is raised, and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, which is about [...]

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Homemade ricotta from the new cookbook Homemade with Love by Jennifer Perillo.

Many of my food and mom blogger friends are raving about the new cookbook Homemade with Love by Jennifer Perillo. Perillo is a professional food writer based in Brooklyn, author of the popular food blog In Jennie’s Kitchen, and mom to two [...]

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