One ‘American’ dish my mother made for us growing up was beef stew. I’m not even sure when she picked up the recipe for it or why it became a winter dish in our home, but I remember coming home from school and finding a large pot of it on the stove.
Once the cold weather rolls in, I always make beef stew served on top of some buttery noodles or even on its own. It's the ultimate stick to your ribs, warm you up kind of food and, best of all, it’s a ‘one pot wonder.’
Read MoreKids love muffins. Why? Because let’s face it, muffins are just cupcakes without the frosting. After a recent 'eat this and stop bugging your brother' muffin impulse purchase, I decided this Friday needed to be dedicated to the glorious muffin. I developed a recipe that has all the bakery goodness and some dried cherries too just to make them interesting. I figure, if a muffin can keep your child well behaved and obedient on the weekly grocery store run, they might just be full of magic powers.
Read MoreWhen I’m assembling my cookie tins for Christmas, I like to make a number of different cookies. So, when you open up the tin, there is a little something for everyone. I always include mini chocolate chip cookies, biscotti and tricolors. For a peanut butter lover, I make these peanut butter sandwich cookies from Tom Colicchio’s sandwich chain ‘wichcraft. These taste like the cookies peddled by your local Girl Scout troop but so much better.
Read MoreGrab a bottle of nice wine, put the kids to bed; it’s time for the annual run of holiday parties. I love going to holiday parties. Its great to see friends, have a few laughs and toast the upcoming year. My cocktail party stand by is Brie En Croute. That’s a super fancy way to say wheel of brie covered in puff pastry. I also cut mine in half, fill it with brown sugar, dried fruit and nuts. Trust me, make this baby and it will disappear before you can say, “God, that’s an ugly sweater!”
Read MoreBy the time mid December rolls around, I’m already knee deep in Christmas cookie making. My kids love making cookies for their teachers, bus driver, friends and family. We package them up in pretty tins and everyone is always appreciative to get a huge variety of all the holiday classics.
My cookie tins are really varied - sugar cookies, chocolate chips, gingersnaps, rainbow cookies, biscotti and struffoli. Every year my children love to make some candy for the tin and for sure, the chocolates are the first ones to go.
Read MoreFor Christmas, there are a host of foods I make as an Italian and also as a Catholic that represent and honor our traditions of celebration. For Chanukah, Jewish people serve a number of dishes. One very popular side dish is potato latkes. My amazingly talented website designer, Jen was generous enough to offer up her mom JoAnn as a great resource. JoAnn was a caterer for many years on Long Island. A true entrepreneur, she started a baking business with her friend and grew a full scale catering company from her home kitchen. As JoAnn explained, Chanukah is a time to honor the oil that burned for eight days. So, traditionally, Jewish people will serve foods cooked in oil. Potato latkes are a small cake of potato and onion fried in oil and served with sour cream and apple sauce. Since I have never met a potato I didn’t like, I knew I was in for a treat.
Read MoreThanksgiving is over. You’ve eaten way too much pie and really shouldn’t have reached for that third helping of mashed potatoes. But, no reason to look back and fret. Today is a new day and you have a little less than a month to Christmas to be a good boy or girl.
Whipping up an easy detox meal is a cinch! Use the odds and ends hanging out in the fridge after the holiday and whip up a simple quinoa salad. It acts as the perfect base for veggies, meat or even a fried egg for breakfast.
Read MoreI have a severe weakness for bagels. I don’t eat them often but when I do, it needs to be worth the carb/calorie overload they are criminally known for. Making them at home gives you the bakery fresh taste and they are so good, you don’t even need to toast them. I make my own spice blend and I also add some to the dough so even the dough has a nice garlic and onion flavor. If you just like them plain, omit the spices. If you’re a cinnamon raisin fan, add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the dough and a handful of raisins. Yummy!
So, here’s my post Thanksgiving suggestion...get up early and make some homemade bagels. You can feed all those hungry stragglers that ended up staying the night and sleeping in until noon. Pull some leftover turkey from the fridge, mix up some spicy mayo and have the best bagel sandwich in the whole wide world.
Read MoreFor dessert, our family tradition, is to make a number of different pies. Everyone has his or her favorite so I like to make at least one per person. So, you have YOUR pie to grab a few slices from and then you can share with your neighbor.
Each year, my husband always asks for the same pie. Chocolate Pecan Pie. it’s the easiest pie you will ever make. Pie crust, toss in the nuts, toss in the chocolate, toss in the egg mixture and bake for 50 minutes. Easy Peasy!
Read MoreRice Krispie treats have been around since I was a kid. I remember quite vividly, in the early 90s, when Kellogg’s started marketing them through TV commercials and then printing the recipe on the box. I also remember telling my mother about it and making them with her. Even she liked them!
So, at least once or twice a year, my girls and I will grab some marshmallows and cereal and whip up a batch. This year, my daughter Veronica is taking a baking class and came home with a cute variation for Halloween, little rice krispie pumpkins. We decided to make them for her school party today so she ‘taught’ me how to make them.
Read MoreWhen I was in college, I had a serious weakness for the Sour Cream Walnut Apple Pie made by The Little Pie Company. They came in mini pie tins and I could eat an entire one by myself - hello, freshman fifteen! I wanted to develop a cookie recipe that showcased the strudel topping AND the sour cream flavor because the combination is just heavenly. Here is my spin on combining cookies with the best pies you can get in NYC.
Read MoreTGIF! The almighty weekend is coming and its time to make something sweet. Why? Because I said so.
This week, I decided to make some baked donuts. I know, it kind of sounds like an oxymoron because the main reason donuts taste so good is that crispy outside coupled with a fluffy inside achieved by a quick bath in a deep fryer. However, I wanted to see if the baked variety could stand up to its deep fried brother.
Read MoreI love chocolate chip cookies. I’m not really into cake or ice cream, I’m a cookie person. So, when I get a hankering for something sweet I make chocolate chip cookies. I think the most important component of the chocolate chip cookies is really, good quality chocolate chunks (sorry Nestle). What I want is big globs of melted chocolate pieces held together by a little bit of dough.
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