Buttermilk Biscuits – How to Make Them Super Flakey

There's really never a bad time to enjoy a biscuit, especially when it's on a holiday like Easter.  I have always been a huge fan of southern foods like fried okra, corn pudding, hush puppies and of course biscuits.

The best biscuits are the ones that have tons of flakes, but there are a few tricks to the flakes - for one thing you need cold butter, cold flour, cold everything until the minute the go in the oven!  Want to know the other tricks?  Keep reading!

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Easy & Authentic Marinara Sauce

I'm really hoping the title explains it all, but if you need more explanation, then here it is.  Marinara sauce that tastes authentic, light, flavorful, and using just 5 ingredients.

If there's one recipe everyone should know by the time they're 30, it's how to make your own sauce.  Store bought jars of sauce are full of sugar, and the ones that aren't are super expensive.

Of course it's good to always have a jar on hand for when time gets tight, but once you learn how to make this easy marinara, you may never buy store bought jarred sauce again.  Marinara sauce is great stored in the freezer too, so you can always make big batches to freeze for later meals.

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Vegetable Fried Rice

Fried rice is one of my go-to dinner ideas when I really have no energy to cook but want something satisfying and healthy.  Someone once asked me after a cooking class, "So what will you be making for dinner tonight?" and since I had just done a three hour cooking class, I knew my answer would be something simple, so I told her I was planning to make fried rice.

Her response was something along the lines of thinking it sounded too complicated and needed too many ingredients, which might be the case for others too.

So I am here to tell you that yes!, you can make fried rice easily, in about 15 minutes, with few ingredients and a few tricks to speed up the process.

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Prosciutto Wrapped Cod with Lemon Rosemary Sauce

Salty prosciutto, flakey wild-caught cod, fresh lemon juice and fresh rosemary sprigs come together to make this Prosciutto Wrapped Cod an absolutely irresistible and easy dish to make.  If you're bored with the usual baked fish with breadcrumbs and butter recipe (like me), this is just what you need!

I'm always seeing things wrapped in bacon, which is quite similar to prosciutto - call it the bacon of Italy? - yet it doesn't leave you feeling like you just ate a pound of bacon grease.   Continue reading

Lightened Up Chicken Piccata

So many recipes out there for Chicken Piccata call for close to a full stick of butter!  And while that does make the flavors of the sauce richer, it's certainly not making my FitBit food log very happy...

In this Lightened Up Chicken Piccata, we still incorporate butter, but just a little bit, like 2 TBS worth, and that's it!  The richness and flavors are still deliciously lemony and perfect, but without the extra calories from all that butter.

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Crispy Cajun Fish Sticks

Those nights of eating fish sticks heated up by the babysitter when I was little are all coming back to me.  Fish sticks just became adult food.  

Frying these up in my kitchen while snow and ice encrust every possible surface outside, and smelling the warm aromas of cajun seasoning and cornmeal sizzling in a hot pan, made me downright nostalgic for the south.

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Buttery Rock Lobster

One evening while we were in Costa Rica, one of the locals stopped by the house on his bicycle lugging a big cooler on the back full of freshly caught rock lobsters.  One kilo was $12 and you just can't say no to that.

The thought of devouring freshly caught lobster sounded so good to me, and what easier way to cook it than with loads of garlic and butter?

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Costa Rican Gallo Pinto

Gallo pinto is considered a Costa Rican breakfast staple, which is partly why I categorized this as breakfast, but gallo pinto can be enjoyed at any time of day!

It is a traditional dish meaning "spotted rooster" because the dish looks like, you guessed it, a spotted rooster.  

There are two rules I have learned about real, authentic gallo pinto.  One, you should always use day-old cooked white rice, and two, you HAVE to use traditional Lizano sauce.  It's the only way.

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