Notice I said ‘fewer tears’ rather than ‘no tears.’ The truth is that there is no practical way to completely eliminate eye irritation when you chop onions. But there are things you can do to drastically reduce it. I chop onions several times a week in my kitchen and I can only think of one time in the last couple of months that my eyes were affected enough to cause tears. It’s not that I am one of those people who seem to be immune to the onion’s noxious fumes. I used to cry just about every time I cut an onion. What changed? I started using a sharp knife and I learned the quickest most efficient way to chop an onion. Continue reading →

Good Intentions. I’m full of them! There are so many tips, tricks and recipes that I’ve been meaning to share with you. So many photos that have been sitting patiently on my hard drive, waiting to be paired with recipes, with stories, or at the very least a few words of explanation. So many recipes that have been written, tested, and tasted that are just waiting for that perfect photo.

I never write what I plan on writing when I plan on writing it. It just doesn’t work that way. I don’t work that way. I can tell myself that I want to share my mom’s Potato Leek Soup recipe, I can take photos of it, I can even begin to write about it. But it just won’t be posted until it’s ready to be posted! I really can’t even explain how my process works. Some days I just feel like writing about certain things. Continue reading →

Canned biscuits caused our ruination!

That was the subject of an e-mail I received after my last biscuit post. Who knew biscuits could stir such passion! Apparently, when canned biscuits made their debut, many women quit making them from scratch, even in the southern states.

Even in Tennessee where I’m from, when canned biscuits came out, women quit making homemade ones except for my grandmother who is 90 years old and still going strong. We live in Texas now and it amazes me how many people have never had a great homemade biscuit.

Carmen, the reader who sent the e-mail, went on to explain to me some of the real secrets of making great homemade biscuits and I am now forever in her debt! Continue reading →

If oranges are citrus symbol of winter, bright and sunny lemons are what we reach for during the summer! In Sicily, lemons star in refreshing summer treats such as lemon granita, sorbetto, and gelato, and who in the United States can imagine a summer without fresh-squeezed lemonade, or a cool glass of iced tea accompanied by slices of lemon? Continue reading →

For this week’s WHB entry, I finally tried a recipe that I’ve had my eye on for weeks. Aloo Paratha from Veggie Cookbook. Aloo Paratha is an Indian flat bread that is stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes. Aloo=potato Paratha=a type of flatbread. I’ve never attempted any type of Indian bread. I’ve read about lots of different types of breads: roti, chapati, paratha, naan. I’ve even found and watched videos online of how some of them are made. I just hadn’t tried any on my own. Sometimes I feel a little intimidated trying something brand new, especially when I have never seen or tasted something similar. But the great thing about food blogs is that not only will you often find step-by-step photos to help you along, you can usually e-mail the author with any questions or concerns you have about the recipe. How many times have you been looking through a cookbook or magazine, seen a great recipe or photo but then realize that the instructions are somewhat confusing. Haven’t you ever wished that you could just call up the cookbook author and ask for clarification? Well, thanks to the internet, you can often do just that. Continue reading →

Just found an interesting tip over at Kalofagas – In Pursuit of Delicious Foods. Roast a big batch of peppers during the summer and freeze them for year-round use! Visit Kalofagas for instructions and while you’re there, check out Peter’s recipe for Htipiti dip – a Greek roasted red pepper dip.

It’s that time of year when many families with children find that their baskets and refrigerators runneth over with hard-boiled eggs. What to do with them all?! My favorite solution to the problem has always been deviled eggs, but today I am going to share with you my second favorite. Egg Salad Sandwiches! I love egg salad and as far as I’m concerned, the simpler the recipe, the better. Some things in life are not meant to be fooled around with and I believe that egg salad is one of those things. So, you will find nothing fancy in my egg salad and I’m pretty sure you’ll like it that way too! I learned to make it this way from my mother-in-law Sharon, who makes the most amazing egg salad but curiously, won’t eat it herself. Continue reading →