Food Connections

Cioppino, Garlic Rubbed Toasts and a Glass of Wine Tonight I found myself alone unexpectedly. Dilemma dilemma. Call a friend? Go to the movies? Horn in on someone else's plans? Or stay in, enjoying a quiet house, watching something on DVR and eating leftovers? No great options, it seems,...

Chicken Pot Pie The convenience of the rotisserie chicken is unmatched. It alone is a standard item on my Costco grocery list. I rarely use it as is--though many people do-- but love to pick all of the chicken off and turn it...

Lamb with Fresh Figs It's the Costco syndrome. You're familiar with it-- in the midst of picking up lettuce, coffee, and 25 paper towels, you eye something unexpected and grab it. It's how I've ended up with 5 lbs of cherries or 10 lbs...

Cassoulet For our tenth anniversary, Charlie and I traveled in France for 2 weeks. It was a wonderful, memorable trip, during which we sampled foods and dishes in each region that we visited--such things as coq au vin, beef bourguignon, fois...

Friday Nights It's always a dilemma. Friday rolls around and after being on my feet all week cooking, I'm not terribly anxious to go home and cook dinner. It's the same dilemma that my clients often have-- what do I feed my...

Vietnamese Noodle Bowls Here in Denver, we have been enjoying unseasonably warm weather. Though January tends to be quite cold, this year we had weeks that were in the 60's and 70's. Now that it's February, things haven't really changed. I'm on the...

Lasagna Bolognese Football is finally coming to an end. We've been inundated with bowl games and playoffs. It seems to be constant. And all of this football, which so captivates many, leaves others of us cold. I typically find something else to...

Smoked Salmon Frittata & Orange Rolls Christmas morning. It's magical and exciting. And it's delicious. Our tradition on Christmas morning is to shower and then wait and wait for everyone to wake up. Typically, I'm starved by the time they make their way downstairs. Full of...

Shrimp & Sausage Boil The last camping trip of the season must be done in style. Or at least, it must be attempted to be done in style. Our trip up Poudre Canyon (finally!) began inauspiciously, with a campsite finally located in the dark,...

Paella We used to be avid campers. When we got married, we gave each other sleeping bags and a tent, and took the 2nd week of our honeymoon to camp in Aspen Grove, a wonderful little campground in Golden Gate Canyon...

Refrigerator pasta? It was five o'clock, and I was hungry. I had no plan for dinner and wasn't interested in heading off to the grocery store at that point. It was going to have to be a pantry/refrigerator inspired menu! It's good...

Martinis and Apple Pie We've all had them: those evenings when no one is coming home to gather around the table; when the day has been "challenging;" when nothing in particular sounds interesting enough to bother cooking. It's always a dilemma. What to eat?...

Graduation & Soup My oldest daughter Katie graduated from college in December. Although we went out to dinner and toasted with champagne, and capped off the evening with ice cream sundaes, Christmas, New Years and then Jill's birthday all crowded out celebrating with...

Almond Roll It's new year's day and at my house, that means almond roll. This recipe was developed in response to Charles' request when we were newly married for this dish. He had grown up eating it, though his mother didn't really...

Huevos, Tacos, and Cabo We love to travel. We love to explore new places, try new foods, meet new people and immerse ourselves in new cultures. And we tend to overdo it all. When we travel, we hit the ground running and rarely let...

Butternut Squash Soup It's another spectacular day in November. It's hard to remember that this is historically one of our snowiest months when it's 70 degrees out right now. By this time of year, I'm usually a little bitter about the weather, because...

The Joys of Fall I'm in heaven. It's fall and I'm in heaven. I wait all year for September and October to finally arrive. I tolerate winter and summer. Spring brings longed for produce and flowers, which I love. But autumn is quite simply...

Grilled Pizza I returned home after cooking at a client's on Monday, sat down at my computer to check email and to try to come up with a plan for dinner. Dinner is often a challenge after spending 3 or 4 hours...

Playing Top Chef It was Tuesday afternoon, and time to think about dinner. Actually, I'd been thinking about dinner all day. There had been a menu forming in my head since remembering that I had a couple of large, meaty portobello mushrooms sitting...

Arugula For our 10th wedding anniversary, my husband Charles & I went to France. It was the beginning of a love affair with that country, where we return when we can, particularly to Paris, and dream of in between. While there,...

Cedar-Plank Salmon It is blistering hot here in Denver. It is barely summer and we have already tallied 12 days of above-90 temperatures. And yet, it IS summer, which means ripening cherries on the cherry tree, fresh rhubarb, herbs in abundance &...

Craving Cioppino What do you crave? No, I don't mean things like chocolate or potato chips. What meals do you sit and think about and long for? What dishes propel you to the grocery store for ingredients or to a favorite restaurant...

Melting!! The snow is melting. Finally. After 6 straight weekends dominated by snowstorms, coupled with sub-zero temperatures, we are thawing. The sun has been shining warmly all day. It was 52 when I finally got outside to walk on almost dry...

It snows and snows! We have a couple of feet of snow in our yard and our street is a 4-wheeling road, at this point. This is not normal. Denver is famous for it's sunshine, NOT for snow. All that sunshine has mostly meant...

Christmas Eve It's Christmas Eve. The girls have on Elf, and I'm working a puzzle, both Christmas-time traditions at our house. And there's a light snow falling outside. It's lovely. On this day, we have other long-standing traditions: reading The Best Christmas...

Christmas Goodies The party frenzy has ended. The shopping is (mostly) done. And it is time to make my way to my own kitchen. It's not that I haven't been busy in it already. On the edge of the counter, there already...

Thanks Giving I love this holiday. It may be the only major holiday that hasn't been deformed by retailers. As it was at it's inception, it is still a time of celebrating God's provision and bounty, of enjoying family and friends, and...

Picnic on Mt. Herman Labor Day. A day off from laboring. The unofficial end of summer. And our unofficial start of hiking season. As a fair-weather hiker, during July and August, I stay inside mid-day, not to avoid ugly weather, but to avoid the...

For the Mom Who Has Everything For the last couple of summers, I have been a birthday present. No, I haven't jumped out of a cake, sporting a big red ribbon around my neck. Instead, a family of grown children gave their mother a series of...

Basil, Oregano, Marjoram, Chives & Tomatoes Ah, the love/hate relationship that I have with July! The earth is cracked from lack of moisture and the air is brittle with heat and ozone. I can barely keep up with my family's demand for ice and ice cream....