You can start a pretty heated argument with certain people about whether chili should or shouldn’t have beans in it. Our vote is pretty obvious. Sitting down to a bowl of this on a cold winter day just seems right. Double or triple the batch for big parties. Perhaps…
As I mentioned in the beginning of this book, I was fortunate enough while living in Los Angeles to befriend some chefs who are way more talented/knowledgeable than me. Chef Jet Tila is one such person. Jet is the executive chef at the Wynn Encore’s Wazuzu restaurant,…
Ah, butternut squash . . . fall comfort food, or baby food made acceptable for adults? Your choice. However, in the fall when squashes are abundant, this soup is a perfect start off to a dinner party. What I love about this soup is that it’s super easy to tweak the…
This recipe stems from my days working with Melanie and Taji of Simple Gourmet—way before I had ever heard of paleo. I think one summer we must have had close to fifty groups make a variation of this recipe for their culinary team-building events. Regardless of how…
Eating a hearty beef stew when it’s 90 degrees in the shade isn’t really my cup of tea. Summer is typically chock full of salads and things that have little to no heat required—save for grilled items. Shrimp salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, these are all great…
Watermelon combined with the crunch of cucumber makes for a light, almost spa-like side salad, one that’s almost sweet enough to be classified as dessert. This salad is great for your summertime picnics and potluck brunches. It’s a little known fact that Cordele,…
I love tomatoes, and love that Charles and I both take great pride in our tomato crops. So much so that in the summer it became our ritual on Friday nights after work to go and pick fresh tomatoes out of our garden, and we would then go and make a fresh salad with the…
Yes, it is very random that the Caesar salad was reportedly first made in Tijuana, Mexico. Almost as random as the fact that I spent one New Year’s Eve eating really good Chinese food in Tijuana followed by seeing a Beatles cover band. I digress. As the story goes,…
My (Julie’s) sister-in-law, Shada, has a kitchen and cookbook collection I covet. Not to mention that she’s also the one who first introduced me to Donna Hay and the Australian cooking magazine, Delicious. Shada is Australian, but perhaps more like a sibling to me…
Great for picnics and tailgating, chicken salad is a Southern staple. There are a thousand different ways to make this stuff. This recipe is a bit chunkier than most folks are used to. Serve on sliced cucumber or zucchini as an appetizer or spoon into romaine lettuce…
We have two approaches to this wonderful sauce and it all depends on whether or not we are eating it that day. If you can’t wait, serve this simple sauce over spaghetti squash and enjoy. Our other approach with this is to double or triple the batch and can the sauce…
Our canning endeavors always include pickles. My (Charles’) brother Michael grew the most amazing cucumbers a few years ago. We were in Tennessee buying up some of his produce and picked up a batch of the ones labeled “Canning Cukes.” They are great to garnish any…