A big, delicious bowl of healthy: Turkish Style Red Lentil Soup with Chard

Sweet Hungarian paprika, garlic, cayenne pepper, sumac, diced tomatoes with green chilies and just a bit of lamb make Turkish Style Red Lentil Soup with Chard a lively, healthy, robust meal in a bowl. Recipe below.

As the weather has been turning cooler, Marion has been messing around with lentils in the kitchen, trying a dazzling array of recipes. I’ll let her tell you about her most recent delicious results.

We mostly try to eat fairly sensibly. But on occasion, we don’t (and when we don’t, it’s usually pretty wonderful). When we have had a shockingly sumptuous meal, I often say for the rest of the week all I am going to eat is one lentil.

Not that eating lentils is suffering. Really, I can’t say enough about how good and important they are. Lentils are not only so, so delicious, but so, so healthy. Continue reading “A big, delicious bowl of healthy: Turkish Style Red Lentil Soup with Chard”

Breakfast for dinner grows up: Savory Waffles with Mushrooms and Braised Veal

Savory waffles, flavored with fresh thyme and buckwheat flour, are topped with a mushroom and braised veal sauce. Recipe below.

Lots of people love eating breakfast for dinner. To me, though, it’s often been more of a meal of last resort. What you eat when you haven’t gotten to the store for more serious groceries, but hey, you’ve got eggs, and the bread is fresh enough if you toast it.

But recently, I stumbled across the idea of savory waffles—can’t remember where now—and breakfast for dinner suddenly became more interesting. For starters, you’ve got waffles, elegant city cousins of the country pancake. They even require their own machine to make—no mere cast iron skillet will do. Whenever my mom hauled out the waffle iron (always on a weekend morning, and certainly never for dinner), breakfast just felt fancier, more fun. Continue reading “Breakfast for dinner grows up: Savory Waffles with Mushrooms and Braised Veal”

Fighting breast cancer with food

Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s food and beverage partners are the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

My mother died of breast cancer, but not before surviving it for 18 years. Every October, when National Breast Cancer Awareness Month rolls around, I think of her brave fight and how she managed to carve out more years for herself—and for us—than anyone thought possible. I think of my wife and daughters too, and of our women friends.

For that matter, I think of women I don’t know and will never meet. Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer death among women, second only to lung cancer. This year alone, more than 200,000 women in America will be diagnosed with breast cancer. More than 40,000 women will die from it. A number of organizations are leading the fight against this deadly disease, and food is playing a part. Continue reading “Fighting breast cancer with food”

Sauce Vierge: A no-cook sauce livens up steak, fish, chicken, chops…

Sauce vierge, an uncooked French sauce, combines tomato, basil, garlic, shallots, capers and Dijon mustard to liven up steaks, fish, chops and more. Here, it’s served over pan grilled strip steak. Recipes below.

Honestly, if you ask me what I like to put on my steaks, my usual answer is salt, pepper, a knife, a fork and my teeth. I’ve never been a bottled steak sauce kind of guy. And the first time I ordered steak at Tango Sur, an Argentine restaurant in Chicago, I ignored the side of chimichurri sauce for the first several bites. (It was delicious, of course, when I finally sampled it.) I have since made my own version of the big flavored, garlicky, slightly spicy chimichurri sauce many times. Continue reading “Sauce Vierge: A no-cook sauce livens up steak, fish, chicken, chops…”

Small Bites: A charming little shop in Chicago and a giant food festival in Cancun

P.O.S.H., one of my go-to spots for cool kitchen stuff, is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post. And the first annual Cancun – Riviera Maya Wine & Food Festival plans to change the way you think about Mexican cuisine.

Open the kitchen cabinets of any food blogger and chances are you’ll find stacks of mismatched china. We’re always on the hunt for interesting individual plates, bowls, platters and other props for our food photography. Flea markets, thrift stores and even IKEA are all prime hunting grounds. One place where I reliably have good luck is P.O.S.H., an artful jumble of restaurant china, hotel silver and vintage finds from European flea markets in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Continue reading “Small Bites: A charming little shop in Chicago and a giant food festival in Cancun”

Inspired by Columbus: Braised Pork Chops, Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Swiss Chard

A trip to food-obsessed Columbus, Ohio inspires this autumnal combination of Braised Pork Chops with Sage, Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Sautéed Swiss Chard with Garlic. Recipes below.

I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten so much in such a short time span as I did on a recent press trip to Columbus, Ohio. One afternoon, I called Marion from the hotel, where we’d been delivered to briefly rest and attempt to digest the day’s many delicious meals and snacks. I told her, “I’m full as a tick, and in an hour, they’re taking us to dinner!” Continue reading “Inspired by Columbus: Braised Pork Chops, Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Swiss Chard”

Celebrating the multi-cultural flavors of National Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates many countries and many cultures. I explore the culinary contributions of chefs from those different backgrounds in my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

It seems every day, week or month on the calendar is designated as National (insert topic here) Day/Week/Month. But few are as delicious to celebrate as National Hispanic Heritage Month. Spanning two months, from September 15 through October 15, it recognizes the histories, cultures and contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Hispanics are the fastest growing segment of the US population; since 2000, our Hispanic population has grown by 43%. And lucky for us, they brought their cooking pots with them. Continue reading “Celebrating the multi-cultural flavors of National Hispanic Heritage Month”