Recipe: Summer Spanish Tapas 3-Ways How to Eat at a Tapas Bar Once merely intended to shield glasses of wine from fruit flies, tapas have expanded into substantial snacks, easily turned into meals. My husband and I toured Barcelona in June, and tapas taverns were our...

  Lime-Basil Shrimp & California Avocado Lettuce Wraps Grocery shopping at the beginning of each season puts an extra spring in my step, the newly available produce lifting me out of my food rut and propelling me eagerly back into the kitchen. Summer’s bounty adds...

The contents of my fridge inspired this lunchtime recipe, but ingredients are easily interchangeable with whatever you have on hand. My version incorporates five different food groups, providing a balanced meal in itself. This salad tastes even better the next day as the flavors marry, so make a...

Markets are now brimming with crates of juicy watermelon, so it is tempting to grab an entire melon, and in the spirit of summer, throw caution to the wind about what you will actually do with it all. Sure, you can slice it for...

What to make with canned tuna, besides a classic tuna salad? This salad works well for cookouts, camping, and keeping a cool kitchen. The recipe is from my husband Steve’s mom adapted by him to make it healthier, with a few of my own touches thrown in....

Except for a few sometimes used in egg dishes, vegetables aren’t common in the typical American breakfast. With purple blackberries obscuring the green hue of the spinach, even vegetable haters won’t notice that this smoothie offers one full serving of vegetables. Get your blackberries while you can, since...

A snack that really pops How To Make Popcorn on the Stovetop There is a time and place for microwave popcorn. Like when your 3-year old is begging for it while you’re in the midst of drilling through your crammed to-do list, or when you’re desperately...

The first “serious” cookbook I ever bought was Sauces by James Peterson, a James Beard Cookbook of the Year. I was enrolled in the culinary basics boot camp in culinary school at the time, and was following the recommendation of the class instructor. Nine years later, I couldn’t...

Often new acquaintances ask me, “Well, what do you cook for dinner?” On one particular occasion, I nonchalantly mentioned that I might cook salmon, corn and asparagus on the grill. Et voila. Dinner is served. Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads, “You...

 Healthier restaurant saladOne of the biggest reasons we get into trouble when eating out are the larger than life portion sizes. Even if the ingredients in the dish are healthy, the menu item can contain twice as much energy (calories) as our body needs,...