The school year is swiftly coming to a close as each week ticks by toward summer. Though it’s been a slow start to spring and we’ve been able to keep our cooking indoors, with Memorial Day weekend about here, we’ll soon be moving most of our cooking outside as we light up our grills. What I find ...
Kitchen Chronicles
Homemade Banana Cream Pie in Less than 15 Minutes
Homemade banana cream pie in less than fifteen minutes? Yes, it’s possible. And I don’t mean the kind you make with instant pudding (though that’s entirely acceptable). I mean the homemade hand whisked vanilla custard and graham cracker crust kind. Sounds completely impossible, or at least ...
Passover Pleasures
A decadent pleasure of Passover is licking sweetened condensed milk right out of the can. Since my macaroon recipe uses only 2/3 of a cup, I’ve got plenty of leftovers for my fingers. Of course, once you add some sweetened coconut to the milky sweet syrup, some mini chocolate chips, a touch of ...
Chopped Contestant (Well Sort of)
Lights, camera, action! I can finally share this remarkably fun experience I had as a contestant in a commercial for the Food Network show Chopped and the food company Hillshire Farm where we re-created what it would be like to be a contestant on the actual show Chopped. I was one of four food ...
Do it Yourself Sea Salted Caramels
I’ve had many firsts but making homemade sea salted caramel is probably my favorite. For starters, salted caramels are at the very top of my culinary list. Though I’m not that particular and am happy with most any chocolate caramel, like with a good wine, I appreciate the subtleties and variations ...
In Response to “The Eavesdropper” by Megan Garber
I’m living like most in the “alone together” world that Sherry Turkle writes about in her new book “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other” and Megan Garber describes in her recent article in the January/February edition of the Atlantic Monthly. I’ve got two ...
Root Vegetable Pot Pie
What's your ideal comfort food? To me, it's something creamy, flavorful, filling and has a crispy component. Hello friends! It's not only soup making season around here but the chilly weather beckons for savory pies. You can either make your own pie dough (and I've got a savory recipe for that) or ...
Hodgepodge Veggie Soup
I wasn’t kidding when I said it was soup making season here at Cooking With Friends and that continued as Jackie and I made two kinds of soup yesterday — a loaded with leeks potato leek soup and a hodgepodge veggie soup. I’ve called the latter of the two a “throw-as-you-go” soup before but ...
Have a "Souper" New Year!
Happy New Year everyone! With temps close to freezing, it’s a pretty cold and shocking way to start of the year! Brrr! There’s no better reason to hunker down and stay inside cooking and baking, especially in the company of friends. And, if there’s ever a need for a soup season, now’s the time! ...
Holiday Heaven and Colorful Chewy Sugar Cookies
With a few inches of freshly fallen snow, the kids had just put in a good hour and a half of sledding before getting to Debbie’s house for some Gingerbread and cookie decorating fun. Debbie, Jackie and I got to work immediately making various holiday cookies to give as gifts to teachers and ...