I’d love to cook with my daughter. I really would. But the two of us just can’t seem to figure it out. Maybe I’m just too much of a control freak in the kitchen… or maybe she’s just a two-year-old. It’s hard to say. Regardless, I keep trying. We have found one thing that does...

We all need a drink now and then… especially us parents. But maybe you’re not a drinker. Maybe you’re pregnant, or maybe you just want to cut down on your alcohol intake. That’s no reason not to enjoy a fun, spring-y drink! Read on for some mocktail inspiration that will keep the...

When things are going as planned at home, I cook five or six nights per week (all bets are off during baseball season!). Because I’m cooking a good 300 nights a year, roughly, I am always looking for inspiration in the kitchen, particularly in the form of that one dish that every family...

Lucinda Hutson, well-known to Austinites for her delightful cookbook, “The Herb Garden Cookbook“, her purple house in the Rosedale neighborhood, and her reputation as a local bon vivant. She has a new cookbook , called “Viva Tequila”, due out from UT Press in May). Not...

**This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered! Any mama knows it’s hard to get a healthy and delicious meal on the table every night. Some days, the stars line up, your kiddos are self-entertaining (or your partner arrives home early), and the magic happens, but most days —...

As any parent knows, snacks are key. If you don’t have a good snack on hand when your kiddo’s tummy starts rumbling, you’re out of luck. If you’re out and about, prepare for a meltdown; if you’re at home, you might end up plying them with processed convenience foods, just because...

From the title, you might assume that this post is about fried tofu, but it’s actually about the pan I use to fry my tofu. You see, before last week, I had never, ever successfully fried tofu before. I had tried many times, with advice from friends and instructions from many a food blog,...

Valentine’s Day is coming! For many couples, Valentine’s Day means a romantic dinner out, or even a whirlwind getaway. Ah, young love. If you have children at home, though, that might not be quite the plan. Not everyone can (or wants to) spring for a babysitter and a five-course meal...

I have a lot of friends who are quite into canning. In fact, a couple of them make their living preserving and canning food, of which I am deeply in awe. I have had good intentions of putting up seasonal fruit in the past — several pounds of blackberries I picked last spring are still in...

Never look a gift horse in the mouth. But what about a gift pig? For Christmas, a relative (who shall remain unnamed) gave us a full-size Virginia ham. That’s 18 pounds of pigginess, all cured in salt (but not cooked) and wrapped up in a cloth bag. And for the uninitiated, which we...

You know how I usually cook dinner? With a toddler strapped to my leg, yelling “MOMMY, PICK UP-EE!” while I limp around trying not to spill boiling liquids on her. Although my offspring is generally a pretty good self-entertainer (for a 2-year-old, anyway), my attempts to keep her...

There is something about the holidays that brings out this desire in me to embark upon a group cooking project. Maybe it’s having grown up in Austin and nibbling on tamales during the holidays or cooking with my Greek father, who hails from a culture in which food is a communal, shared...