Obligatory old school photo of mom, Sharon, and me. I don’t care what my future children look like so long as they have Sharon’s legs.  Please pardon our delay in announcing a winner. Maggy’s been on vacation and I’ve been in FL helping my parents move from their home of 35 years to a retirement

Pardon our delay in announcing a winner. Maggy’s been on vacation, and I’ve been helping my parents move to a retirement facility from their home of 35 years. Our winner is Yvonne D. Congrats! Last Friday I was invited to visit Redwood Hill Farm, a family-owned and operated goat farm in Western Sonoma County, California.

UPDATE: Our tagine winner is Erica who said if she won she’d invite her inlaws… “maybe this will win them over..;). ” With your personality  we’re certain you’ve already impressed them, Erica, but we’d love to hear how they like your tagine dinner! I’m a no-nonsense cook. Don’t try to sell me a special pot if

For the last several years my friend, Chuck Andreae, and I have donated a dinner to benefit our church’s youth group. He’s in charge of wine, I take care of the food, and people pay a tidy sum to attend. Each year there’s a theme. When I found out that our dinner fell on March

A few weeks ago I was lying low at home while I kicked a nasty 24-hour bug. Relatively helpless on the couch, I browsed through my Netflix queue and stumbled on the movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.” As with 94% of films, this movie is pretty extreme. Australian producer, director, and star of the

Congratulations to Mandy, BreAnn, Grace, Amber, and Tammy, the winners of this competition!  If I had just checked the mailbox earlier on Lent Eve I would have seen Ree’s new book, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier, sooner. It arrived the night we’re supposed to empty our flour and sugar bins and use

Mom and I made Ree’s doughnuts on Monday afternoon. We each enjoyed exactly one but knew we couldn’t be trusted with a whole tray of these babies in my apartment. Even if we hid them, the smell of freshly fried doughnuts would permeate the house. So we piled them onto a baking sheet, covered them

Update: Congratulations to Julie from Bananas for Bourbon, the winner of this giveaway.  She likes her blue cheese in pasta sauce, on bread, and is hoping to incorporate it into Biscuit batter.  Looks like she’ll get her chance! My sister-in-law, Liz, hosted us for dinner on Christmas Eve eve and served Stilton-crusted beef stew that

Update: Congratulations, Kris, the winner of this contest!  Her Sunday Supper?  ”I made one of our favorite dishes with ground lamb, onions, apricots, prunes, green beans, and noodles topped with yogurt and garlic.  With a spinach salad it was perfect.” On the other hand, if the veal is dark rose, I know it’s been allowed

Update:  Congratulations to Heather from North Carolina, the winner of this giveaway!  Her  favorite topping is “avocado and a roasted poblano pepper.” Well today’s the day. Cook without a Book: Meatless Meals is officially available, and we’re celebrating with another recipe and giveaway. I debated on which one to publish but last night as I

What do two racing horses, a handsome chef, and edamame salad have in common? 

Update:  Congratulations, Cathy, the winner of this giveaway!  Cathy told us it was a challenge to write just one favorite pie, but decided on “coconut cream, when it’s not French Silk Chocolate:)” Exactly one week from today—October 25—Cook without a Book: Meatless Meals is officially available. We’re celebrating its publication (and Meatless Mondays) today and

Update:  Congratulations to Rachelle, our winner of this giveaway, whose favorite go-to kid-friendly meal is, “Sweet potatoes! My grandma always used to bake them in the toaster oven and slather them with tons of butter and salt and pepper. If you’re in a sweet mood, just switch to brown sugar and cinnamon.” To celebrate Meatless

Congratulations Mary Clare, the winner of this week’s giveaway, who eats “veg most of the time, but the one thing I always crave is a hamburger.” We’re in week two of our five week giveaway of Cook without a Book: Meatless Meals. Thank you all for participating last week. I so enjoyed reading your favorite