Chris Cooks
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Maple and Bacon Vinaigrette
I've never cared much for sweet potatoes, as historically prepared on Thanksgiving (marshmallows and all). I think my beef is that they are often overcooked to the point of mush, and lacking in the flavor department. And adding marshmallows, for me, only enhances the mushy mouthfeel. It's like I'm eating baby food, and I've always […]
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November 12, 2013
Chris Cooks
Homemade Cranberry Sauce Worth Serving
Perhaps one of the least heralded parts of the Thanksgiving spread is the cranberry sauce. There it sits on a plate, in the middle of the table, oftentimes still retaining the shape of the can it was extracted from. Dinner ends, and it's still there. Maybe someone cut a piece out of the corner, but […]
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November 8, 2013
Chris Cooks
Dijon Country Gravy Made With Turkey Drippings
I'm gonna try to make this post as quick to read as it is to actually make the gravy recipe below. If you're not a fan of Dijon, you can take it out, but I really encourage you to keep it in. It's not an "in your face" mustard flavor, and Dijon goes so well […]
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November 7, 2013
Recipes
Country-Style Herbed Mashed Potatoes
Louisiana is the first place I had country-style mashed potatoes. Boiled in salt water with whole cloves of garlic. Skins on, mashed by hand with a potato masher, adding butter, sour cream, mayonnaise (just a touch), and a hefty dose of seasonings along the way. They were rustic, had a range of texture, and were […]
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November 6, 2013
Chris Cooks
Scratch-Made Asparagus Casserole (my version of green bean casserole)
Full disclosure- I make my green bean casserole with asparagus, not green beans. BUT, this recipe would still be just as awesome with fresh green beans substituted for the asparagus. I was never a big fan of green bean casserole as a child. I think it's probably because it's usually made with canned green beans […]
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November 5, 2013
Recipes
Savory Cornbread Stuffing Recipe
November has arrived, and with it my constantly salivating mouth. Wonderful imagery, I know. But it's no secret I'm a total indulger, and this time of year is what people like me live for (don't worry, I'm still being careful). And what better way to kick off this wonderful month than by sharing the recipes […]
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November 4, 2013
Recipes
How to Make Pad Thai at Home - Guess What... It's Easy
Last week I posted a pic on Instagram of some drunken noodles I made for dinner. This prompted a request from a friend of mine for a good recipe for Pad Thai. And boy howdy, was I happy to oblige. Here’s the deal. There's essentially a three-way tie for my favorite type of food between […]
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October 16, 2013
Recipes
How to Make Really Good Fried Rice
So I had a request from one of our readers a couple weeks ago to do a post on fried rice. Fried rice is like a lot of dishes, in that everyone makes their own version. Ingredients can vary, and that's ok. In fact, it's encouraged! The goal of this post is not to give […]
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October 2, 2013
chris cooks
Autumn Soup & Salad: Roasted Squash and Sweet Potato Soup, with a Salad of Mixed Greens, Apples, Feta, and Cider Vinaigrette
Recipes
Autumn Soup & Salad: Roasted Squash and Sweet Potato Soup, with a Salad of Mixed Greens, Apples, Feta, and Cider Vinaigrette
I love Fall, and it seems like our weather knows Fall has arrived, because pretty much over night we're all wearing jackets and the leaves are jumping off their branches. Every year when the weather changes, I just get so excited. From October to December, we have my birthday, Halloween, our anniversary, Julia's birthday, Thanksgiving, […]
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September 30, 2013
Recipes
Braised Beef Shanks with Plums and Pearl Onions
My parents have a plum tree and this year's crop was crazy. Like, plums out the ears. Every time we go out there, Greta picks 4 or 5 and eats them as she runs around the yard, leaving the pits strewn across the patio, swing set, garden etc.. Because the tree had so many, they […]
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September 25, 2013
Recipes
Healthy-ish Chicken Quesadillas with Chive Yogurt Dip
Something that bugs me is when people use the word "healthy" to describe anything that addresses a food allergy or restriction. For example, I've seen so many recipes for "healthy pizza with cauliflower crust" - I mean, it's cauliflower! Soooo healthy!!! Yeah, then you read the ingredient list and find out that you use as […]
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September 18, 2013
Recipes
Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Thighs
So for anyone who follows me on the ol' Pinterest, you may have noticed I have a board titled "Inspiration Recipes." Honestly I don't use Pinterest very much, but in looking for better ways to eat healthy, I've been finding good recipes that I feel like I can adjust (either a little or a lot) […]
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September 13, 2013
Recipes
Red Quinoa Salad with Corn and Mint
A couple days after we moved into this house, we were sitting on the swing set outside and had a visit from one of our neighbors. Greta was especially excited about this visit, because it was a 9 year old girl (Greta loooooooves other kids). Eleanor (the girl) was very friendly and excited to meet us. […]
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September 11, 2013
Recipes
Astonishingly Good Grilled Green Bean Fries with Spicy Mayo Dip
Don't you hate it when people say stuff like, "You don't even feel like you're dieting!" and then they share a dish that is clearly diet food? Like last week there was this guy on the internet who was all, "I'm gonna start losing weight, and I'm not going to eat diet foods." But I […]
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September 9, 2013
Recipes
Roasting Tomatoes That Will Be Eaten Whole (not used for sauce or stuff like that)
You know what I love about roasted vegetables? The fact that you could be talking about anything when you say that. What kind of vegetables? Sweet potatoes? Green beans? Broccoli? Doesn't matter, as long as they're roasted. But perhaps one of the least roasted vegetables of all, is the tomato. So why don't people roast […]
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September 4, 2013
Recipes
Asian Chili Glazed Carrots
What a great time of year this is. Especially since we now live in Idaho and I have free-reign of my parents' garden. The last time I took Greta out there to pick tomatoes, I became a little engrossed in what I was doing and failed to notice my daughter had snuck away from my […]
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August 30, 2013
Recipes
Gluten-Free Coconut Shrimp, and It's Way Easier Than You're Thinking
When I lived in Louisiana, I met a man named Skip. Skip was a young Cajun who made a living catching crawfish out of the bayous and shrimp from the gulf, and selling them roadside out of 2 old coolers. He lived a simple life, spent most of his time alone, and always smiled. And […]
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August 25, 2013
Recipes
Crazy Awesome Gnocchi, And It's Gluten-Free
Hey! I'm blogging again! Ok enough small talk. Let's do this!Something that Jules has learned about me is that, once I get in my mind that I want to try making a dish, I won't stop thinking about it until I actually make it. So when I stumbled across a tutorial on making gnocchi on […]
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August 19, 2013
Recipes
Lobster Rolls - Plus, How to Grill Lobster Tails
Lobster isn't a common dish in our house. In fact, Jules has had it one time in her entire life - last night, when I made these lobster rolls. She was a little nervous, because she only sometimes tolerates shrimp (which you could use for this dish, instead of lobster). I assured all would be […]
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July 3, 2013
Recipes
Crazy Awesome Grilled Peaches - My Go-To Summer Dessert
You wanna know why grilled peaches are so awesome? Because they meet the following criteria: • Friggen Delicious • Friggen Easy Of course, I like to complicate my grilled peaches a little more than I do my grilled corn by soaking them in a cinnamon syrup for at least 30 minutes before grilling. Here's what […]
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July 1, 2013
