Things are challenging all around. Time is often short, and funds aren’t generally abundant. Life’s taught me, though, that I feel better when I eat well, get enough sleep and exercise, and share the things that bring me joy and a sense of fulfillment. In my experience, the things I’ve found that bring me fulfillment…
Shakshuka-inspired breakfast skillet
I’m scheduled to go into work late this afternoon after a day and a half of snow break, so I cooked a solid one-pan brunch for myself and aimed for flavor and a good balance of fruit and vegetable, protein, and grains. Taking inspiration from shakshuka (worth looking up if you’ve never had it), I…
Recipe development: Dukkah prototype #2
Some of you know by now that I’ve been in a romantic relationship with a man from Egypt for the last few months, but serendipitously, just days before we met, I was asked in the spice shop where I work part-time for an Egyptian spice blend called Dukkah which we don’t carry and I’d never…
Southern-style pinched biscuits: trial and error
All of my adult life, I’ve been a bit phobic about making the pinched biscuits my mother made at least daily when I was growing up. She showed me her process (there was no recipe) repeatedly, and every batch I made was a crushing disappointment (to me, anyway). Fast forward thirty years, and I’ve been…
Pesto Vegetable Pasta with Grated Incanestrato
I drove into Rockford to visit Valli Produce and picked up some small (roughly racquetball-sized) eggplants along with a jar of prepared pesto. I also got several cheeses including one that I’d never heard of before: incanestrato. Today for lunch, I cooked one of the eggplants sliced with a handful of sliced mushrooms and halved cherry tomatoes,…