• Artichoke and goat cheese strata

    Toby really likes to have lots of food for breakfast or brunch, whereas I usually can only eat about a serving of cereal or two pancakes before I’m full. So, while Toby loves strata, I often can only eat a few bites. This one is different. I tried it because I like artichokes and goat […]

  • Cherry blossom cookies

    The Cherry Blossom Festival ended Sunday, and tiny pink petals are floating all over DC — but some of the trees are still blooming. Toby and I went down to the tidal basin two weekends ago and it was beautiful. Naturally, I was inspired to bake cookies. I thought about something with cherries, but instead […]

  • Biscuits with uber-flaky layers

    Ever since I read “The Secret Life of Bees,” I’ve been obsessed with biscuits and honey. When I was reading it, I would buy a can or bag of frozen biscuits and make one or two at a time to slather with honey. And while homemade biscuits taste better than the canned kind, mine never […]

  • Chocolate layer cake

    About a year and a half ago, I met and interviewed a really amazing person: Gunnery Sgt. William J. Dixon, the Marine Corps funeral director. I have seen him a few times since, and was always surprised to see he hadn’t been promoted yet. So I was excited to get an email a few weeks […]

  • Asparagus, peas and basil

    You may have seen Gourmet’s newest special edition magazine, Gourmet Italian Kitchen. I bought it as soon as I saw it, which is not surprising, but what might be surprising is that this is the first thing I wanted to make from it. I don’t love asparagus, but Toby does. And I’m trying to cook […]

  • Mini cherry pies

    Because it’s cherry blossom time in DC, because I had been wanting to try this for a while, because I opened a jar of cherry pie filling for Belgian waffles on Sunday and because cherry pie is amazing… I made mini pies the other day. I did it the easy way — using refrigerated pie […]

  • Cacio e pepe – Spaghetti with cheese and pepper

    When I was little, I didn’t like spaghetti sauce. I’m not sure why. I do know I hated (and still am not a fan of) large chunks of tomato in my sauce, but for quite a while I wouldn’t do any sauce at all. Instead, I had spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese. Now I […]

  • Garlicky parmesan broccoli

    I’ve been baking a lot of sugary, chocolatey, marshmallowy things lately. So I figured we could all use something that is green naturally. I feel like this has a lot of ingredients for a side dish, but most of them are things I usually have around anyway. And I made it with some spaghetti with […]

  • Size does matter

    Well, this is potentially problematic. The New York Times reported today that many packaged food have been downsized — but no one told the consumers. Now, I get that food costs are increasing and manufacturers are either going to have to hike prices or decrease quantity. But, the problem is that we don’t KNOW we’re […]

  • Devil dogs

    Depending on where you grew up, devil dogs may be a kind of hot dog, a kind of snack cake (akin to a Twinkie or Ding Dong) or a Marine. I’m in the latter camp — which is why I knew I had to make them. I had been thinking about making these for a […]