Discover the Secrets of Good health

From the recipe archive, our favorite Lenten meal. ~Elise
My father has been making this soup for several years now. It is incredibly easy to make, given how tasty the results. The key ingredient is the clam juice, though I have prepared it for people with shellfish allergies substituting the clam juice with white [...]

Sometimes the best food is really the simplest. We experiment frequently with different ways of preparing pork chops, but the way we have pork chops most regularly is with a simple dry rub and pan frying. My mother’s been making chops this way for years. We use a dry rub of [...]

May I admit something? I am the least romantic person I know on the planet. I was born on Valentine’s Day and even with that incentive, have never been one for hearts, lace, or pink, though you gotta love those goofy Valentines we used to give each other [...]

If you’ve been reading this site for a while you’ll know that we are big spinach fans here. We get spinach fresh from the farmers market every Saturday morning, and it disappears quickly. Here is a creamed spinach dish that my father made for dinner the other night inspired from a recipe he [...]

One great benefit of growing up in California (LA actually) and having a Hispanic mother is being exposed at an early age to Mexican food. From the time I was 5 it was my job to prepare the salsa for the family. We have always had tortillas in the house like most people [...]

My father had never eaten scallops before this year, but he was so inspired by this scallop dish prepared by his friends Fred and Patricia, he has spent much of the last month experimenting with them. What I love about this recipe is it’s so easy to make and it cooks up so quickly. [...]

From the recipe archive, a favorite braised lamb shanks dish.
For those of you snow-bound, this is a rich and hearty dish, perfect for a cold winter day. For me it conjures up images of ski lodges and cabernet, it’s so warm and comforting. Flavorful lamb shanks are first browned and then braised in [...]

Have you ever tried a kumquat? They’re these little citrus fruits, like miniature oranges, not much bigger than a grape, that you can eat whole, even the seeds. You can slice them and add them to salads, or just pop them into your mouth for a quick snack. Garrett stopped by the [...]

Leave it to my Germanic father to find yet another twist on pork and sauerkraut. Yes, we already have a perfectly good recipe for spare ribs and sauerkraut which we’ve been making for years. No, that’s not enough to deter the siren call of something potentially even better. Dad found a recipe [...]

Some recipes take several attempts to get right. When I first put up a recipe for Meyer lemon marmalade a year ago, I pulled it down a few weeks later because it just wasn’t good enough. It didn’t help that my friend Jesse tried some of my marmalade and said it was so [...]