While Monday is the official first day of fall the best thing about Chicago is that summer days usually extend way into September. It’s 80 degrees today and I just spent the afternoon at Wrigley Field with Shane watching the Cubs clinch the NL Central League title. Yay! When my sisters and I were in …
Recipe
Inspired by our recent trip to Seattle I’ve been waiting for the right night to try to replicate the fantastic manila clams in broth that we ate there. I took a lunchtime walk over to the Fulton Street seafood markets …no manila clams so I substituted three pounds of fresh mussels that I bought for …
Memorial Day in Chicago means one thing: grilling! Here’s an easy, very tasty and relatively healthy marinade recipe for chicken, pork, fish or veggie kabobs, courtesy of Merriment reader Jen Martensen who created and evolved this recipe that she uses “all the time” (thanks, Jen!). And if you’re not into mustard, try Shane’s famous grilled …
Here’s one of my favorite it’s-a-rainy-day-and-I-am-low-on-groceries recipe: Green pea soup with toasted baguette slices. It’s a healthy, low fat, non-dairy recipe from Ellie Krieger, one of my favorite Food Network chefs. 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 large onion, sliced (about 1 1/2 cups) 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth 3/4 teaspoon dried tarragon (I subbed …
I first saw the frittata concept at Simply Recipes. The great thing about a frittata is you can really throw pretty much anything into it and it will still taste good and look like you put a lot of effort into it. It’s one of those perfect weekend treat-myself-and-clean-the-fridge brunches that lets you be creative …
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Shane and I took a cooking class at Sur La Table. While the classes there aren’t as hands-on as our beloved, defunct Calphalon Culinary Center Cooking Classes, the personable instructor was full of ad libbed tips and Shane got a spiffy Le Creuset 6.75-qt. Enameled Oval Dutch Oven soup pot. Our …