Remember when I had the best mac-n-cheese of my life?

Let me take you back. The place was Cochon Butcher. The town, New Orleans.

It was everything I ever wanted in macaroni and cheese…and more. It insanely saucy. Astoundingly ooey, gooey, creamy, and cheesy. A goldmine of crispy bits of house-made pancetta was buried throughout. And a crust of buttery breadcrumbs freckled with herbs made it all crunch on top.

Bite after bite, I marveled at what a perfect specimen of mac and cheese this was. It had a complexity of flavor that I couldn’t put my finger on. This mac had depth. It had integrity. It had layers. I had to know Cochon’s secret. This Pancetta Mac-n-Cheese had to be mine.

I shot off an email, my desperation barely veiled (ok, not at all veiled), and…I scored the recipe! Naturally, what’s mine is yours. Enjoy this, my friends, a present from Cochon to me to you. It is a treasure...[Read Full Post]

I never thought I’d be one of those girls who juiced. I’ve never believed in dieting, certainly never did a regimented cleanse before…they seemed gimmicky, rigid, and not very healthy. So why would I ever consider a juice cleanse?

Well, let’s face it. Food is my life. I make an effort to balance out the foie dinners and cheese benders with kale and quinoa, but sometimes all the fun catches up to me and I need a detox.

The whole juicing trend intrigued me, and seemed to be winning over fellow food bloggers by the masses. Joy the Baker loves cheeseburgers just like me, and she did it. Tracy Shutterbean broke it down for me and it seemed less intimidating. And Sylvie at Gourmande in the Kitchen made juicing for health sound downright delicious.

The idea behind juicing is that it allows your body to quickly absorb high levels of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, while giving your digestive track a much needed break...[Read Full Post]

When it comes to challenges in the kitchen, I tend to get a bit fixated. If a recipe fails (sad face) I go straight into problem-solving mode until I have exhausted.every.single.possibility. I guess it’s the neurotic perfectionist in me.

If you’ve been reading LMS for awhile, you know all about my love for Tomato Pie. Tomato Pie is not like pie pie. There’s no pastry crust, no mayonnaise, no raw tomatoes decoratively placed on top. No, Tomato Pie is more like a Sicilian-style pizza but without the cheese on top. It’s a simple pleasure of thick, soft crust, and sweet, tangy tomato sauce...[Read Full Post]

Arancini, one of the best food inventions ever in my opinion, are traditionally made with creamy risotto. They are typically stuffed with some sort of ground meat and cheese, breaded, and fried. I had the best arancini of my life in Sicily, where they were the size of softballs and stuffed with pistachio pesto (!). I definitely plan on turning my favorite Butternut Squash Risotto into delightful arancini balls one day.

Today though, these fried rice balls get a jazzy makeover with jambalaya instead of the usual risotto. And, instead of mozzarella or provolone, I opted for a smoked Gouda which melted beautifully and played well with the spices and rich flavor of the jambalaya. If New Orleans and Italy had a food baby, this is what you'd get...[Read Full Post]

Green beer and Shamrock Shakes are just a few of the questionable ways to go green this St. Patty’s Day. Here’s another option that is festively shamrock-hued yet delicious and easy enough to become a perennial staple: Kale Pesto Quinoa. That’s right my lucky leprechauns, I’ve taken two of the trendiest, most wildly popular superfoods right now and combined them into one mega-healthy dish. Is your body thanking you in advance for the motherload of vitamins, nutrients, and complete amino acids you’re about to give it? I thought so.

A pesto made of basil and kale gives this quinoa salad its vibrant color. Handfuls of barely steamed broccoli florets bump up the green quotient (not to mention Vitamin C and cancer fighting properties)...[Read Full Post]

When I visited Italy this past summer, I stayed with my darling friend Mariangela. Mari cooks like the free spirit she is. No recipes. No rules. Her style is beautifully Italian. Some fresh produce from the fruttivendolo down the street, a few generous glugs of EVOO liquid gold from her hometown in Calabria, and magic just happens. I learned on this last stay that Mari apparently bakes in a similar fashion.

On a weekly, sometimes twice-weekly basis, Mari would whip together a simple breakfast cake, “Because mornings are so much easier when there’s cake,” she’d say. I know, don’t you just love her? This cake is super easy, the kind of cake you can throw together without any fuss. All it takes is flour, sugar, eggs, olive oil, yogurt, vanilla, baking powder, salt, and ripe fruit. Mari mostly made a banana version, but while I was there we experimented with using some divinely sweet and juicy peaches -- highly recommended. I need to do some more testing, but I suspect berries would also work well in this versatile cake...[Read Full Post]

I learned how to make this beautiful Blood Orange Marmalade Tart from Joyce Goldstein, who adapted it from a recipe she learned from the Trappist nuns at the Vineria Cozzi in Bergamo Alta, Italy. Originally called Crostata di Marmellata delle Suore Trappiste, the tart is filled with orange marmalade made by the nuns. In our version, blood oranges are used in place of regular oranges for their gorgeous color and flavor, “like an orange mixed with a rose,” as Joyce aptly described.

This tart has become a staple in my bag-of-baked-goods-tricks. Some of you may remember it from last year when I made it for the Online Bake Sale for Japan. With a certain romantic holiday around the corner, I thought now would be a good time to repost this dessert with step-by-step photos…just in case you wanted an alternative to the slew of red velvet hitting the waves...[Read Full Post]

There are times for luxurious butternut squash soup laced with brown butter…and then there are times for a more austere version that doesn’t involve homemade stock, a gaggle of aromatics, bouquet garni, and tedious straining. This isn’t a knock on the former – she’s an elegant special occasion soup, and you can taste the extra fuss that goes into her. Sometimes though, you just want an everyday soup – a practical gal that’s into healthiness, nourishment, and minimum effort.

For times like these, I turn to my Healthy Butternut Squash Soup. Comforting, satisfying, zero-guilt goodness, step right up. Did I mention, it only requires 3 main ingredients? Butternut squash, onion, chicken (or vegetable) broth. How wholesome...[Read Full Post]

I bet you thought you’d see a healthy, cleansing, post-holiday detoxifying recipe here today. Sorry, I’m just not ready for that yet. Don’t worry, it will come in due time. But first, pie. Because 2012 should start with something beautiful and homey and good. The new year should start with pie.

Learning to make the Perfect Pie Crust is a skill I sought early on in my quest for a delicious life. Flaky, buttery, and tender, perfect pie crust is the kind of thing that never fails to bring joy into a room.

My go-to recipe is Martha Stewart’s all butter crust (pate brisee). Here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way for a successful pie crust...[Read Full Post]

I have a confession to make. These were really supposed to be amazing chewy pumpkin toffee cookies. Apparently chewy and pumpkin cookies are notorious nemeses. Had I consulted the internet before attempting such a perilous undertaking I could have saved myself much heartache, wasted butter, and trays of puffy pumpkin "cookies" taunting me with their flagrant cakiness.

I felt like a failure. A fraud. What happened? Why did my cookies turn into cakes? It's all the pumpkin's fault. I learned that the high moisture content of pumpkin puree was the cause of my demise. There are two purported solutions: simmer the puree until the moisture is cooked out, or use pumpkin butter instead of puree.

Well, what's done is done. I'll tackle chewy pumpkin cookies when my ego has had time to heal. In the meantime, what to do with these blasted cookie-cakes? Truth be told, while they made god-awful cookies in terms of texture, the flavor was what I was looking for – full of pumpkin spice warmth and tasty toffee bits...[Read Full Post]