What makes a good meal is not the perfect recipe. You can page through countless recipe books and magazines, dog earring pages and setting high expectations for what you are going to make. I’ve done that plenty of times and end up with a grocery list that more resembles a scroll and a cupboard full […]
You know when you get sucked into the lists on Buzzfeed or the random news stories on Yahoo and you come across a terrifying headline that says “Top 10 Foods You Should Never Eat Unless You Want to Suffer A Painful Death”. Either out of curiosity or panic you click on the link to see […]
Soup is what we turn to when it’s cold and the only hope is to bunker down under layers and layers of blankets. It remedies our sniffles and comforts us on the days we need it most. As soon as fall temperatures hit us the chili recipes come flying off the shelves. Meal prep shifts to […]
Warm sandwiches remain superior to cold sandwiches. It’s just the way it is. That first bite when the warm bread crunches in your mouth. The inside filled with gooey cheese. It’s oh-so-satisfying. Your fingers are left with a delectable layer of buttery goodness. Carb on cheese on carb….the ultimate comforting food.Now I know that doesn’t have the […]
Vegetarian food sometimes gets a bad rap when it tries to imitate food that is usually eaten as meat. If you try to pretend something is something else it will never taste the same. Zucchini noodles are not wheat noodles, tofu is not chicken and black bean burgers are not hamburgers. Vegetarian burgers are good […]
If you follow my posts closely you’ll notice that consecutive recipes include the same ingredients. It’s no secret I’m cooking for one and trying to use up the food in my house. Sometimes this works great and sometimes it’s like a bad episode of Food Network’s Chopped. I think I spent a week using up […]
In the summer my salads are piled high with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers on a base of fresh romaine or spinach. They are most likely tossed with a light vinaigrette or some fresh berries. Flip the year around to winter and my salads take on a different look with root vegetables, sturdy greens and citrus. I […]
The secret ingredient to this tandoori chicken is the buttermilk used in the marinade. It tenderizes the chicken making it fall apart tender like it’s been slow cooked for hours. Buttermilk and chicken are no strangers. If you’ve ever had really good fried chicken I’m willing to bet a buttermilk soak was involved.I love this […]
Stir-fry is that foolproof quick and easy weeknight dinner. Rice + vegetable + protein and you’ve nailed it. My best advice for avoiding a plate of mushy ingredients is to take the time for a little prep work. Mix your sauce and set it aside so it’s ready to go when you need it. Chop, […]
You know when you eat something at a restaurant, and it’s so good you can’t stop thinking about it for days? You consider going back to the restaurant just days later so you can order it again. Maybe you even look at the menu and think, I could make this. When you try to mimic […]
‘Tis the season of ‘set it and forget it’. Also known as the season of the crock pot and casserole dishes. I find it ironic that the time of year when I find myself not wanting to leave my apartment is also when I look for short cuts and easy meals in the kitchen. My couch […]
The first snow of the season arrived today in Chicago. After 10 seconds of saying, “aw, it’s pretty” I was onto counting down the days until summer. I’ll spare you the math….we have a long way to go. Fortunately, winter justifies being the laziest person around. Jack did persuade me to go outside only to […]
You know when a recipe calls for a teeny, tiny amount of fresh herbs and convinces you that the fresh herbs are SO much better than dried herbs so you just MUST buy them fresh. (Yes, I try to convince you of that in about half of my posts, but it really is true.) So you […]
I was never the biggest fan of scrambled eggs until I learned how to make a soft scramble. I grew up thinking that eggs should be cooked with milk over high heat, but they always ended up tasting spongy and had a funny smell. Slow cooking scrambled eggs over low heat makes them thick and […]
Running a food blog has taught me a few things that I was not entirely aware of before the birth of jackedkitchen.com. Let me share.Food photography is difficult.I mean, duh, right? Good photography is not easy. I knew that from trying to snap pictures of my scrumptious looking dinner on my phone only to realize it […]
Making granola bars is what cooks do who want to pretend they know how to bake. We still get to make the recipe up as we go, we can stir in whatever amount of each ingredient we want and timing is not all THAT important. We get to pull our “baked goods” out of the oven and […]