italian food

We recently hosted a dinner party for several of Dustin’s co-workers. This was the first time I met one of Dustin’s superiors and only the second or third time I met a few other co-workers. This also meant this was the first time I cooked for any of them. Oh — did I mention Dustin [...]

This meal is so simple to make and creates such a complex balance of flavors. Dustin even loved it and he hates capers. I mean hates. Like they wronged him in a previous life or something. I often see Chicken Cacciatore served over some type of noodle, like egg noodles. But my current diet doesn’t [...]

Since Dustin and I have been together, he has shared how much he loves stuffed mushrooms. Whenever we go to a new Italian restaurant, he eagerly checks the menu to see if they have stuffed mushrooms.  It’s actually pretty cute — how excited he gets when he sees the restaurant has them.   He mentions, nonchalantly, [...]

Given this blog, my personal chef business and all I’ve learned and done with food over the past few years, it’s still hard for me to believe I haven’t always been a “cook.” In fact, when Dustin and I first started dating, he did most of the cooking and I would help him.  Full disclosure: [...]

So, I’m pretty sure you are aware by now that I love me some pizza. And lasagna.  And spaghetti.  And anything parmesan.  And Italian food in general.  And, well, most food for that matter — but that’s neither here nor there. So, you can imagine we go through our fair share of tomato sauce in [...]

For our CSA, we got a gorgeous eggplant and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Two words: Eggplant. Parmesan.  Need I say more? I can’t think of Eggplant Parmesan without reminiscing about this little Italian restaurant called La Trattoria my family used to frequent. Not sure why I loved it so [...]

For last week’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), we got some beautiful heirloom tomatoes and fresh sweet basil.  Now, I don’t know about you, but my mind goes two ways with these two fresh ingredients sitting on my counter: (1) Bruschetta or (2) Caprese Salad.  Since I also got some tasty organic grape tomatoes I could [...]

I was looking for a new recipe and happened to stumble upon For the Love of Cooking and Pam’s Turkey Italian Sausage and Mushroom Stuffed Manicotti. As I’ve mentioned before, I love me some Italian food so I’m always happy for great new recipes to add to my collection. Really, can you go wrong with [...]