How to bake a good and crispy french fry at home. Here are three different methods we tried, each with different results from boiling and pre-baking to letting them soak. As part of my french fry flavor creation for Alexia Foods, I needed to figure out the right and proper way to make baked french fries at home. How do you get that crispy goodness without filling a pot full of oil and dumping the potatoes straight into it? (Baked French Fries is kind of an oxymoron.) I tested a few methods... more

This month in the Eat Well, Spend Less series we’re looking at summer entertaining, and I’ll be taking a look at how to entertain in small spaces comfortably and with ease. My husband and I enjoy entertaining and always have. We invited over 300 family members to our picnic-style reception, where we provided the food with the help of my loving mother and her sisters. One week after my son was born, we had 50 people over to a backyard “meet the baby” barbecue at our college... more

A sweet and tangy watermelon lime sorbet is a great way to cool off in the summer. As a bonus, this recipe is frozen back in the watermelon rind and cut off into slices. It’s hot. The type of heat where when you step outside the door and your skin is wet before the door swings shut behind you. It’s a hot that hangs in the air, letting you breathe it in, that is cured only by two things: being completely immersed in water or hiding indoors, the air conditioning cranked as far as it... more

1 cup water 1 cup sugar 8 cups cubed fresh watermelon 1/3 cup lime juice Place water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook until sugar is completely dissolved to create a syrup. Remove from heat and allow to cool. In a food processor or blender, mix together watermelon cubes, syrup and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Add to an ice cream machine and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Serve immediately as soft serve sorbet or freeze in an airtight... more

One of the things we strive for when planning our menus is making everything fit together into one nice, neat little package. We look to use ingredients in different ways throughout the week so that we’re benefiting from the ability of do-aheads and being able to buy in bulk. We also benefit from a well-stocked pantry. I have what I lovingly refer to as “canoe burn.” It’s that red knee from sitting on a big, open lake with the sun reflecting off the shimmering surface... more

For the second week of the Summer Pantry Challenge, I needed to create a menu for an upcoming vacation we’re heading into. This menu came straight from the pantry to create road-trip snacks and cabin meals for us. We’re planning our yearly trip to the great northern wilderness (also known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area). We’ll be staying at Chez Pazlar, my aunt and uncle’s “cabin” just at the entrance to the BWCAW and have a few day hikes and canoe portaging... more

2 cups heavy cream 1-2 cups ice water sea salt to taste, optional Place cream on the counter for 8-12 hours. It is easiest to use cream that is just slightly souring. If your cream is not yet turning, let it sit on the counter for 12 hours to allow bacteria to form lactic acid or add a spoonful of yogurt or buttermilk with live cultures to the cream prior to letting it sit to culture it. Pour cream into a quart-size canning jar. Begin shaking with slow, deliberate shakes until cream first starts... more