While this lemon chicken pasta salad could function as a side dish or a potluck item, we eat it on top of a bed of organic spring mix greens as a meal. It’s fantastic paired with garlic bread or pesto cheese bread as well or even just a few raw vegetables for dipping. It’s easy to make ahead, and it stores well in the fridge. As with any creamy pasta salad, it absorbs the moisture the longer it sits. If this bothers you, simple stir in a tablespoon of milk or two tablespoons of ranch... more

That, up there, is flat-leaf parsley, growing in a pot. And down below here? Those are all things that I had sitting around the house. No joke. If I had shopped for this meal, I would have picked up a better wine. As it happened, we don’t often drink white wine (we drink red), and so I keep white cooking wine around. And it is all I had on hand. Cooking wine = cheap wine with salt. Also lying around? Chicken breasts. Sometimes we just buy chicken breasts without a plan. We just... more

I used to be afraid of baking bread. It felt like this giant activity that required time and planning. And time. Lots and lots of time. Baking bread is for people with time, and time is something I don’t have, I would tell myself. Because, really, I don’t. There are things like a job and four kids that take up most of that, and then there’s the cleaning that is never. ever. done. It’s more of a balancing act, and I promise you that someday (hopefully soon) I will give... more