The leaves are turning on the trees here, signaling the end of summer and the return of brisk nights and even shorter days, as if school starting and the Halloween and Christmas decorations in stores weren’t enough. Yes. Christmas decorations. Keep your pants on, Mr. Retail Giant. The return of cold nights also means my herb gardens are in their final moments and will soon be ready for their final harvest, if I haven’t done so already. It means that fresh herbs will come from the... more

Sometimes the best things in life are simple. This is one of those times. There is nothing frilly or fancy about this recipe. It’s easy. If you make a good patch of pesto and stash it in your freezer, it is effortless. And the payoff is incredible. Who doesn’t love bread smothered in cheese? Every year our kids are in a Christmas program in Ole’s hometown, just under two hours from here. We spend Christmas Eve there, and it seemed fitting that they’d participate. The... more

Our initial reason for gardening, before we even owned our own home, was to make pesto. We had always enjoyed pesto, and at the time with Ole in graduate school, buying the often expensive jar of it at the supermarket wasn’t something we were willing to do. And the “pesto pot” was born. The pesto pot is nothing more than a pot planted with Genovese basil and flat-leaf parsley. If you don’t have basil and parsley already growing in your garden, fear not. Parsley is cheap... more

You’ve probably read my other posts about beef tenderloin or filet mignon cuts, and as I’ve explained before, this is something that we would buy only on special occasions because of its higher price.  But not only are full tenderloins cheaper per pound than it’s trimmed and cut filet mignon brothers, but there are sales (try $5.88/lb or even $4.88/lb) on a semi-regular basis at our local food mart.  Regular enough in fact, that just about the time our tenderloin stockpile is... 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

I first made this dish several years ago for a ladies’ night I was hosting at my house. Instantly a hit, I knew I’d be adding it to my list of favorite easy meals. Adding (or not adding) the meat at the very end makes it vegetarian friendly. There is a lot of dumping from jars and cans into a pan involved and not a lot of cutting and chopping. The fresh basil makes it perfect for summer and summer it is, as evidenced by the heatwave we’ve been experiencing here in the Midwest.... more

A lot of work goes into main dishes.  For the most part, I tend to focus on the protein portion of our meals, but when possible, I like to double – even triple up on items that can be put on the grill for any given meal.  I’ve already talked about the asparagus that can be done on the grill so today I’ll talk about what is probably the most popular non-meat grillable in the house – my soon to be famous, Super Garlic Toast.   Normally, I’m not so boastful about my... more