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brining a chicken
Whenever I cook poultry – especially chicken or turkey, I brine it first. Brining adds moisture to the meat, making it harder to overcook into dryness. It also adds flavor, depending on what you put in...
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enchilada casserole
Enchilada Casserole Recipe Did you doubt I’d have a Tex-Mex influenced dish for Cinco de Mayo? Since the 5th is Tuesday and everyone knows that Tuesdays are reserved for Tuesdays with Dorie postings,...
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veggie lasagna
Veggie Lasagna Recipe This might more accurately be titled How-to-use-up-leftover-veggies-lasagna because it’s what I make when I have bits and pieces of veggies in the crisper that need to be used...
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hamburgers and healthy eating
One of the things that comes up frequently when people talk about losing weight or eating healthily is the idea that you have to give up your favorite foods forever. I’ve heard people say “I just don’t...
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meatballs and sauce
As anyone who follows me on Twitter knows, I’ve been slightly obsessed with Gordon Ramsay lately. Thanks to hulu.com I’ve watched 2 seasons of Kitchen Nightmares back to back and I’ve caught up on the...
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frittata – sorta
Some evenings I don’t necessarily want to cook a full meal; it’s too much time and effort. I still want to eat healthily, though, and so I turn to my standby meal – the frittata. A frittata is an...
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daring cooks | nut butters + chicken in peanut sauce
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from...
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daring cooks | pierogi
The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to...
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crustless ham + cheese quiche
This weekend turned out to be a cleaning weekend at Casa Kara. And because the majority of the cleaning focused on the freezer, fridge, and pantry, it also became a cooking weekend as I worked to use...
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crockpot: pork loin & green chile
I love cooking in a crockpot – especially in the winter. It’s wonderful to put something together in the morning before leaving the house and come home to a cooked meal, ready to eat. This recipe is...
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slow cooked pork loin in beer
This is not a recipe per se and the photo is not gorgeous. In fact it’s probably not even borderline attractive. But by the time this pork loin came out of the oven, I was so hungry and it was so...
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sweet pork tacos
So I’m pork-obsessed lately. I think it comes from the fact that I have 8 or 9 pork loins in the freezer that I bought when Publix was having a sale. In keeping with my promise to start working through...
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Chicken Sloppy Joes, Blogging, and Photography
I’ve been having a hard time with blogging lately. Well, you can see that right? Since my last post was three months ago. Time, desire to cook, availability of light – all of them have messed with...
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garlic shrimp and broccoli with angel hair
One of the things I’m coming to terms with in blogging is that my every post doesn’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to have a perfect series of prep images, or even a perfect final image (although...
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Chicken Marsala
Lately Z and I have been spending the occasional date night cooking together. Or, more accurately, I cook and he watches, pours wine, and provides running commentary and entertainment. We’ve gone...
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Cooking for one
I not-so-jokingly commented on Twitter the other day that just as I’ve gotten good at cooking for one, I’m now involved in a relationship with someone who burns a gazillion calories a day and winds up...
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Chicken Pot Pie
This week is a crunch week at work for me and I knew that I’d be putting in a few late nights getting some projects finished. Plus, it’s the week leading up to Thanksgiving, and since I’m hosting at...
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Tuna Noodle Casserole and A Plan
As I’ve been preparing for the end of the year, I started looking at my budget and realized that my food spending this year has been exorbitant. For all that I haven’t blogged much cooking related...
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Recipe Review: Jamie Oliver’s Chicken in Milk
One of my goals for this year is to get back to trying new recipes, playing and tweaking and ultimately finding a few new things to add to my regular repertoire. As part of that I think I’ll start...
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Spanakopita Pie
The February Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Audax of Audax Artifex. The challenge brought us to Greece with a delicious, flaky spanakopita – a spinach pie in a phyllo pastry shell. I haven’t...
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Southern Style Pinto Beans (& Ham)
In the part of the South I come from, one of the most traditional, Southern dishes you can make is pinto beans – with or without ham. It’s a dish made out of leftovers – some ham, maybe a little...
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Corned Beef Hash
So I used to think that I didn’t like corned beef. I suspect that’s because my biggest exposure to it had been the canned version when we lived overseas – weirdly textured and overly spiced. Sort of...
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Boeuf Bourguignon
Every food blog in creation is posting Thanksgiving foods and leftover dishes this week, so I’m going to be contrary and post something not even remotely related to the holiday! A few weeks ago we got...
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Chicken Pot Pie (Blue Apron)
Over the last month or so, I’ve seen a lot of bloggers post about Blue Apron. Seeing as how I’ve been struggling to find new things to cook (despite a thousand pins on Pinterest), and haven’t had much...
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Grilled Pizza -Redux
Last year I bought a kamado style grill and posted about it here: Grilling Fever. Most people know of the kamado grills via the Big Green Egg brand, but there are several other brands out there. You...
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