I bought this Lodge pre-seasoned cast iron skillet about seven years ago after writing a story for Real Simple about pots and pans. The 8-inch skillet costs only 17 bucks, is naturally nonstick, moves easily from stovetop to oven, has been the site of untold thousands of pancake and French toast fry-ups, and, not least, is always good for conjuring up… Read more »
You wouldn’t think that a gooey, melty grilled cheese would be too hard a sell on a kid, right? You also wouldn’t think that a grilled cheese is nutritious enough to warrant Kasparov-ian strategizing from that kid’s parents. But the Phoebe-wants-this-Abby-wants-that routine can wear on me (have I mentioned that each daughter requires her own brand of salsa when served… Read more »
This might also be called “Thanks-for-having-me” Granola or “Congratulations” Granola or “Just-Because” Granola. Because once you taste the crazy good olive-oil infused concoction — as I did at my friend Melissa‘s house — you will want to make it for everyone you know for every occasion. So far, mason jar after mason jar has been filled with it and given to… Read more »
Just want to clear one thing up: My family does not all sit down to the same dish every single night. We do most nights. But like every house that is inhabited by humans born in the 21st century, there is the constant chorus of requests (an awfully nice way to put it) from the royal diners. I want spaghetti not… Read more »
Is it clear yet how I feel about the dinner table? I think it’s kind of a big deal. And I don’t mean that it’s a big deal in the way all those studies tell us it is. Because for every study claiming that kids who eat with their parents do better in school and are less likely to be… Read more »
Last week, as you may have noticed on my visual market post-mortem, I came home with a pile of cool-looking maitake mushrooms from the farmer’s market. I probably sound like I know what I’m talking about, but in truth, I had never heard of maitakes before I spied them on a vendor’s table next to the Lion’s Manes (another new-to-me variety)… Read more »
Not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’ve been doing a lot of eating in my house lately — and while we always try to keep it relatively artery-friendly, we frequently hit stretches where this is impossible. This past week, for instance, there was the burgers-and-dogs barbecue at a friend’s house, there was the baked-good bacchanalia during the ballet recital… Read more »
Last year, we hosted Christmas dinner for the first time – the full deal, too, with both sets of grandparents, brothers, sisters, kids, cousins, and an insane puppy, all wilding through the house. We needed a meal that everyone would like and were determined not to serve chicken fingers and crinkle cut fries. We discussed various festive options — filet… Read more »
I’m sure you knew this one was coming — you’ve only seen the confetti-like pearly grains (that are technically not grains, but it’s just so weird to say confetti-like pearly chenopods) accessorizing my dinner plates for the last three months. All I have to say is this: Once you’ve tried quinoa, you will forever question your couscous and rice habit… Read more »
I feel like I owe you guys an apology. I’m sure when you read last week that this was Grill Week on Dinner: A Love Story, that you were picturing sizzling ribeyes, creamy slaws, fatty ribs — Not a bunch of healthy lean meats and omega-3-rich fish. (It’s only Thursday, and it’s only May, so don’t worry, there’s still plenty… Read more »
Let me just say that I was not proud of my google history last Thursday — how exactly does one justify spending a solid 30 minutes on keyword searches like these: homemade marshmallow fluff marshamallow fluff from marshmallows marshamallow fluff recipe marshamallow fluff recipe using marshmallows how to make marshmallow fluff without corn syrup You get the picture. But I… Read more »
[Photo and Recipe updated August 2022] We never used to grill chicken. It was… eh. Never quite satisfying. We were always throwing it back on the grill (“does this look cooked to you?”) because we were paranoid about getting sick, or complaining that it was too dry, or overwhelming it with some ketchup-y four alarm KC BBQ sauce that,… Read more »
Last week on my Babble blog I asked readers what they thought of Michael Ruhlman’s HuffPo rant about parents being too “busy” to cook for their kids. Actually, that was only a subset of the rant. Most of Ruhlman’s anger was directed at food editors, cookbook authors, and Food Network stars (even Jamie!) for giving rise to the 30-minute-meal industrial complex…thereby… Read more »
I know better than to apply logic to the process of feeding kids, but there I was doing exactly that a few weeks ago when I spied the perfect recipe for sesame noodles (aka peanut butter, spaghetti, sesame, etc.) by my friend and mother-of-two Melissa Roberts. The logic went as follows: If Peanut Butter = Guaranteed Consumption, and Noodles =… Read more »
The recipe for these sweet, braised meatballs is written on a notecard with company letterhead from Andy’s first job. It’s written in shorthand — I can picture him in his beige, cookie-cutter cubicle fifteen years ago, scribbling down the instructions as his mom dictated the exact amounts of peppers, onions, and beef over the phone… her standing in his childhood… Read more »
From: “Jenny” <jenny@dinneralovestory.com> To: Andy Sent: Mon May 10 6:41:40 2010 Subject: Pork chops tonight? If so what should I do for prep? From: Andy To: “Jenny” <jenny@dinneralovestory.com> Sent: Mon, May 10, 2010 6:42:33 PM Subject: Re: Pork chops tonight? Awww yeah. Get mustard apples onions ready. From: “Jenny” <jenny@dinneralovestory.com> To: Andy Sent: Mon May 10 6:55:21 2010 Subject: Re:… Read more »
…And, perhaps even more exciting, we also finally have an amazon link where you can pre-order our Time for Dinner cookbook. OK…how cool is that cover? I can call my own number here because I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Lia Ronnen at Melcher Media and Bonnie Siegler at Number 17 are the creative forces behind the design —… Read more »
If you’re going to have a site devoted to family dinner, you gotta walk the walk, right? So when I asked Jenny where she wanted to eat for her birthday dinner last week, I should have known what the answer would be: home. I huddled with the kids and asked for some help: what should we make? The only requirement… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
