Posts Categorized: Dinner

Artichoke Pizza on the Fly

On Saturday, while I performed my weekly-ish refrigerator dump to clear the way for new groceries, I threw two heels of Parmesan and three nearly depleted bags of shredded mozzarella on to the counter. Who knows how or why, but as clear as day, a voice inside me announced: Artichoke Dip. Even though it was before noon. And even though… Read more »

Those Staggered Nights

I am so delighted to feature guest-poster Caroline Campion today. Caroline is a Saveur alum and one of the OG bloggers, having first caught my attention almost a decade ago with her site Devil & Egg; today she co-writes keeperscooks with Kathy Brennan. Their new book, The Dinner Plan, is, obviously, near and dear to my heart, and, among other things discusses the all-too-familiar… Read more »

Family Pizza Party in Ten Easy Steps

. I was all excited to share my Super Easy Family Dinner Party Plan with you a few weeks ago after serving three of the most delicious pizzas for my college friend, Samidh, his wife, Nithya, and their two kids. I was envisioning calling it “Family Dinner Party in Three Easy Steps” because, really, it felt so effortless, the kind… Read more »

New Twist on Old Fave: Tortilla Soup

. The first time I wrote about tortilla soup on this blog, the girls were playing cops and robber at recess and were so young I had to call it “taco soup” because tortillas were just so, you know, sophisticated (read: intimidating) sounding. The second time I wrote about it (as an ideal “deconstructable dinner“) was May, 2012, a month… Read more »

Start with Chopped Broccoli

. An abbreviated list of what I feel grateful for on a daily basis: I married a guy who is a Yankees fan even though he grew up in Virginia; I live five miles away from a restaurant that is a destination for diners around the world; and, most relevant for today’s purposes: My children like broccoli. And by “like” I… Read more »

Hasslebacks and Horsekillers

I made these hasselbacks for Sunday dinner with the most beautiful little sweet potatoes I picked up at the market on Saturday. They were misshapen, small, pale peach colored, not even in the same family as the bloated, cloying sugar bombs you get at the supermarket. “Do you know about hasselbacks?” I asked Andy when I pulled them out of… Read more »

The Corn-iest Corn Chowder

  If I was a smarter blogger, I would’ve posted a good old-fashioned downloadable back-to-school menu for you today (like I did when I was my best blogger self back in 2013) complete with strategies, under-30-minute tricks, and cook-once-eat-twice kind of ideas that make up the backbone of family cooking. You have my word that I will try to be smarter… Read more »

End-of-Summer Stew

Not a lot to report today, but wanted to point you in the direction of a promotion I worked on with Food52 that included this Corn Stew with Chicken and Sausage, one of my all-time favorite end-of-summer dinners. (Playbook owners might have already discovered it.) Head over there and let me know what you think. Also: Thanks to those of… Read more »

Five Favorite Summer Salads for Right Now

For better or for worse, when I’m trying to decide what to have for dinner — especially a weekend dinner — I’m hardwired to start the brainstorming with the main dish. And for better or worse, the main dish is usually a pile of protein. On Saturday morning, as Andy and I wandered the farmer’s market, that was implicit in… Read more »

Anatomy of a Summer Weeknight

The Scene: Tuesday Night. Dad out, 13-year-old at camp, me at office, five minutes from home. Pouring. 4:00 Receive text at work from 15-year-old: Can we see The Big Sick tonight?  4:03 Quick Flixster scan of movie times. Me: 6:15 show, be ready a little before 6 4:04 Can we have dinner before we go? I’m starving 4:05 Sure. Quick scan from memory… Read more »

Summer Shrimp Salad with Yogurt Dressing

. Greetings everyone! So sorry for the long absence. As mentioned in the last post I wrote — nearly three weeks ago, the longest I’ve ever gone — I have been traveling, returning a few days ago, but unable to get anything done this week thanks to the insane velocity of the news out of Washington. I swore off Twitter… Read more »

Pizza for Serious Pizza Lovers

Continuing along this week’s theme of Things Jenny Cooked from Cookbooks While on Assignment, I’d like to present to you one last mind-blowing recipe: Joe Beddia’s Asparagus Pizza with Lemon and Spring Cream from his new book Pizza Camp. I don’t think it should come as a surprise to you that we eat a lot of pizza in our house…. Read more »

Crispy Tofu with Ginger and…Whatever

I’m beginning to think that my kids are never going to warm up to tofu. Though I guess I can’t blame them considering that I never served it until relatively recently…and also because I never really ate it myself, unless a little silky white cube in my miso soup accidentally slipped onto my spoon. In the last few years, though,… Read more »

The Gift that Keeps on Growing

For my birthday last month, I asked for two things: A Shake Shack picnic dinner at our local Hudson River waterfront park — a success by all accounts — and a family vegetable garden. By “vegetable garden” I did not mean one-clicking a few raised bed kits on Amazon and calling it a day. I meant that I wanted everyone in the… Read more »

Spring Pasta Dreaming

For the last few weeks, when dinnertime rolls around I haven’t found myself where I like to be the most, namely sitting around a table with my family, downloading the day’s events over a plate of something quick and fresh. Instead, I’m sitting in a parking lot or on bleachers or walking around a track waiting for a practice to… Read more »

No-Recipe Cooking

Last week, in my Friday round-up, I linked to a recipe on Nate Appleman’s instagram feed and said it would be on this week’s line-up. I’m pleased to report that I am ahead of schedule on that one, making it not only once, but twice in two days this past weekend. Above is our chicken version of the salad-y dish,… Read more »

“Pizza Salad” with Focaccia Croutons

On vacation in South Carolina last week – one for the books I might add – the girls and I were riding our bikes over a bridge, the golden marsh stretching out for miles on both sides of us, Abby turned to me and said “What if for dinner tonight we turned pizza into a salad?” “You mean salad pizza?”… Read more »

Sushi Saturdays

If you want to learn how to make sushi rolls in your own house, the first piece of advice I have for you is this: Don’t ever watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Actually, scratch that: Watch it, because it’s one of the greatest documentaries I’ve ever seen, but then try to push Jiro — the sushi chef whose Michelin-starred restaurant… Read more »