What to Cook for Dinner this Week

I know I’m always telling you some story about the first time I tasted things, but I really do seem to have a steel-trap memory for initial food experiences. Me and pecan pie, we met when I was in college, studying to be a teacher. I was working at an old tavern in Ypsilanti, Michigan’s…

These veggie quesadillas came together on a whim, but I predict they’ll show up again – maybe on a Meatless Monday? I had a zucchini, a red pepper, and a pack of whole wheat tortillas in the fridge that were just begging to be used. If you don’t have zucchini, any summer squash will do. They’re simple,…

I love pie. Apple pie made from Michigan apples hand-picked in an orchard on a crisp Saturday afternoon in fall. Pumpkin pie with extra cinnamon and nutmeg, crowned with a dollop of cream whipped by hand. Lemon meringue pie, Meyer lemons juiced for its filling. Blackberry pie at the height of summer, a scoop of…

I’ve wanted to make Tarte Tatin ever since I read Molly Wizenberg’s description of it as a “sexed-up apple pie – a housewife in stilettos.” Wizenberg writes, “Tarte Tatin doesn’t dally with small talk. It reaches for your leg under the table.” Who wouldn’t want to make a dessert like that? Besides, Tarte Tatin is…

We’ve had another week of people coming and going and coming and going here – our Virginia family is packed out and on their way to Michigan for a week, and they spent their last night here with us. Because their belongings are en route to Germany, I inherited a pantry’s worth of goods that…

Friends, I cried in Target last week. In the Halloween candy aisle. It was the kind of crying that comes dangerously close to gulping sobs, the kind you stifle with your hand as you suppress the urge to throw up. I couldn’t help it – looking at all those mountains of mini Snickers, M&Ms, and Reese’s…