Cream of tomato soup is [fill in the blank]:

Delicious. Satisfying. Nostalgic.

Campbell’s.

All of the above? Not necessarily.

read the rest of this entry »

Ah, Thanksgiving!

One of my favorite holidays.

What’s not to like? A day spent with family and friends; football; and, best of all, comfort food galore.

read the rest of this entry »

The Easter ham.

It’s not a given, you know. Just because everyone else serves ham (or, for real traditionalists, lamb) on Easter, the Food Police won’t come knocking at your door if you dare to defy tradition and serve something else as the main dish.

Like lasagna, as my Italian in-laws often do.

Or roast turkey. After all, where is it writ that turkey can ONLY be served at Thanksgiving?

read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve been reading this blog lately, you’ll know that 2 days ago I described the many reasons I love my test kitchen Zojirushi bread machine.

I mean, I feel like Ron Popeil, the Ronco guy:  “It slices, it dices, and so much more!”

Well, the Zo doesn’t slice-and-dice.

But “so much more”?

You betcha.

read the rest of this entry »

The following recipe story is another post in the series of “I didn’t know you could make THAT in a bread machine” blogs – a series of which I’m inordinately fond.

I’m a lazy baker.

There, I’ve said it. While I enjoy the process of baking – indeed, even love to bake, when time isn’t too much of the essence – I’m usually more attracted by the end result than how you get there.

read the rest of this entry »

So, what can you really get done in less than 90 minutes today? You could clean out your sock drawer.  You could call your best friend and  commiserate for 90  minutes about how her husband and kids never clean their sock drawers, or ditch the socks altogether and…

read the rest of this entry »

Brioche.

If you have any experience at all with brioche, merely seeing the word probably sends a shiver down your spine.

A shiver of anticipation for the ultra-tender, super-buttery bread that emerges from your oven.

And a matching shiver of angst at the difficult dough that precedes that loaf. read the rest of this entry »

Warning: this is a shameless (but oh-so-true) plug for the Zojirushi bread machine.

I love my Zojirushi because I use it to knead bread dough, and it does the job more thoroughly (and produces a higher-rising loaf) than kneading by hand or stand mixer. I love it because the non-stick bucket rinses clean so easily. And because I can add the ingredients, press a button, walk away, and come back 90 minutes later to a smooth, elastic, beautifully risen ball of dough, ready to be shaped into pizza crust, rolls, sticky buns, sandwich bread…

So what’s with the peach cobbler? read the rest of this entry »