The oven steps up when the weather says “no” to the smoker. Low heat. Some patience. Voilà. Oven-Made Pulled Pork that’s unbelievably tender and tastes like it spent all day in the smoker pit. It’s 19 cold degrees with icy sleet spitting sideways against the…

If I close my eyes, I can still see it like yesterday: it was Thanksgiving morning in 1969, just a few months after Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11 first set foot on the moon. I was eleven, standing in my grandmother’s farmhouse kitchen, watching her…

Certain dishes define a holiday—not because they’re fancy or elaborate, but because they’ve always been there. For my family, this Pineapple Marshmallow Salad is one of those recipes. It has shown up on our Thanksgiving and Christmas table for every holiday I can remember, going…

I didn’t set out to make Spatchcock Cornish Game Hen—well, not at first. In fact, we hadn’t cooked game hen all that often. We’d had it a couple of times over the years, but I’d mostly written it off as more trouble than it was…

The story behind these roasted green beans with Parmesan happens all the time in the kitchen—you stumble across a beautiful ingredient in the store, and suddenly you’re on a mission to put it to work. A package of fresh Haricots Verts – French Green Beans…

These Salted Caramel Apple Crumble Bars (with Buttery Shortbread Crust) are everything you crave in a fall dessert — buttery shortbread, tender cinnamon apples, and a drizzle of golden caramel that ties it all together. I love, love, love caramel apples! My first caramel apple…

There’s something quietly spectacular about a perfectly pan-seared pork chop—especially when dressed up for the occasion. May I present my Pan Seared Pork Chops with Savory Apple Chutney and Blue Cheese Crumble. This dish takes that humble cut and elevates it into something worthy of…

Sometimes the supporting act steals the show. This buttered herb rice with capers started as a quick side I tossed together for a main dish I can’t remember now. The funny thing is that the rice outlived the memory of that entrée. It’s simple, buttery,…

I first discovered bread pudding in the most unlikely of places—a Sizzler restaurant in California. My family had gone out for dinner, and while the steaks were fine, what really grabbed me was the dessert bar. At the time, I was swimming competitively, fresh out…

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon Parmesan Crumbs makes me smile—simple, familiar, but just a little more special than you expect. That love for “a little more special” started early. The first time I cooked for my little brother and sister, I made red pancakes… using the…