easy dinner recipes – In Good Taste

How-To Roast Chicken Perfectly, Every Time

Maris Callahan — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 05:00:21 +0000

Few things are as simple and versatile as a roast chicken. It’s a great go-to weekend dinner that if you’re cooking for one or two two people, will yield you leftovers for chicken salad, avgolemono chicken soup, or other quick meals all week long. It’s also hard to go wrong with the basic method that is as quick and hands off as comfort food gets without being delivered by your friendly neighborhood Chinese restaurant. Roasting a chicken is about as domestic as you can get without actually becoming a stay-at-home housewife, right? Roast chicken is tasty, comforting and really, quite simple, especially if you choose a smaller bird that requires less cooking time than the big kahuna you get for Thanksgiving dinner — 3 or 4 pounds is usually the perfect size for 2-4 people. I like to make roast chicken year round and it’s a great standby meal for real dinner parties and Before you start, you’ll need something to actually cook the chicken in, like a roasting pan with a rack. I somehow inherited one at some point during the past eight years since I’ve been food blogging and I keep it in its original box in my shoe closet because I use […]

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10-Minute Shrimp and Grits

Maris Callahan — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 23:13:20 +0000

This quick and simple recipe for shrimp and grits is so simple. Made with lemon, garlic fresh herbs, it’s a simple dish perfect for a weeknight dinner or to serve dinner party guests. Growing up, my family seldom traveled. I was 14 or 15 the first time I took a flight and if we did go someplace for a long weekend, it was to visit friends in the Northeastern tristate area. Even though the town I grew up in was culturally diverse, I was an adult before I learned how geographically diverse the United States really is and with that, how geographically diverse our food culture is. I really love coastal southern food. A few of my favorite cities are in the South, Austin, Charleston, Savannah, and whenever I see fried green tomatoes, pulled pork sliders, fried chicken or shrimp and grits on a menu, I’m pretty psyched, and not just because that also means there’s likely to be an excessively gluttonous macaroni and cheese on the menu, too. Even though I’ve made several trips to the South, including a week in Charleston that resulted in a cooking class and the purchase of several cookbooks, I first tasted shrimp and grits for […]

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Gluten-Free Chicken Piccata Pasta

Maris Callahan — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 06:46:12 +0000

Holiday entertaining season is in full swing and for someone like me who will take any excuse to throw a party, holiday entertaining isn’t limited to Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. There are plenty of occasions to throw cocktail parties, small dinner gatherings or festive brunches. Part of entertaining around the holidays means accommodating the various dietary restrictions that friends and loved ones might bring to the table. Cooking for a crowd with various dietary preferences is never without its challenges, but an increasing number of brands are offering new products to make everyone’s lives easier, and more importantly, tastier. Barilla Gluten Free Pasta is the easiest solution to that “what-do-I-make-for-guests?” conundrum because it creates a meal that your whole crowd can enjoy, gluten free or not. I love pasta in pretty much all forms and could barely tell the difference between gluten free pasta and the pasta I already know and love. Made with corn, rice and other non-GMO ingredients, Barilla Gluten Free Pasta is certified gluten free, produced on dedicated gluten free product lines. When you do have guests like my cousin, who have celiac disease, they don’t need to worry about accidentally ingesting something that will make them sick. In […]

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Bulgur Salad with Cranberries & Almonds

Maris Callahan — Mon, 30 May 2011 15:54:41 +0000

It’s Memorial Day and I should be sharing all kinds of delicious party food with you, like strawberry sangria and tomatillo guacamole. I have a strawberry daiquiri recipe tucked up my sleeve and there may even be a recipe for chipotle chicken wings in your very near future. Today, though, is about bulgur. Bulgur is something you may or may not already have in your kitchen but if you want to add something other than pasta and minute rice to your starchy side dish repertoire, it’s a good staple to keep on hand. Bulgur is a cereal grain made from different types of wheat, including durum wheat, which is also used to make pasta. It is sometimes confused with cracked wheat, as they can both be found in natural foods stores and Whole Foods. Bulgur is a common ingredient in Turkish, Middle Easter and Indian dishes. It has a light, nutty flavor and can be used in salads, soups, stews, baked goods, breads or stuffing. It is rich in nutrients and some people opt to serve it instead of rice as a side dish. I think bulgur does just fine on its own, as the star in a salad with […]

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Back to Basics: 6 Recipes Anyone Can Cook

Maris Callahan — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, the secret to being good at something is tricking people into thinking you’re good at it. Now, I’m not suggesting you should tell lies…but… If you can’t cook but you want to feed someone a meal whether it’s your new boyfriend or your five year old daughter, there are plenty of ways to accomplish said goal. You can order takeout, you can enlist the expertise of a hobby-chef hubby, or you can take a packaged frozen meal and pass it off as your own. (I advise against the latter). If you’re a novice home cook, starting off in your first apartment or trying to solidify an easy repertoire of fast meals, here are five quick ones that I love. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. You don’t really need to know how to cook in order to get them on the table. Creamy Goat Cheese & Chive Scrambled Eggs Add some fresh chives and creamy goat cheese to dress up an otherwise boring breakfast. The downside is that you’ll probably be stuck with breakfast duty indefinitely once your family or significant other tries these creamy goat cheese scrambled eggs with chives. I use about an ounce […]

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