Sure, you can buy frozen pizzas loaded with toppings, but what if you live in an area where plain and pepperoni are your only choices? How about picky eaters? My own kids always find at least one thing on those pre-made pies that they just don't want. They'll sit there and systematically pick their slice to pieces and then claim that they don't like it.

Delivery and take-out pizza can get expensive as well, so I pick up plain frozen pizzas… Read More

I have some serious taco lovers in this family, but some nights the tedium of putting so many tacos together isn't anything I'm up to.
With only 6 ingredients and a short bake time, this dish works well for busy nights - which is every night here.
Add a bagged salad and vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce for a perfect mid-week meal.

Cheesy Chicken Taco Bake

3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 package taco seasoning
2 1/2 cups… Read More

I've written before about the virtues of deli roast chickens and I have a few more ideas for these lovely birds.
If you've gotten behind and need dinner fast, a deli roast chicken may be your savior. This one uses a teriyaki
flavored chicken, a few bags of frozen veggies and a simple throw-together (or bottled) sauce to pull it
together - in 20 minutes!

Peanut Sauced Chicken and Vegetables

1 deli roast chicken - teriyaki style or other
2 bags (… Read More

The kids and I recently watched "Just Desserts", an episode of Cory in the House on the Disney Channel. Cory in the House is about the son of the head chef at the White House and all his mishaps and fun with his two best friends, Meena and Newt. In this episode, Meena makes a batch of Nakeeshka, the official dessert of Bahavian Independence Day. Nakeeshka are cream filled pastries "ceremoniously drizzled" with lemon sauce.

Cory enjoys them… Read More

If you watch The Disney Channel as often as my family does (that's a lot) you've probably seen the little snippets of a program called Pass the Plate , hosted by Brenda Song (Who doesn't LOVE her as London Tipton on The Suite Life of Zach and Cody ?). She presents a food, facts about it and one of the ways her family enjoys it before passing the plate on to another family in a different part of… Read More

Corned beef and cabbage. Potatoes. Irish soda bread. Stout. These are the foods most often associated with Irish cuisine, and while they are traditional, they're certainly not the end of the menu. So, what is there to Irish food beyond the usual suspects? The answer may surprise you and, I hope, spur you on to explore and create for yourself.

I have an Irish cookbook that I refer to more than any other, and that book is Monica Sheridan's The Art… Read More