The Cook’s Kitchen

Over the last few years, I have heard raves about Penzey’s spices.  I am not fortunate enough to have one located near me.  However, on a recent trip to visit family in Arizona, I was able to visit their store in Scottsdale.  As soon as I entered the store, I was in spice heaven!  For each […]

I love Trader Joe’s. Despite my attempts at locavorism, I have a hard time resisting the low-priced imported gourmet goodies at Trader Joe’s. I’ve found a way to keep me out of their stores, though - I moved half an hour away from the nearest TJ’s. With gas prices being what they are, there’s really […]

We eat a lot of salads with our dinner, so I had to jump at the opportunity to try a new line of dressings. I am already a big fan of Wish Bone’s Spritzers because you can put just enough dressing on the salad to get the flavor throughout without drowning the lettuce in a […]

Anyone who knows me would say I am a pasta fanatic. I adore all types of pasta, and will eat it simply with a bit of olive oil or with a flavorful sauce. So, when the opportunity to taste a new brand of pasta was presented, I jumped a the chance. I […]

Well what do you know, there’s a Penzey’s within a couple miles of where I work.  I’m so in trouble!  Walking in for the first time was like sensory over load.  There were six different paprikas, several curries from around the world, and so many custom blends that the combinations were endless.  Each spice is […]

About a week before Easter, I was driving through my supermarket parking lot, when I saw something that literally made me slam on my brakes. A new chocolate shop had opened up, practically in my own backyard! Forget the supermarket! I pulled into the closest parking space and headed inside.
The name of […]

March 20 is the spring equinox.  It is one of two days each year where we have equal day and equal night. A strange phenomenon that only occurs on the equinox is that you can balance an egg on end.  Now it is not as easy as it seems, but does work.  It took me […]

Sometimes the best trick in the kitchen is the simplest. An egg is perhaps a wonder food, fat and protein all bundled into a neat package, that’s just the right size for a balanced part of a meal or a meal in its own right. But people get really frightened of cooking them.
I’ll let you […]

I teased about this awesome package that I got and asked for several testers to help out with product testing. Thank you to the 15 testers to responded! I sent each of them 1-3 samples of tsp spices, and they each cooked with the spice and gave me a short 2 sentence review.
You guys […]

The wind was howling and the snow was swirling sideways past the windows, but inside our family was feasting on a Sunday dinner of leftovers creatively reconfigured into new dishes.Following a Friday night casual kitchen supper for 10 friends (and… yes, I had been at work all day), I was left with an abundance of […]