Simply Recipes Food and Cooking Blog

We have a 3 ft by 6 ft patch of arugula growing in our garden and for the last two months I've been looking for ways to make use of it. By the way, arugula (a.k.a. rocket) grows like a...

I recently got together with Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks to try out one of the recipes from her new cookbook, Super Natural Cooking. The recipe we selected is perfect for spring, a pesto made with blanched asparagus, baby spinach...

We tried this thyme mint cream sauce from another recipe and loved it so much I decided to make it with chicken and pasta. Great flavor combination, and the kicker is that by the time the pasta water has come...

I have, over the years, attempted to grow cilantro several times. Each time the plants bolted before I got much use out of them. This year I planted a bunch of seed in October, when the scorching Sacramento summer weather...

Under the headings of quick, easy, and a good way to stretch a half pound of pork, I present my friend Heidi's Citrus Pork with Egg Noodles. I'll admit that I was skeptical at first, but it's surprisingly good and...

Shown cooked with brown rice pasta. We were recently sent a review copy of Dave's Dinners: A Fresh Approach to Home-Cooked Meals by Dave Lieberman of the Food Network. Honestly, I've never heard of Dave as I don't watch much...

All I had to do was read the ingredient list of this recipe and my father was half-way out the door to the store to buy the fettuccini. Normally either one of "a pound of Italian sausage" or "a cup...

Every year we plant basil and every year the plants do so well that we can't use it up fast enough. What to do? Basil pesto, of course! Here is a simple recipe. Note that pesto is always made to...

One of the great things about the international food blogging event Is My Blog Burning? is that I get motivated to try some new dishes. This month's theme is "Taste Tea" and is hosted by Clement at his gorgeous food...

Rachael Ray has nothing on my mother. As far as this family is concerned, my mom invented healthful, delicious comfort food that one can cook in 30 minutes or less. This hamburger and macaroni dish has been served in our...

My parents have been making spaghetti this way for several years, ever since first learning about this method from watching a Martha Stewart program. Martha apparently got it from some famous chef in New York City. The beauty of this...

Simply Recipes reader Alton Hoover sent me his favorite recipe for lasagna which he has been cooking up since college days. His original recipe created enough lasagna for a small army so I halved it. What is posted here will...

This isn't a quick and easy lasagna. This is a slow and divine lasagna. A memorable lasagna. And we have a reader of Simply Recipes to thank for it. Several months ago a commenter on this site, by the name...

The word primavera refers to being served with fresh vegetables; it is from the Italian (alla) primavera, or (in the) spring (style). Pasta primavera is almost always a simple-to-prepare dish using the fresh vegetables of the season. In spring you...

Canned tuna has never tasted this good. I came across this recipe on Sher's What did you eat? blog, where she got it from the San Francisco Chronicle. You make a sauce for the pasta with tuna, olive oil, garlic...

My mother made a pasta dish the other night that took everyone by surprise. My skinny-as-a-spatula 10-year old nephew who won't eat anything, ate his serving with gusto and asked for more. My carb-avoiding sister couldn't resist it. My father...

With California asparagus selling for less than $4 per pound, they're hard to resist, especially with summer weather knocking on the door. I tore this recipe for pasta with asparagus and ricotta cheese out of the New York Times magazine...

The season for potluck barbecues is here and a quick and easy dish to prepare for a gathering is pesto pasta salad. Spiral pasta catches and hold the bits of basil pesto. You can dress up the pesto and pasta...

My parents took their first trip to Europe a couple years ago, spending a week in the Tuscany region of Italy. They both came back inspired by the Italian food they enjoyed and, as a result started to make many...

Real Bolognese sauce requires hours of simmering. But this quick version will do in a pinch. Recipe found in the Sacramento Bee (they picked it up from the Chicago Tribune). A good, everyday recipe.

A few months ago I prepared macaroni and cheese this way for some young friends in a sly attempt to broaden their Mac-Cheese horizons away from Kraft. At first the girls were tentative, but as there was no other lunch...

This salmon macaroni salad is a delicious variation of your standard tuna macaroni salad.

The Swiss chard I planted last spring survived the winter to vigorously return this year. Last week we made a yogurt dip with the leaves of some swiss chard I picked. The ribs from that bunch went into this dish...

If the heat of the summer is getting to you, this is a lovely spicy pasta salad for a hot day. One recent morning, on a day when the mercury eventually hit 105°F, I made this vermicelli pasta early in...

My father loves to watch cooking shows and is often inspired to try out a new dish he sees prepared on a show. Today he drew inspiration from Weir Cooking in the City a program of public television KQED in...

Okay, pardon me in advance, but I think I've just had a Sandra Lee moment with this dish. Wait, the parsley is fresh from the garden, does that count? Let's look at the ingredients - shrimp (best to get frozen...

What I love about this recipe, other than the ingredients (smoked salmon, pine nuts, yum!) is that it can be pulled together so quickly and it's not particularly heavy, as so many cream sauce pastas can be. There's also room...

Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic who prepared this fabulous salad for us the other day. Big, big hit. ~Elise "Very tangy and sweet! With just enough crunch from the peanuts." "It's so colorful and aromatic, you...

Spaghetti and meatballs, what's there not to love? Spaghetti and meatballs has to be one of the most fun dishes ever invented, at least from a kid's perspective. Mounds of spaghetti, fork twirling strands in a spoon, tasty meatballs, even...

From the recipe archive We've been in a nostalgic mood lately, thinking of some of our favorite dishes from years past. One that my father remembered that my grandmother used to make was a egg noodle ground beef casserole, with...

My father and I have been reminiscing lately about my mom's tuna casserole, the one she used to make in the 60s, with cream of mushroom soup, broccoli, lots of cheese, and a crushed potato chip topping. Mom has only...

Almost every other Friday growing up my mother would serve the family this tuna macaroni salad. With six kids she loved this standard; it was easy to make, filling, relatively inexpensive, and best, we all gobbled it up.

Tetrazzini is an American pasta dish that includes a cream sauce, mushrooms, and either chicken, turkey, or seafood. It is thought to have been invented in San Francisco and named after the famous opera singer of the early 1900s, Luisa...

Vermicelli (*pronounced verm-i-CHELL-ee) is one of my mother's signature dishes. In fact, all one has to do is say the word - vermicelli - around here and eyes light up and hearts warm to the very idea. Also known as...