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A new blog from an editor at Woman's Day magazine about fitness DVD's and exercise gear.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'dinner diary'
Dinner Diary: Egg Noodles with Carrots and Celery
My new thumbnail-sized kitchen has about one-third the storage space of my kitchen in Colorado. This means that the six-boxes-worth of kitchen equipment has to find another home; probably my daughter's closet for now. It also means that I've had to ...
Dinner Diary: Healthy New Year Recipes
Not a day went by during Christmas week without a stomachache, I am heartily ashamed to admit. The fruit bowl, front and center on my kitchen counter, was largely ignored while the cookie tin tucked away in the corner was decimated. It doesn't help ...
Dinner Diary: Veggies and Other Good Things
This week, we're packing up and moving out. As you can imagine, there's not much cooking going on around here, so I've rounded up my favorite dishes from my entries in 2009. I hope you enjoy them. Honestly, this is the way I like to eat most of t...
Dinner Diary: Fish and Seafood
This week, we're packing up and moving out. As you can imagine, there's not much cooking going on around here, so I've rounded up my favorite dishes from my entries in 2009. I hope you enjoy them. Oh, 2009 was the year we discovered fish. The...
Dinner Diary: Beef and Lamb
This week, we're packing up and moving out. As you can imagine, there's not much cooking going on around here, so I've rounded up my favorite dishes from my entries in 2009. I hope you enjoy them. The last couple of years, we've eaten more beef. ...
Dinner Diary: Chicken
This week, we're packing up and moving out. As you can imagine, there's not much cooking going on around here, so I've rounded up my favorite dishes from my entries in 2009. I hope you enjoy them. I thought I did not like chicken, but as I looked ba...
Dinner Diary: Prime Rib
We had a wonderful prime rib for our early Christmas dinner last night; I am beginning to understand why it's the roast that people turn to when they have something to celebrate. We rounded out the meal with twice-baked potatoes, green bean casserol...
Dinner Diary: Thai-Spiced Tomato Soup
When I finally got last week's issue of New York Magazine and saw its soup article, I wanted to tear the thing out and carry it around in my back pocket. Granted, it's a restaurant article, and all the restaurants are a couple thousand miles away, b...
Dinner Diary: Taco Salad
My kids have been a bad influence on me. It's embarrassing, because it's supposed to be the other way around; I should be a good influence on my kids. In this case, I made taco salad in honor of my husband's return. I, however, am not a big lettuce ...
Dinner Diary: Cornflake Wreaths
We always downplayed Santa, but now that my son is in preschool, he is all about Santa. It was incredibly important that we find the perfect cookie recipe for him and I have this awesome book, A Baker's Field Guide to Christmas Cookies, that ga...
Dinner Diary: Sugar-Free Banana Bread
Have I told you about the time I made sugar-free brownies for my diabetic father? I simply substituted an equal amount of Splenda for the sugar. They smelled wonderful and came out of the oven brown and inviting. One bite, though, and my dad's face ...
Dinner Diary: Sugar-Free Banana Bread
Have I told you about the time I made sugar-free brownies for my diabetic father? I simply substituted an equal amount of Splenda for the sugar. They smelled wonderful and came out of the oven brown and inviting. One bite, though, and my dad's ...
Dinner Diary: Pork and Broccoli Stir-Fry
I have discovered that I am a terrible multitasker. I guess I've known that for a long time, since I started a job as a copy editor about a decade ago and realized what a relief it was to be able to sit and stare at one thing for 20 minutes, 30 minu...
Dinner Diary: Beef Quesadillas and Beef and Noodles
I have been so enthusiastic about the leftover pot roast in my fridge that my ideas for its use have outlasted the meat itself. Yesterday I threw together these quesadillas for lunch, then for dinner we had a family favorite, beef with Grandma's egg...
Dinner Diary: Pot Roast with Carrots and Potatoes
If you hire a babysitter, frozen pizzas and mac and cheese may be sufficient. But if your childcare is free and involves the folks who raised you, sometimes it's nice to do something a little more elaborate (but just a little). My parents watched th...
Dinner Diary: Chocolate Chip Cookies
I know, you all are pulling out the cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest and sugar sprinkles. You're twisting dough into candy-cane shapes and filling sandwich cookies with jewel-toned jam. You're stirring, stirring, stirring bubbling pots of homemade cara...
Dinner Diary: Stuffed Baked Potatoes
After making my way through one of the stuffed baked potatoes we had for dinner last night, I decided that a good stuffed baked potato needs some kind of liquid-ish thing: some chili or cheese sauce or salsa. I also thought these could be improved b...
Dinner Diary: Lentil Soup
Well, the illness continues, and so does the soup. I promise tomorrow we will have something different, although I doubt it will be very ambitious. Whenever I get the chance I lie around and moan, my own little pity party. Right now this thing has s...
Dinner Diary: Sweet Potato Soup
I have been felled by the same ailment that turned my son into a limp ball of misery last week. Chills, fever (which, mercifully, passed quickly) and now a vicious cough. So yesterday after I dropped the kids off at my parents' house I came home to ...
Dinner Diary: Toasted Turkey and Brie Sandwiches with Cranberry Chutney
I don't mean to sound bah-humbug, but I am glad Thanksgiving is over. I love preparing the feast, with everyone bustling in the kitchen or setting the table. I love eating the feast, drinking wine and groaning over how much we've eaten. I love it th...
Dinner Diary: Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken noodle soup is always an obvious choice for me for dinner, and never more so than when one of my kids is sick. I have to admit that my son didn't eat much of it; this fever has sapped his energy and his appetite. We're on a roller coaster he...
Dinner Diary: Sweet Potato and Barley Pilaf
Thank goodness we celebrated my son's birthday early, on Sunday night. Yesterday he began his 6th year of life with a fever. He lay around mostly limp, cheeks flaming red, all day. Around dinnertime his discomfort reached an apex, and he fussed and ...
Dinner Diary: Southwestern Chicken and Rice Casserole
I'm not going to share the recipe for this casserole, which we had for dinner last night, with you. Despite cooking an additional 30 minutes (tacked on to the original 45) at a higher temperature, a lot of the rice never cooked. Plus, the rice on th...
Dinner Diary: Stovetop Mac and Cheese with Chicken
Right off the bat I want to admit that my nearly-5-year-old wept when I set this homemade mac and cheese in front of him. He used to love mac and cheese made from scratch, but now only that powdered cheese sauce will do. Then he gagged when I insist...
Dinner Diary: Braised Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Walnuts
These were astonishing. I approached the recipe in New York Magazine with some skepticism, especially about the pumpkin pie spice in there (I used what I had, allspice and cinnamon), but it all came together beautifully in the end. You can tell it...
Dinner Diary: Squash, Barley and Beef Stew
This stew is of the kitchen-sink variety, a little bit of everything I needed to use up in my fridge: chuck roast, roasted squash and caramelized onions. I thought the barley would go nicely with the beef, so that was my starch of choice. My children...
Dinner Diary: Hard Cider–Braised Pot Roast
It's time to start tackling those big cuts of beef in my freezer, and one of the best ways to do it is to crack open Molly Stevens' All About Braising. This recipe is a pretty basic roast, but the braising liquid includes 1/4 cup hard apple cider. I...
Dinner Diary: Cajun Beans and Rice
Making this for dinner last night brought back memories for me. A new marriage, a terrible little basement apartment, hot and sour soup over rice, Greek cafes, riding the subway into Manhattan on Friday evenings with all the other Friday-night revel...
Dinner Diary: Bean and Squash Tacos
This combination was a little strange to my guests, who opted to pile on the other fillings I provided: ground beef, avocado, shredded cheese, salsa. However, I wanted to try a fall twist on tacos, so I heated up the beans and squash I made this wee...
Dinner Diary: Broccoli-Cheddar Strudel
After making fillo-wrapped salmon, I was left with most of a package of fillo open in the fridge, and as a result I inadvertently stumbled upon a trick for making fillo easier to work with. I had dampened a paper towel and covered the unused fillo w...
