Fluffernutters can be taken to a whole new level with this homemade version of the childhood favorite Marshmallow Fluff. more ›

Quinoa. You might not know how to pronounce it, but you have probably seen it on a menu or two or in the health food section of your local grocery store. To the untrained eye, it looks like a grain . . . almost like rice. But cooks and healthy eating aficionados know that it is something more. Quinoa is an ancient and nearly perfect food, as good for you as it is good tasting. As the fight against obesity and unhealthy diets ratchets up, we think you are going to be seeing and eating a lot more of it in the days ahead. more ›

Carnivale University - the fantastic mash-up of a name the Chicago restaurant has given its occasional classes in mixology, Latin cooking and entertaining - met again on Wednesday evening for a basic introduction to the Mojito. Led by head bartender and house mixologist Daryl Freeman, Mojitos 101 gave the crowd of 50 or so students the tools and know-how to whip up this classic, fresh, fair-weather rum cocktail at home. more ›

Getting Fresh is a seasonal exploration of fresh herbs. From cultivation to cooking, join us as we get our hands dirty and add a little extra spice to life. If you have any favorite uses for the herbs we cover or questions, please share them in the comments section. more ›

Getting Fresh is a seasonal exploration of fresh herbs. From cultivation to cooking, join us as we get our hands dirty and add a little extra spice to life. more ›

You might look at that headline and think, "Canning? Simple? You must be kidding." That's what we thought until we tried it - turns out it's simple, fun and surprisingly rewarding. You don't need expertise, fancy equipment or anything else - just a few hours of free time and some fresh veggies. You barely even need a recipe - trial and error is probably the best approach, with some basic principles. You also get the intense satisfaction of looking at rows of neatly labeled jars sitting in your pantry. We canned cucumbers and carrots - this is the recipe for the cucumbers, but we're glad to provide more! more ›

Executive Chef Michael Reich and Sous Chef Daniel Nemtusak of the Chicago Renaissance Hotel graciously put together a clambake recipe, instructions, and demonstration to show you, loyal readers, how to do this at home. Enjoy! more ›

Maybe you're making our simple roasted chicken and need some sides. Want to see what we made? We did a simple rainbow chard and some roasted parsnips. more ›

Okay, so, we've covered how to roast a chicken. But what if you're dumb? Here are the cliff notes: Buy chicken. Salt chicken. Put in 450 degree oven for an hour. Done. more ›

Sometimes, it's the simplest things that require a little bit of instruction. Even experienced cooks can be flummoxed by small tasks, and almost everyone has a kitchen "pet peeve;" some task that they avoid or try to pass on to someone else. For a long time, chopping basil was one of ours. It seemed like we were just pounding our knife against the cutting board with practically no results. Occasionally, a watery green line would appear on the leaf and once in a while it would come apart, probably from sheer exhaustion or boredom. more ›

We like bleu cheese salad dressing but never quite enough to warrant purchasing a bottle. This meant we enjoyed it while out to eat or not at all. But that changed when we saw how simple it was to make. We were browsing through Get Cooking by Mollie Katzen (which we reviewed here) and found the recipe: 1 cup buttermilk, 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup crumbled bleu cheese. A head of iceberg lettuce and a few turns of the pepper grinder and we were sitting down to a classic iceberg wedge with bleu cheese dressing. (Wondering what the heck to do with all of that leftover lowfat buttermilk? We made the American Heart Association's Irish Soda bread with it from the AHA's cookbook.) Instructions in the captions. more ›

A man suspected of stealing items out of a Jeep Cherokee -- with the help of a self-written how to guide -- was ordered to be held on a $125,000 bail Saturday. more ›

Roast chicken is the perfect fall dish - It's hearty, it warms up the kitchen and it uses only root vegetables that can be stored in your fridge for months. It's a great dish for a workday evening because there actually isn't very much effort involved - your oven does most of the work. Roasting a chicken is one of the easiest things that you can do in the kitchen, and somehow it's been turned into a complicated and magical process by cooking magazines and recipe books. Follow the pictures (the instructions are in the captions) and you'll be set to roast a great bird. more ›

A really excellent Caesar salad is a dish that separates the decent home cook from the great one. We've all had the bad Caesar - pre-cut lettuce from a bag, brown at the edges, drowning in a sauce with too much mayo and not enough flavor. Never again! If you can take just a few ingredients and treat them very nicely, you can make a starter that will have your friends and family glowing with happiness. Or, you can scarf it all down yourself. The instructions are in the photo captions, but a quick opening note: This salad can be customized any way you like. In the style of an authentic Caesar, we used an egg (boiled for 1 minute), rather than mayo. We did not add anchovies, as the original recipe uses Worchestershire sauce, which has anchovy paste. If you want to bulk the salad up, feel free to add some homemade croutons. Most of all, keep tossing - a great Caesar must be well blended. more ›

On Friday night, we dined at MK and had one of the best seared scallops we've ever eaten. Perfectly seared with a golden brown crust. We wanted to know if we could come close to re-creating this at home. We gave it a go and found that it wasn't as difficult as we thought! Directions in the photo captions. And, if you have a favorite way to eat your seared scallops, let us know and we'll try to re-create the dish. Step 1 begins with the second picture. Enjoy! more ›