default dinners

go-to recipes, family favorites, familiar standbys. we all have them.

At last, chicken curry I can trust.

04/20/2007 | 10 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food.

Get in line, huh? Who isn’t making curry? Who doesn’t have a curry dish that they love and make time and again? [Uncomfortable silence]… me? I have been determined to find a curry that will keep my palate happy. Not amused, befuddled or bored, but genuinely satisfied. Like every bite was worthwhile and “I am so glad there is some left for lunch tomorrow satisfied.” The weeknight version of curry… [more]

default dinner: Hoisin Ginger Pork

04/16/2007 | 8 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food.

You know I am a sucker for easy meals—the kind my family will eat again and again—so no shock should register on your face when I bring you yet another easy to make, family pleasing recipe.I was tipped off to this easy recipe via… Kristen’s Dine and Dish… who got it from Kirsten’s Home Cooking. Ah, the power of the net landing… [more]

Veal Scallopini w/lemon & capers

03/27/2007 | 14 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food.

I was afraid to try my hand at veal scallopini. I think I was intimidated to attempt this restaurant stalwart, the ‘unavoidable signature dish’ that reflects the caliber of food at a given restaurant. To gauge an Italian restaurant, I order—with a mix of trepidation and genuine anticipation—veal scallopini. Or in a pinch, I order the other ‘standard Italian’ dish: lasagna (somewhere in my head I hear my husband’s… [more]

default dinner: Italian sausages & sweet roasted peppers

02/28/2007 | 18 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food.

So what is a default dinner you ask? Here is a hint: another default dinner is the Buttermilk Parmesan Chicken. Here is the answer: a cheesy way for me to say: ‘even a kid could make it,’ or ’5 minutes of effort for 50 minutes of praise,’ or ‘meals that make themselves,’ or my favorite: ‘weak-night’ meals—for nights when you are out of time, energy… [more]

buttermilk parmesan chicken tenders

02/02/2007 | 12 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food.

So easy! And when the brain is going on fumes in deciding ‘what’s for dinner,’ this round of chicken is the perfect answer. In fact, as I write this, my 11 year old son is in the kitchen making this. There are days… and sometimes weeks, where my kitchen repertoire and responsibilities go on autopilot. This is when I reach for my list of tried-and-true, never-be-blue dishes. Meals that are… [more]

On Top of Spaghetti

01/21/2007 | 17 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food.

On top of Spaghetti All covered with cheese I lost my poor meatball When somebody sneezed It rolled off the table And onto the floor And then my poor meatball Rolled out of the door It rolled in the garden And under a bush And then my poor meatball Was nothing but mush The mush was as tasty As tasty could be, And then the next summer, It grew… [more]

Malabar Hanger Steak & Ginger Carrot Puree

01/11/2007 | 7 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food., vegetables

This is not my own, this recipe evokes a family-wide bow to Food & Wine. In their January 2007 magazine, Food & Wine delivered this easy to make, family-friendly dish. Perhaps their intent was restaurant fare, as a famous chef (Bruce Sherman: Food & Wine Best New Chef 2003) delivered this most impressive concoction. But my interpretation is this: it is… [more]

Italian layered dish

01/07/2007 | 6 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food., Italian food

I cannot call this a casserole. I grew up eating casseroles, subject to that generation of mothers who cooked with Campbells cans of soup, found Tupperware to be the rage and added crushed Ritz crackers or canned, fried onions to the top of—you guessed it—casseroles. (But I love you mom, and I still make that green bean mushroom soup fried onion topped casserole for Thanksgiving every year—and gobble accordingly).… [more]

Amazing Macaroni & Cheese

12/07/2006 | 14 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food., freezer, starch

Yes—I too ate the boxed version of macaroni and cheese in college. I would add smokies and/or broccoli to give it a little color and flavor (my other main indulgence was making Big Gulp size lattes on the $30 Krups espresso machine, back in the day we actually thought it was ‘expresso’). For the record, I would read Gourmet and Bon Apetit magazines while eating said boxed macaroni and cheese.… [more]

To pork. To pork!

09/21/2006 | 4 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, food.

I had one of those moments where I was frantically searching the top of the dinner table for anything to sop up the sauce from my creamy honey dijon garlic thyme pork… but no bread, so I had to settle for spooning the excess sauce onto new potatoes and edamame. At least it was mannered; my other option was to slurp. There is a reason pork is a noun… [more]