As Memorial Day approaches, a weekend bound to be filled with good food, great friends, and lots of laughter, it’s increasingly important to plan ahead for your outdoor entertaining festivities. From safe grilling practices to hydration tricks, we’ve rounded up our top five tips to ensure that you and your family remain safe and healthy throughout the holiday weekend. 1. Stay […]

Last month I catered a reception for about 30 friends, and made enough to feed an army. More accurately, I made enough to feed a half-starved army of giants with Olympic-sized appetites. It was far, far too much, leaving me with vats of hummus, enough carrot sticks to circle the globe, and enough cheese biscuits to make Paula Dean blush. […]

So many people think vanilla = plain. One dimensional. The career back-up singer in a dessert with stronger, sexier, Tina Turner-like ingredients. The choice to resort to when you’ve got picky eaters with sad, unadventurous palates. But once you let vanilla go solo, and let it be the best it can be… whoa. Vanilla is native to tropical America, and […]

The most important thing to remember when storing wine: “Don’t let it get hot,” says wine expert Scott Atkinson. Atkinson, who is a wine consultant at Western Supermarket in Mountain Brook, Alabama, where he manages over 3,000 wines, says the last place your wine needs to be is in your kitchen. That’s because temperatures tend to fluctuate when you cook, […]

Today is my most favorite day of the food calendar year. More than any other celebrated food… today is my day. It’s national chocolate chip cookie day. True confession: I am a chocolate chip cookie fanatic. Giving in to my deep dark chocolate desires is not an uncommon practice for me – and these famous cookies certainly fit the bill. […]

Some of the recipes that excited me most as we worked on Cooking Light Chill — a book of smoothies, slushes, shakes, juices, drinks, and ices — are time travels in a glass, inducing nostalgia and smiles. One is based on an old-fashioned concoction that’s making a comeback among foodies and drink enthusiasts: A shrub, made of fruit juice and vinegar. […]

Every book has a behind-the-scenes, “wish I could have put that in!” element that didn’t make it in the final published version for one reason or another. Kinda like deleted movie scenes. (At least it makes for better DVD bonuses, or in this case, a blog post.) I’ve got a couple behind-the-scenes stories to share about Cooking Light Chill, our […]