Last summer, we had so much basil we didn't know what to do with it.  We literally couldn't eat the stuff fast enough. This summer, it's been slim pickin's. Last summer, we made fresh pesto all the time, including a massive batch to freeze at the end, which made for some perfect weeknight meals all…

Today marks two weeks since I've had any caffeinated coffee!  This 30-Day Challenge has definitely made me realize one thing–30 days is a long time.  When I first committed to this, I was worried that it wouldn't really be enough time to break the habit.  But let me tell you, these first two weeks have…

I like to think that lasagna is one of the foods that put me on the culinary map. Maybe not any culinary map you've ever looked at, but at least my friends and family's maps. The lasagna I've learned to make is the very authentic lasagne bolognese al forno, completely from scratch, with fresh pasta noodles, all-day simmered meat sauce, and creamy bechamel in the place of the more modern ricotta cheese. It's really an amazing dish, and I'll still be able to have it by replacing the meat with, say, mushrooms, but even then it won't be a dish any doctor could recommend and still sleep well at night.

I'm back, healthy foodies, with the promised roasted tomato pasta recipe! Over the weekend I found a fun recipe in a magazine, then Erin saw a different one on TV, and we decided to combine the two to form one super-recipe. We Americans have grown so accustomed to the pasta-with-grilled-chicken (or some other meat) dish…

Here's today's recipe, again from Fine Cooking.  And it's by Pamela Anderson, so it's got that going for it.  You'll notice that the recipe uses prosciutto, which is really good if you're into that sort of thing, but of course we made it without.  The other deviations we made:  substituting a canola/olive oil blend for…