When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade.

But when life hands you a 2-day-old baguette, a freshly opened bottle of Maker’s Mark and five delicious snowbound days, you make Bourbon Bread Pudding. With a warm, buttery bourbon sauce. And bourbon-soaked raisins.

It’s the sort of dessert you want to curl up around and savor while you watch the snow fall. Or read a book. Or watch “The Matrix” trilogy from start to finish in its entirety. Read More…

Here in Nashville, there’s a certain low-frequency buzz. And if you’re quiet and listen very hard, you’ll hear the sounds that make up that buzz – the electronic bleeps of grocery cash registers ringing up hot chocolate and popcorn, the rumble of salt trucks and the fervently whispered prayers of thousands of kids (and their teachers) – because, OMG, SNOW IS IN THE FORECAST.

Four inches. This Friday.

To many of you, that’s nothing. A dusting. A joke. But here? Any accumulation is cause for celebration. And an excellent excuse for making a chocolate chip cookie bigger than your head. Something fun to bake, break and nibble while you watch the big flakes fall.

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Back in the days of my Bachelor Girl apartment, I read one of those “step outside your box!” articles and decided to give “sleep naked!” a try. My bedroom was three floors over the parking lot, so there was no reason to break out my giant martini glass and work up a Burlesque routine. Nope. I just shimmied out of my clothes, hopped into bed and waited to greet the morning.

Only the morning greeted me first.

I woke up to a row of construction workers standing on the roof of the building across from mine, looking down through my blinds at my naked-naked self.

However, I still believe that trying new things is always a win-win situation. If all goes well, you’ve added something new to your repertoire. And if something goes awry, you’ve got a great story. Either way, you become an even more fascinating person. So, here’s a new experience for you: making panna cotta. Read More…

Some things just inspire curiosity. The Apple Tablet. Lady Gaga. Jamie Oliver’s Red Grape Pizza.

I saw this recipe on Jamie’s website and just kept coming back to it. Mini-pizzas brushed with rosemary and olive oil and topped with blistered (but still juicy) red grapes, a drizzle of honey and some bite, courtesy of a liberal amount of shaved Pecorino. The sort of fruit-and-herb combination you won’t find at Domino’s, no matter what they say about that new formula.

The flavors are complex, but the recipe is simple and ripe for variations. Add a few walnuts or pine nuts for a little crunch. Maybe some shallots to take things more savory. Replace the Pecorino with goat cheese, feta or blue cheese. You could even ditch the honey and trade the grapes for cherry tomatoes. I won’t tell Jamie.

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When it comes to dips, I’m an equal opportunity glutton. Warm spinach and artichoke? Yes. Ro-Tel® Queso? Can’t pass it up. French onion? Give us some privacy.

But every once in a while, you find a dip that transcends the genre, and for me, that’s Seven Layer Dip. Black beans, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), chunky guacamole, fresh salsa, scallions, cheese and cilantro. It’s like a bean burrito in a bowl. And by that, I mean it’s like Heaven.

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Do you remember in “Steel Magnolias” when Shelby (Julia Roberts) says, “I would rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special”?

That’s how I feel about dessert.

After spending this week trying healthier options, I can honestly say I’d rather have a spoonful of Banana Pudding than a metric ton of Quinoa Fruit Pudding.

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It’s been cold and gray for days on end here, and that has me craving vegetables. Not sensible wintry root vegetables but bold, bright, summery, grows-in-the-sun vegetables. Sunshine-get-in-mah-belleh vegetables. Red peppers and zucchini and summer squash. Vegetables that are notta so hotta right now.

Unless you roast them.

Roasting these out-of-season vegetables intensifies their flavors, bringing the best out of even the puniest squash. Just slice and cube your favorites until they fill a half baking sheet, and toss them with olive oil, garlic and seasonings. Ahhhh.

But then what do you do with all that goodness?

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This popcorn will set your soul on fire.

That’s a good thing if you’re like me, and you like to crunch mass quantities of things when you are a.) anxious, b.) stressed, c.) frustrated or d.) home with the sniffles, watching the all-day Elvis movie marathon on TMC. You can’t eat a ton of this popcorn without gulping several glasses of water (or, even better, a glass of milk), since it’s tossed with a searing mix of spices: chili powder, cumin, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. A few pieces are pleasantly tingly. A few handfuls will turn your mouth into a blazing inferno.

If super-spicy isn’t your style, you can still experiment with other spice mixes to add loads of flavor to your popcorn. Replace the chili powder and cumin with garlic and onion powders for a Cajun corn. Take out the hot stuff, and add Italian seasonings and a little Parmesan for an Italian version. Try wasabi powder. Curry. Pumpkin pie spice. Your choices are only limited by your imagination. And if you draw a blank, there’s always butter. Read More…

So, you’ve managed to eat this and not that, your willpower is at its zenith, and you’re starting to think maybe Jillian Michaels should be calling you for tips. THAT’S when it strikes. A chocolate craving so intense you start feeling around in the cabinets for loose chocolate chips. You debate the merits of just making a pan of brownies and snorting them with a straw.

OK, deep cleansing breaths. You are not comic-strip Cathy. (ACK!!) At least, that’s what I told myself last night when I was ready to trade my car for a peanut butter cup. Seriously.

I was flipping through my cookbooks, looking for SOMETHING that might tame the beast without leaving me with an entire batch of cookies, candy or cake lying around. And that’s when I stumbled on this Chocolate Orange Fondue. Read More…

Hello, you magnificent example of humanity! Did you have a spectacular New Year’s? Join the Polar Bear Club? Make any resolutions?

I know, lots of people don’t “believe” in resolutions. But what if – instead of swearing to lose this and quit that and organize everything – what if we resolve to do something fun? Plan our own film festivals. Master the chopsticks. Learn how to mix a monthly cocktail (or bake a pie). Take a weekly self-portrait. Fill a piñata with strange and wonderful things, and give it to a friend. Spring for concert tickets. Plan a road trip. Check out a new restaurant once a month. Go skinny-dipping. Keep the party going until everyone gets hungry for breakfast. Make out at the drive-in. Open an Etsy shop. Surprise the kids with our own killah Nerf guns, and show no mercy. Start planning our “Jersey Shore” Halloween costumes. Figure out what to do with agave nectar.

You get the idea. You’re perfect the way you are, so resolve to do something that actually gets you excited about the big, juicy year ahead. Oh, and learn how to make risotto. It scares people, but all it requires is a little patience. Think of adding each ladleful of vegetable stock to the risotto the same way you would add juice to a toddler’s sippy-cup. Wait until the rice has almost absorbed each small amount of stock before you add more to the pot, and keep stirring. Gently. And don’t stop until your name’s on a blimp! Go, 2010!

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