recipes that are simple and delicious.

If there is one thing that my children and I agree on for a late night snack, it has got to be the soft pretzel. This snack was something I grew up with and it is something enjoyable to reflect on those childhood memories when I would ask my parents if I could have a [...]

Game day was quickly approaching this past weekend, and as I always do, we try to not schedule anything during that time on Sunday, and we focus on food, laundry, and getting the kids ready the school week. My priority was food, and when we are watching our favorite team, we want that game time [...]

I admit that I took eleven years of Spanish class, so I can quickly bust out the title of this recipe known as chiles toreados. Translated to English, it simply means roasted jalapeños, but not just any roasted jalapeño pepper in my opinion. I first noticed these roasted jalapeño peppers while dining at the counter [...]

Two things I love in the morning are bacon and coffee. With that said, I decided to make some bacon jam. You heard that right, bacon jam. I am always asking my kids what they want to eat over the weekend, and time and time again, the answer I always get from my oldest is, [...]

One day I was cruising through one of our grocery stores in town and noticed a prepackaged cheese ball in one of the displays. I quickly investigated the cheese ball, and thought to myself, how boring. The ingredients were basically cream cheese and nuts. It was confirmed, boring. So after some quick thought into the [...]

If you have never heard of an arepa before, well, let me introduce you to this wonderful new thing. An arepa is probably one of the simplest things to make, and it is basically masa, water, a bit of salt, and a bit of oil, and once mixed, and formed into a biscuit like shape, it [...]

Maybe some of you have once heard about a Mexican hot dog, and might have questioned it, much like I did. I recall seeing a show on television and they were talking about Mexican hot dogs, somewhere in the southwest portion of the United States. What it ended up being, and don’t get me wrong, [...]

Many of you have probably had crab rangoon at your local American Chinese restaurant. I place and emphasis on the word American as many Chinese restaurants probably would never include these on their menu. However, us Americans found comfort when we did see them on a menu, and have frequently ordered them upon most any [...]

If you have never experienced larb in any of your favorite Thai restaurants, you must. Larb is typically seen in an appetizer section, or possibly a salad section of a menu. Larb can be done using pork, beef, or chicken, and when you make with any of these meats, you will understand the simple, yet [...]

I don’t know what I have been loving more lately. Could it be the smell and taste of caramelized onions, or the process of making homemade bacon? Whatever the answer is to that question remains a mystery in my house, but I can tell you that I simply love caramelized onions, and bacon. I did not [...]

For the past couple of months I have been tinkering with the thoughts of making some Korean food. I cannot say that Korean food is very popular in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and as a matter of fact, I think there might only be one Korean restaurant in the city. Many years ago, while I was living [...]

I do not know what came over me on this recipe, but I think I was thinking of the Thai fish balls I made some time ago. If you have never tried that recipe, I encourage you. Simple, and nothing but delicious and packed with flavor, I wanted to make something different for my wife [...]

I’ve probably told this story a time or two, but when I moved back to Milwaukee, one of the first restaurants my wife and I ate at, only taking a moment to open the door to our new apartment, was a Chinese/American restaurant on the east side of Milwaukee. The restaurant was slow on that [...]

We were fortunate enough to have more family move back to Wisconsin. My brother and sister-in-law recently moved here from Chicago in a quaint little neighborhood located near some really fun restaurants, and one in particular called Cafe Hollander. After we first visited their home, we all decided to have dinner at the restaurant that is [...]

There are many times when I often think to myself, ‘it would be nice to go out tonight and have an array of tapas’. Some times you just want to be cooked for, and further more, sample small bites. Small bites are typically not found in my household, primarily due to the fact that I [...]

It was only a week ago when I decided to make a Cuban marinade for a pork shoulder. What I was going to do with the pork shoulder when I was done cooking it was a completely different story. I just knew I wanted pork that would be infused with a great garlic, and citrus [...]

One of the few things I disliked while growing up were mushrooms. I wanted nothing to do with them. That, and pasta with red sauce. It was not until later in life, much later, when I truly began to love mushrooms, and in particular, portabella mushrooms. The things I have always loved about the portabella [...]

Many of us growing up probably had that night out of the week where breakfast was being served for dinner. I know when I was growing up, it was a fairly exciting night to have breakfast for dinner. Maybe it was the idea that we were going to have bacon, or pancakes with that bacon, [...]

It was many years ago when I first encountered what is called siao pao (show pow). I immediately fell in love with these. They are basically steamed buns filled with a meat mixture. It is the bun portion that I fell in love with however. The texture is unlike any other bun. It is soft, [...]

Almost every time I go to a party there is the standard chips and dips sitting out on a table or counter and almost everyone swipes a chip into this store bought dip, and repeats. What always surprises me is that it is always store bought dip. You know the types. A french onion dip [...]

I had a craving for something different lately. I think it could have been the idea of a flatbread, or maybe it was hummus, or something to eat with ajvar that I had recently made. I know we all get this way at times, and we need to fill that craving pretty immediately. Fortunately, I [...]

If you have never heard of cambozola before, well… now you have. I encountered this cheese when I was thinking of ideas to make for a wine party. In my case, I used the cheese on one of my crostini appetizers, and ever since then, I was hooked. This cheese is unlike most cheeses. I [...]

The word ajvar is probably a word that many of us have never heard of before. It is a word that I bring to you today, and it is a word of Serbian decent. I am not too certain where I came across the name ajvar, but it did catch my attention when I began [...]

It happens every Friday at my work, and probably every day at work, where we end up discussing what we are cooking during the weekend. Typically someone is grilling, and another person is smoking food, but this conversation led to one of my coworkers planning an upcoming party. He was asking me for a simple [...]

Now that’s a mouthful. Beer braised rib tips with barbecue beer sauce. As you can see, beer is the theme for this recipe, and well, rib tips are probably one of my favorite things to eat. I came up with this recipe, believe it or not, after eating some rib tips at one of my [...]

Baseball season has ended for my kids, and that brings some disappointed not only to my kids, but also to me. Sure, I loved watching my boys get a hit or make a good play, but I also enjoyed the company around me. If there was one topic that was always being discussed, it was [...]

It was not too long ago when one of my readers had commented on my Indian fry bread recipe informing me that it reminded her of Salbutes. That alone intrigued me to find out more information about what the heck a salbute was. After some quick research, I learned that a salbute is a lightly fried [...]

Sometimes we just run out of time throughout the day. Am I correct? What sometimes can get even more crazy is when we are invited to a party and need to bring a dish. Whether it be an appetizer, side dish, or main course, we are always pinched for time, and the last thing we [...]

There are plenty of things I do not know regarding certain fruits and vegetables, and that is always exciting to me. For example, this thing called a kohlrabi. I have been visiting our local farmers market every Saturday morning, typically when the kids are still sleeping, and that time allows for me to take my [...]

If you have been following my recipes for the last couple of weeks, you probably came across one of my appetizers that I coined the smoked steak crostini. Everything about that appetizer, really, simply put, was pretty darn amazing. I do not say that because I made it, but it really was amazing. Another crostini [...]

For the past several weeks, I have been on a salsa making frenzy. I was jarring it up and giving it to neighbors, and pretty much eating a variety of salsa with pretty much anything around me. I had thought I had mastered my red salsa until I tweaked a few ingredients, added a bit [...]

Last week we attended our first wine tasting in town. I am not sure if I was more excited to taste a variety of Sonoma red wines, or be able to sample really great cheeses that the guests would be bringing. I later found out it was both! As I pondered what to make for [...]

Not too long ago, we stopped for lunch at a new burger joint in Milwaukee. Oscar’s Pub and Grill has a fairly decent menu and pretty good food. One of the menu items that stood out to me was the ‘Big Basket’ which included basically an array of fried foods. But there was something that [...]

One of the many things I experienced while living in Dallas, Texas was Thai food. When I started my career with a great company called Big Hand Productions, I hooked up with one of the audio engineers, Kevin, and we would often hang out after hours. Our hang outs typically involved dining at his favorite [...]

I have been on a salsa making kick for nearly three weeks now, and as I have made been making, or should I say experimenting, with salsas for a number of years, I believe I have locked into three recipes that are now my go to salsas. I might even call them sauces, because they [...]

My new tool in the kitchen is the mandoline. If you are a foodie and are in the kitchen, and do not have a mandoline, you need one. I say you need one because it is the ultimate tool when it comes to slicing. Precise slicing. I consider myself an amateur when it comes to [...]

I always find it funny when gathering with friends, colleagues, or neighbors, and see where discussions take you. Often times I am embedded in conversations regarding food and recipes (go figure), and I always find enjoyment in that. I am often surprised about how genuine folks are when discussing food as well. There is actual [...]

Tacos have been on my mind for a long time now. Well, they are always on my mind to be honest. Tacos have been probably on my top three things I would want to eat everyday, and the reason is an obvious one. It is because you can fill a taco, soft corn tortillas, lightly [...]

Lately I have been tinkering with homemade chips. I know, I know, why not just buy the store bought chips and be done with it, right? The fact of the matter is I do buy store bought chips, typically nice tortilla chips for my wife and I, an array of chips for the kids, and [...]

I find my creativity in cooking when I am surrounded by certain things. These things typically include hungry family and friends, or it is leftover meals that need to be used up rather quickly. This past vacation, of which my family really needed, resulted in a lot of cooking for roughly 15 family members for [...]

It was not too long ago where my family and I decided to all hop into the van and drive eighteen hours to South Carolina. We have taken a handful of road trips over the last few years, and for the most part the kids do really well for about seven hours, and then, the [...]

Do you ever get that craving for something fried, and something that you typically only order out, but wish you could make at home? I know I do. And when I get that feeling, well, I typically try to recreate the experience, the flavor, and the texture, which typically yields positive results at a much [...]

I am a sucker when it comes to olives. Simply put, I like them a lot. Olives have that perfect salty and briney flavor that goes perfect with certain dishes. I typically only have olives around the holidays for some odd reason, or used in a Greek salad, and with that said, I love kalamata [...]

It was not too long ago when a new Asian market opened up a few miles from our house, and as always, I was pretty darn excited. Granted the distance was the same to this new store as it would have been to any other Asian market in town, but this one was special. This [...]

I am a big fan of hummus. I believe I first encountered hummus at a Whole Foods in Dallas, Texas. I dabbled in the premade Middle Eastern dip, and immediately fell in love with the texture, flavor, and the fact that you could pretty much dip anything into it and have it still be just [...]