Bento Box filled with healthy fun for one

Yum-Yum Bento Box How long does it take to fix a school lunch? For the experienced parent, good at keeping chips or the equivalent, fruit and veggies, a sandwich and a treat, maybe two minutes. That’s unless the peanut butter has separated or the jelly cowers at the unreachable bottom of the jar. It’s a […]

Second-chance lasagna

I’ve been making excuses forever not to give lasagna a chance.  The noodle dish was on the menu at the restaurant where I worked for several years, and I can’t recall anyone ever ordering it twice or remarking on how good it was. This particular lasagna just wasn’t anything to get excited over or to justify adding to the calorie count […]

I Hate to Cook . . . the book

The Cookery welcomes Jane Manaster who shares this guest post with all of us. Many thanks, Jane! The I Hate to Cook Book, New York, Grand Central, 2010. Fiftieth anniversary edition. Even those of us who enjoy cooking run out of ideas sometimes. When Peg Bracken published her I Hate to Cook Book, it wasn’t […]

Gramma’s Recipes

My mother-in-law has never been fond of cooking. Nobody starved as she raised four healthy sons, and one of her resources remains the frozen food aisle along with that old stand-by, deli sandwiches. She hails from a multi-generational line of semi-cooks. Her mother, still the life of the party at 95, can entertain like few […]

Praline recipe passes test of Austin pecan expert

Once I stood in line in the grocery store behind a woman whose cart had a pretty ho-hum selection – except for the fourteen boxes of butterscotch pudding. I couldn’t resist asking why she was buying so many and she told me that she lived in Marble Falls and couldn’t buy them there. What an […]

As for food . . . weekend recommendation from Austin’s Addie Broyles

Note to Austin locals: If you’re in town this weekend and able to check out the Texas Book Festival, consider today’s recommendation from Austin’s Addie Broyles to secure a seat at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the cooking tent to experience a little of the culinary wisdom of Lidia Bastianich. You may or may not recognize […]

Cookbook release . . . Modern Spice

“Modern Spice,” a new cookbook with inspired Indian flavors by Monica Bhide, will hit shelves next week. The Cookery would love to add this one to the collection. Monica offers cooking encouragement with a subtle approach. Read her recipes and give them a chance. We tested Monica’s Butternut Squash, Coconut and Lamb Stew back in February to headline […]

Second-hand cookbooks measure up

Second-hand cookbooks Second-hand cookbooks measure up if you give them a chance. The Cookery extends a grateful thanks across Austin to a book treasure hunter, our friend Jane, for the latest acquisition for our collection. Middle Eastern, vegetarian, French or light and easy, we’ve learned not to snub our noses at used cookbooks. Looking to pick up a […]

Straw and Hay from the Frugal Gourmet

If you want to celebrate simplicity around your table this time of year, you may like breaking bread with The Magi, The Camel and the Little Lamb. I’m browsing “The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas.” Though I don’t own this cookbook (it’s currently on loan from the Austin Public Library) and never really knew much of […]