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In the Kitchen

  • It’s a crab boil! Dinner has never been easier

    It’s soft shell crab season in many parts of the U.S. right now and if you haven’t taken advantage of that yet, I strongly recommend doing so!

    Sweet, delicate crab meat is so delicious. It’s also an excellent source of nutrients, protein and those important Omega 3s. Crab is also a low risk seafood for mercury — great news!

    Now back to the crab boil.

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  • When school’s out, teaching about food

    Pop quiz: How do you get kids to eat just about anything?

    Answer: You get them involved in the kitchen.

    There’s no surefire guarantee that your kids will eat something they have had a hand in preparing, but it absolutely increases the odds of them trying and liking a dish.

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  • Top tips for grilled fruits and vegetables

    I shared some tips with you a couple weeks ago about grilling meats but there’s more to summer barbecue season than burgers and steaks!

    Why turn on the stove to cook your veggies when you have a perfectly good hot grill already prepped? Never mind the fact that grilled veggies and fruits taste like something out of Heaven — if you know how to cook them properly!

    Some of my best produce grilling tips include:

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  • Get grilling with these healthy tips

    It’s barbecue season! And while all of us love the thrill of the grill, it’s a known fact that cooking meat over charcoal can be harmful for our health because of the carcinogens that come from cooking over chemically charged lava rocks and from eating charred meat.

    Rather than giving up the grill on those hot summer nights, here are a few ways to make your next barbecue a little healthier.

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  • Stock up on vegetable stock

    LEANNE ELY CNC

    THE DINNER DIVA

     

    When you start making your own stock, you’re going to have a hard time buying it from the store ever again.

    Making stock from scratch is about as satisfying as it gets. Being the one who purchased (or even better, grew!) the vegetables that you’re using to nourish your family means that you know exactly what’s in that pot. Like with anything that comes out of a package, with store-bought stock you can’t really be sure of the quality of the ingredients that were used.

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  • Something to stew over

    LEANNE ELY CNC

    THE DINNER DIVA

    I recently wrote blog posts teaching how to braise and how to sear. So it just occurred to me that I should go ahead and combine the two and tell y’all about how to stew.

    What hits the spot on a cold day better than a nice steamy hot bowl of thick beef stew?

    By definition, stew is not a dish — it’s a cooking method that involves simmering meat and vegetables in a rich flavorful liquid.

    Now, Leanne, you’re thinking, that sounds an awful lot like braising.

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  • How to best use your refrigerator

    LEANNE ELY CNC

    THE DINNER DIVA

     

    Chances are, you have a refrigerator. But, if you’re like many people, you don’t put a lot of thought into the what-goes-where process when you get your groceries home.

    There is a reason why your fridge has all of those drawers and shelves. Certain areas of your fridge have different temperature and humidity controls,  and that’s why different types of food are intended to be stored in specific places.

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  • Teach your children to make good food decisions

    As parents, we sometimes forget that part of our job is to give kids the “why” behind the “no.”

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  • How to set a dinner table

    LEANNE ELY CNC
    THE DINNER DIVA

    In my humble opinion, too many modern families have no idea how to set a proper dinner table. I guess that’s no surprise when we consider the sheer number of meals that are thrown at children’s mouths before racing to one activity or another, or even worse, eaten in the car.

    Let’s get back to the dinner table, folks!

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  • Learn to grow your own lettuce bowl indoors

    LEANNE ELY CNC
    THE DINNER DIVA

    I don’t know about you, but I have a really hard time buying produce that I can easily grow myself. At my house, we eat a lot of salad. As many of you know, I serve a large green salad with almost every meal that goes on the table. All of those heads of lettuce can add up!

    So, I recently started looking into some ways to grow my own lettuce indoors and I thought I would share what I’m learning with y’all. 

    You need:

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