Favorite Recipes from a Simple Home Kitchen

Chocolate mousse is a classic dessert that has retained its popularity through the decades.  Food fads come and go but you can always count on the classics to be there for you.

There’s a reason chocolate mousse is a classic. It has a lot going for it!

Chocolate mousse is a rich and elegant dessert that is simple to make, tastes delicious, and can be prepared a day ahead, making it perfect for when having people over.  And it doesn’t call for any exotic ingredients - just chocolate, butter, vanilla, eggs, sugar, and cream.
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This bran muffin recipe is a winner in my book for lots of reasons.

First, it makes bran muffins that are moist, chewy, and not too heavy.

Second, this recipe for bran muffins is not too sweet. I like muffins with just a hint of sweetness, not cupcakes masquerading as muffins.

Third, these bran muffins call for the ingredients I commonly have on hand.

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Homemade vegetable soup is hard to beat.  It’s a great easy delicious way to get more vegetables into your diet.  I love to make a big pot of vegetable soup on Saturday or Sunday to enjoy during the week.

There are many great vegetable soup recipes from delicate to hearty.   Vegetable soup is extremely forgiving and adaptable so you can use whatever vegetables you have available.  If you have never made homemade vegetable soup it is helpful to follow the recipe exactly as written the first time you make it.  Then once you are comfortable with the recipe and basic process experiment away.  Cabbage, swiss chard, mushrooms, parsnips, turnips, leeks, fennel, and corn are delicious in vegetable soup.

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Do you prefer turkey burgers over hamburgers made from ground beef?  Ever wondered how to make a turkey burger? Making turkey burgers is just like making homemade hamburgers, except that because you are working with poultry, they must be cooked thoroughly.

All the condiments that work on hamburgers - lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard, onions, pickles, cheese - are wonderful on turkey burgers.  It’s also fun to experiment by adding flavors more often associated with poultry such as cranberry sauce, mango chutney, honey mustard, or barbecue sauce to your turkey burgers.
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I am not a big fan of the grill or cooking outside. I much prefer to cook hamburgers on the stove in the comfort of my cozy kitchen.

Call me crazy, but I just don’t see the intrigue of cooking outside over an open flame.  (Please, don’t tell Bobby Flay.) It’s less bother, less hot, and much less buggy to cook inside.  It is probably healthier too.  Many studies show that grilled meat can be particularly unhealthy.

So, how do you cook a hamburger on the stove?  It’s really very easy.  All you need is a large frying pan or cast iron grill pan and some hamburger meat.
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Hamburgers are an American classic.  And homemade hamburgers can be so much tastier and less expensive than their restaurant counterparts.

With homemade hamburgers, you can select the exact kind and grade of beef you want and they can be customized in a variety of ways.
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It’s hard to beat boiled corn on the cob, especially when it is in season and freshly picked.

Boiling is the quickest, easiest, tastiest way to prepare fresh corn. Many people prefer grilling corn on the cob but I don’t think it is worth the extra time and effort.

Since boiling corn on the cob is one of those things we only tend to do a few times a year, it is easy to forget the details such as how long to boil it.  And even for a recipe as simple as this, there are several varying opinions for how to boil corn on the cob. Some suggest salting the water, others to cover the pot.
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What’s the best way to lose weight and get healthy?  Could it be to step back into the kitchen and get cooking?

Michael Pollan wrote an interesting article for New York Times Magazine recently, called Out of the Kitchen onto the Couch, in which he explores the paradox between the rise in popularity of The Food Network and stature of cooking icons such as Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, Julia Child, and Martha Stewart with the decline of everyday home cooking. “Today the average American spends a mere 27 minutes a day on food preparation (another four minutes cleaning up).”
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Love Deviled Eggs?  Looking for some simple easy deviled eggs recipes?

I’m always amazed at the unwavering popularity of deviled eggs.  While you may consider them old fashioned they are always one of the first things to disappear at a party, potluck, or picnic.

When it comes to deviled eggs, I’m with Marion Cunningham who states in her book, Learning to Cook with Marion Cunningham “Less is Best with Deviled Eggs.”

There are lots of recipes for deviled eggs that call for fancy fillings and we’ve included a few here if you are in the fancy is better camp.  But try this simple recipe first and see if you don’t agree that sometimes simpler is better.

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