Life with Ryan

September 23, 2022 in Culinary Technique When Nola started approaching the sixth month mark (when pediatricians recommend introducing babies to solids) I thought I would make all of her food. I mean it made sense, I'm always in the kitchen anyway and I felt more comfortable making her food than buying products that had ingredients and preservatives in them that I didn't want in her body.

Valentine’s Day always sounds great in theory—romantic dinners, candlelight, a perfectly plated meal that looks like something out of a Nancy Meyers movie. But in reality? You’re juggling work, kids, life, and maybe trying to remember to pick up a last-minute card. The idea of cooking a fancy dinner feels overwhelming at best and impossible at worst.

September 20, 2021  in Recipes We're friends right? Good. I feel like I can tell you something that might get my black card snatched--I don't like barbecue ribs. I have never really gotten into blobs of sauce poured over perfectly good bits of pork. Too often, in my opinion, barbecue sauce is used to cover shitty cooking technique and non-existant seasoning. I blame my mother. My mom rarely fired up the grill. She left that job to my grandfather (who also wasn't a big fan of barbecue sauce).

Getting an incredible, damn near restaurant-quality meal on the table during the week can feel downright impossible. Yes, even for me, and cooking/recipe development is literally my job. Between juggling work deadlines, shuttling kids to and from activities, keeping up with social engagements, and trying to carve out a moment for yourself, the thought of cooking dinner can feel like just another mountain to climb.

By the time the holidays roll around I'm spent. From cooking a massive Thanksgiving meal to Christmas shopping and even packing my family up to head to Los Angeles for the holidays...truly I have zero energy left. In general, I love meals that look impressive and deliver flavor, but are also incredibly easy to pull off. During this time of year, this is doubly true.

I wasn’t even planning on making this twice in one day, but here we are. I made it once to test it—and immediately decided dinner was going to be the same thing all over again. My husband had nothing but praise for it. This Thai-inspired coconut curry cod is one of those recipes that tastes like you did a lot, but really didn’t. The sauce is rich, coconutty, a little spicy, brightened up with lime. All the good stuff. Minimal effort, big payoff.

Summer with kids is a delicate dance between sunscreen, snack negotiations, and the ever-looming nap window. As a stay-at-home mom, I wanted summer to feel magical, but my kids still have meltdowns when their banana breaks in half. So what's a mama to do? Enter: structured spontaneity. A little prep can turn chaos into core memories. Here are some innovative ways to turn your home (and sanity) into the summer oasis your toddlers and your nervous system need. 1.

Roasted asparagus is a classic, but it can get a little boring. That is, until you pair it with a golden, lacy parmesan crust that gives it texture, umami, and a serious upgrade. This is the kind of side dish that makes people lean in and ask, wait, what did you do to this asparagus? Inspired by the crisp edges of a cheese frico and the caramelized crackle of a brûlée, this recipe roasts asparagus until tender, then lays it over a hot sheet of roasted parmesan bark.

Let’s ruffle a few feathers, shall we? I’m a professionally trained chef who’s spent time in restaurants from California to Georgia, and I teach home cooks how to actually cook, not just follow a recipe. I also love a spicy opinion (culinarily and otherwise). So here are 5 of my most controversial—but highly defendable—takes about cooking at home: 1. You don’t actually need to cook with wine you’d want to drink You’ve heard the mantra: “Only cook with wine you’d drink.” Look—I get the spirit of it.

When I was younger, I would watch sitcoms and listen to stand-up comedians joke about the lack of sex in marriage, and I'd laugh—but never quite relate. I always thought those women either had low sex drives or weren’t really attracted to their husbands anymore. How naïve was I? Now, at 37, five years into marriage and eight years into having sex with my husband, I see those jokes through an entirely different lens. Life has a funny way of humbling you.