Most Popular Articles

• FEED ME: Get our RSS feed »
  1. Click to add our syndicated content. » Copy the URL to your RSS reader or subscribe using your browser.
• TOUCH ME: Signup for our newsletter »
• TICKLE ME: Get notified when we add new content»

• More
• • Digg
  • Fark
  • Feedmelinks
  • Furl
  • Netscape
  • Newsvine
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati

 Event Calendar

The Policy--Thumbprint Cookies: MamaCooks

By Betsy Block We'd tucked the kids in and kissed them goodnight. "Now don't come down," BD told them. "Why do we have to go to bed so early?" they complained. "... Read more

Mango Shrikhand: MamaCooks

By Betsy Block Indian strained yogurt with saffron & mangoes Sometimes, Looking Good requires just a little bit of advance planning. SERVING SIZE: makes 2 1... Read more

Requiem for a Fish

Coconut fish (in memory of Violet)

• 1 lb. skinned fish filets (BD used sole)
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 1 Tbsp. le... Read more
  
  
  
  More Articles in: MamaCooks
  
  

Blueberries with Berry Cream: Mama Cooks

By Betsy Block

TOTAL TIME: mere minutes

SERVING SIZE: that depends on how much you like whipped cream ...

After blueberry picking one fine summer day, we ended up with two quarts of gorgeous, plump, sweet blueberries - that no one really wanted to eat, until nine-year-old E came up with this recipe. Even I like blueberries this way:

(Recipe by E)

1 cup cream
cup blueberries
3 big strawberries (optional)
1/3 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients in food processor until thick 'n creamy, about five minutes. Dollop on top of lots of f ... Continue reading Blueberries with Berry Cream: Mama Cooks.

Cambodian-ish Ribs

Our friend Jeff said these were the best ribs he's ever had. We're blushing (but skeptical).

1 rack Niman Ranch ribs

spice rub consisting of

• 2 tsp. five-spice powder
  
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
  
• 2 tsp. onion powder
  
• 2 tsp. sweet paprika
  
• 1 tsp. lemon pepper
  
• 1 tsp. salt
  

Molten Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!



Individual chocolate cakes warm from the oven, with the center gooey and fine, are my standby, my workhorse, my fabulous restaurant-quality dessert that most of my long-suffering friends have had more than once. In fact, I've made them so often that - I can't believe I'm saying this - even I'm sick of them. 




When I serve these I can't seem to stop myself from going on (and on) about how easy they are to make. What kind of a sick honesty compulsion would make me do such a thing? Learn from my mistake. Don't follow my lead. When your guests rave, you should just sm ... Continue reading Molten Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce.

A Womanly Beet Salad

By Betsy Block

My (mom) friend C and I both loved this beet salad (made from local beets and Massachusetts-made blue cheese, only enhancing its already significant appeal), but neither of our husbands would touch it. 



Are there certain foods that men eat at the risk of seeming unmanly? If so, are beets and blue cheese among them? 



Sure seems like it from where I sit. But why? 



(BD: "I'll tell you why. Beets taste like dirt, and they make all other foods red. A man has his limits, and blue cheese is one of them." 



Oh, okay.) 




A Womanly Beet Salad

beets (5-6 medium)

blue c ... Continue reading A Womanly Beet Salad.

The Halloween Grinch (That's Me): MamaCooks

by Betsy Block

"Aren't you a little old for this?" the man asked.

It was October 31, 1983. I was a senior in high school. Two of my best friends and I had decided to go trick-or-treating one last time, for nostalgia's sake. And for the candy.

So there we were at 9 PM on some stranger's doorstep, lamely covered in sheets we'd pilfered from our parents' linen closets, greedily holding out pillowcases. We were about as tall as the man who answered the door, and two of us - my pals DK and E - had voices as deep. The man seemed annoyed with us - for all I know, we had woken up his own little ... Continue reading The Halloween Grinch (That's Me): MamaCooks.

Unsavory Neighbors: MamaCooks

By Betsy Block

Four-year-old P came into the kitchen where BD and I were cleaning up. "Can I have another piece of candy?" she asked.

I turned to her and said, indignantly, "Of course not! Dinner's in half an hour!" But then BD looked at me with both pity and censure and said, "They've already eaten all theirs." That would be nine-year-old E and his best friend M, who had, unbeknownst to me, eaten all their candy while playing cards in the other room. Turning to our daughter, BD gently said, "Yes, honey, you can have another piece, but only one."

At first I was ready to march in there an ... Continue reading Unsavory Neighbors: MamaCooks.

Popcorn: MamaCooks

We start with Alton Brown's brilliant microwave recipe sans pesky hidden carcinogens:

• One brown paper bag
  
• ¼ cup popcorn
  
• 2 tsp. olive oil
  

The Super Sweet Version

Make:
1 batch of popcorn
Melt:
stick of unsalted butter with
cup brown sugar

Slowly pour the butter mixture over the popcorn, tossing as you go. Add a dash of salt to take the edge off the cloying swe ... Continue reading Popcorn: MamaCooks.