There’s something about summer squash that feels like home to me. I grew up in a small Southern town where gardens weren’t just hobbies—they were a way of life. My grandmother’s back porch always had baskets of yellow crookneck squash,…
I still remember the first time I made chicken pot pie casserole. It wasn’t planned, and in fact, it came about because I had promised my family a “real” pot pie on a weeknight when I knew I didn’t have…
I still remember the first time I made chicken broccoli casserole, though I’ll admit it wasn’t the smoothest of experiences. It was during my very first year of marriage, and I was determined to prove I could whip up hearty,…
When I think of apple cobbler, I’m instantly carried back to my grandmother’s kitchen on a chilly October evening. She never measured a thing, yet somehow her cobblers came out golden and bubbling every single time. I remember standing on…
I still remember the first time I made stuffed peppers the traditional way. It was a rainy weeknight, the kind where you just want something hearty and comforting, and I thought I’d try to recreate the peppers my grandmother used…
Every holiday table in my family has one dish that always makes an appearance, no matter the season or who’s hosting. For us, it’s green bean casserole. I didn’t grow up with it—my mother leaned more toward roasted vegetables and…
I still remember the first summer I made this creamy cucumber salad on my own. It was at the tail end of June, and the cucumbers in my little backyard garden had exploded into abundance almost overnight. I’d been giving…
I first fell in love with Greek lemon potatoes on a trip that had nothing to do with Greece at all. Years ago, I was invited to a neighbor’s dinner party where the centerpiece wasn’t lamb or roasted chicken, but…
I still remember the first time I tried to bake a potato on my own. I was twenty-one, standing in a tiny apartment kitchen that smelled more like old carpet than anything edible, and I thought, “How hard could it…
I still remember the first time I made these potatoes, though if I’m being honest, the memory starts with a failure. I had a basket of small golden potatoes from the farmers’ market, and I wanted to do something special…