Category Lunch ideas

I first fell in love with sweet potato casserole at a small church potluck many years ago. I remember walking through the long line of crockpots and casserole dishes, balancing a paper plate that already had more food than it…

I first learned about potato croquettes on a chilly autumn evening in my grandmother’s kitchen. She never called them “croquettes”—to her, they were simply “fried potato patties,” made from whatever mashed potatoes were left from Sunday supper. I remember watching…

I still remember the first time I cooked salmon at home, and it wasn’t pretty. I was newly married, trying to impress my husband with what I thought would be a restaurant-worthy dinner. I bought a couple of salmon fillets—my…

There are certain recipes that carry me back to specific chapters of my life, and chicken Alfredo is one of them. I can still remember the first time I tried to make it in my tiny first apartment kitchen, with…

There are certain dishes that make their way into your kitchen almost by accident and then never leave. For me, honey chicken was one of those happy accidents. I still remember the first time I tried it—standing in my tiny…

When I think of ground beef tacos, I don’t think of fancy plating or perfectly measured spice packets—I think of a Tuesday night in my first apartment, with a skillet that was slightly warped, a bag of tortillas from the…

I still remember the first time I made steak tacos for a crowd. It wasn’t a special holiday or a fancy dinner party—just a warm Saturday afternoon when my brother showed up with a pound of skirt steak, two limes,…

I still remember the first time I made stuffed mushrooms—not because they turned out perfect (they didn’t), but because of the look on my sister’s face when she took that first bite. It was Thanksgiving, years ago, and I was…

Some recipes find you when you need them most. I first made this corn casserole one Thanksgiving when our plans had fallen through last-minute. It was just me, my husband, and our two kids at home—no big gathering, no over-the-top…

It was a rainy Thursday, the first time I made stuffed peppers on my own. I’d just moved into my first real apartment after college—tiny, a little crooked, and with a stove that groaned louder than I did after a…