Think Tasty- The Tastier Side of Life

by Elizabeth Skipper April 16th, 2014 | Ask the Chef

When I bake my own bread, it initially has a crusty exterior and chewy interior. However, after storing it, it loses the crusty exterior. Is there a proper way to store bread to help keep the texture?

Bread is never better than when it's freshly baked. The aroma, the crackly crust, the contrasting chewy or soft interior... if only there were a way to maintain those characteristics. Alas, they are fleeting.

Is there a proper way to store bread to keep the texture? Sort of, although no method will keep it "fresh" for long. The one thing you definitely don't want

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Eggs with Roasted Red Pepper and Chardonnay Sauce

by BnB Finder April 15th, 2014 | Best BnB Bites, Recipes

Here's a very special way to cook a couple of eggs for an elegant breakfast, brunch, or light lunch. It's all in the sauce, which combines puréed roasted red pepper, white wine and heavy cream -- simple but sophisticated. The sauce adorns eggs that have simply been baked in ramekins (small baking dishes) with cream, butter, cheese, and dill -- a no-fuss alternative to more familiar poaching or omelet

Italian Dipping Oil

by TT April 14th, 2014 | Recipes, Spreads & Sauces, Tapas Monday

Before my husband and son started their get healthy diet, we had a Tapas Monday dinner with an Italian theme. There were grilled eggplant wheels topped with seasoned ricotta, garlic and cheese chicken sausage bites, and homemade focaccia served with dipping oil. It was an indulgent and tasty way to end our Monday.

Dipping oils* have been all the rage at restaurants for many years. Instead of serving your rolls or bread with butter, a small dish of olive oil and assorted seasonings is presented. The beautiful thing about the dipping oil is that it can be flavored however

Homemade Cheese Sauce

by Jane Wangersky April 11th, 2014 | Recipes, Simple Solutions

If you've ever wondered what exactly was in that little packet of orange stuff that comes with packaged macaroni and cheese (Kraft Dinner, in Canada) -- well, I don't know either. And I don't know how it turns into cheese sauce when you mix it with milk and butter. But I have learned to make my own cheese sauce, and I know what's in that.

Cheese sauce is more than just melted cheese -- but not much more. (If you're in a real hurry, you can always just throw a slice or some shreds of cheese on top of hot

A Food-Curdling Experience

by Jane Wangersky April 10th, 2014 | Cooking Basics

When I was still learning about making cheese sauce at home, I figured it wouldn't matter when I added the grated cheese to the hot milk – either before or after I'd thickened it with flour. I even thought it might be better to add the cheese before thickening. After all, as it melted it would add liquid to the sauce, and that might mean it would need more flour than I'd estimated for the milk alone. So the cheese went in early, and as the mixture heated up I saw how wrong I'd been. The cheese turned weirdly