I love spending time with my grandkids, and they love spending time in the kitchen with me. When I was in Florida a few weeks ago Catherine and I took over my daughter’s kitchen, and I decided to try to do a version of a Dutch Baby. This is similar to a popover, and is a showstopper when you take it out of the oven, but is super easy to make if you know a few tricks.

It’s holiday cooking and entertainment time, and being able to cook a few pounds of bacon at a time overnight without taking up valuable oven or burner space was a lifesaver. Candied bacon is wonderful on its own - we cut the strips into bite-sized pieces for easy party nibbling. It’s also great to put on top of salads or to top sweet potatoes with. We can’t wait to try out some more ideas and share them with our readers!

I'm really picky about what I eat and since I do food styling how the food looks is very important to me as well. There are some recipes I have been wanting to work on and try out, but every time I go to the grocery they are out of a key ingredient or I forget something.

There's no better time of year to enjoy family traditions, and one of my family favorites is making Christmas tree sweet rolls with my Mom. She has been making these for as long as I can remember, and delivering them Christmas eve to friends, clients, and family.

The story that we are looking forward to sharing later is the great people behind PDQ and how almost everything is made every day from scratch - you truly can taste the difference.

Heading out for another bite of this sandwich - see you there!

When Thermador invited me to come to California and take their Thermador Masters class I got on the next plane! Even though I've been madly in love with their appliances for years and have their refrigeration in my own home, the thought of baking in their steam convection ovens or in that stunning 60" Pro Grand Stem oven intimidated me. I know I'm not alone - I have clients that have invested in entire kitchens of these beautiful products but have never used some of the best features they offer. How many people have bought a really cool item but didn't have the patience to read the manual to be able to use the features that they paid extra for?

Food styling is such a fun part of what the Lifestylist Brands is all about. Each shoot seems to take on a life of its own, and no matter how well you plan you never know what you are going to end up with.

Chef Provost and Parigi have a signature color - pink - so we were thrilled with the styling props she had available to us.  Table of diners around us were able to get a first hand look at how much work can go into a simple shot - these frites were arranged and rearranged to get the perfect shot! All in a days work-

We love celebrating a healthy lifestyle, and as part of that, we try to visit our local chefs and farmers’ market at least once a week.

This weekend we got some great finds including radish and pea sprouts that are delicious! This ginger carrot soup that we found at Stocks & Bondy was perfect as well for this rainy day.

It is such a treat to be able to walk through the Nasher gardens and be so close to such well known works of art - one of my favorites is the Picasso sculpture that is near the Nasher Cafe by Wolfgang Puck.

A few weeks ago I accompanied Lisa Stewart of Lisa Stewart Photography to get an advance look at the new menu at the cafe. As always the food is not only beautiful to look at, every dish was perfection.

We have known and loved Monica Greene for a long time, and her restaurants such as Ciudad, BEE, and Aca y Alla have always been our favorite places to dine on great food and spend time with friends. Plus Monica is always supportive of the local community and causes - most of which we are very involved in as well.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am very serious about my corn on the cob. I spent many of my formative years in Western NY and Erie PA -areas that I think grow the sweetest corn on Earth. If it isn't fresh I'll pass -life is too short to eat bad food :)

Arlington Texas has always been known for its sporting venues and Six Flags Over Texas, but now thanks to the new R Bar and Grill at the Arlington Hilton it's also becoming a dining destination. The hotel has just undergone extensive renovations that include updated guest rooms, a fitness center, and lobby. The lobby is so welcoming I just wanted to stay there. They completely rebuilt the dining area and added the R Bar and Grill which features a stunning bar area, lots of televisions to watch the games on, and my favorite area - a wood-burning pizza oven. There's also a great new patio area that's perfect for enjoying our Spring weather.

eating well is the best revenge :)

Even though we have been busier than ever, I'm trying to take the time to cook some things up instead of going through the drive-thru lane.

Whole Foods has fresh multi-grain pizza dough in their take-out area as well as shredded mozzarella and really good olives. I use my pasta roller to roll the dough out as thin as possible then add my favorite toppings and cook on a pizza stone at 450 degrees. A cost saver and lots of flavors! All in less than 20 minutes from rolling out the dough to serving.

What on earth would make someone venture out in a blizzard for a salad? For starters, owners, and management. This little gem just opened up on lower Greenville Avenue in Dallas and is the effort of a group of friends who wanted a local place where they could eat healthily as well as eating well.