I love grilling steaks at home, primarily because besides grabbing the goods at the grocery store, I don’t do anything but enjoy the final presentation. Trevor is great at grilling, but managing the grill in the winter can be at best isolating (not a lot of volunteers to hang out with him when the temperatures take a sharp dip) and at worst not possible (on more than one occasion we’ve been unable to get the grill warm enough to adequately grill). We recently tested Ina Garten’s Steakhouse Steak recipe (link here), which uses a cast iron skillet (I recommend the Lodge brand, link here), the stovetop and the oven. It has many benefits, including keeping Trevor out of the deep freeze, ease of preparation, and consistently delicious steaks cooked to perfection. Click the link above back to Ina Garten’s recipe for ingredients and preparation.
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When making cookies I generally default to my favorite chocolate chip recipe, but there are few things as classic as a good roll-out sugar cookie. My mom shared her recipe and baking tips with me a couple of weekends ago. With some super simple ingredients and one (relatively) unique baking item, I have happily added these to my repertoire. They are a nice, delicate accompaniment to ice cream or sorbet, pretty as a base on a cookie plate, and fun to decorate with the kiddos (recipe and tips below).
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I went on the hunt for a good turkey burger recipe this past summer, when during a cleanse I thought I may jump out of a window if I had to eat yet another chicken breast. I adapted this recipe from southwest version by Rachel Ray (original recipe link here). I was skeptical, as I’m routinely disappointed with turkey burgers, at home as well as in restaurants. They are generally dry and by the time I add enough cheese and condiments to make them appealing, I feel pretty certain I’ve diluted most of the healthy benefits to choosing the turkey version over red meat. But this recipe is really great – the burgers are delicious and healthy, and I have a few tricks to make the prep a breeze. Recipe and prep tips below.

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