Rachael Ray

A lot of people will be hitting the road this weekend which means break out the car vacuum - road trip snacks are in order. Skipping fast food on the highway and packing a cooler not only saves money, but everyone will feel much better when you reach your destination. Some of my family’s favorite road trip snacks are popcorn, cereal, cut up fruit and veggies, grapes, cheese sticks, and I usually make some muffins and a sweet treat like cookies or brownies. I also try and bring some usually “forbidden” foods - ie, candy (Spree and Mentos are favorites around here), marshmallows, or yes, my kids love Pringles. I am sure to have set meal times when we have [...]...

The unofficial start of summer is just days away YEAH!!!! So it’s time to get a couple of our most visible and used areas in our outdoor oasis preened ‘n cleaned and share a few easy money saving remedies for getting rid of some of summer’s most some stains. WHITE PICKET FENCE-BRING OUT THE MAYO An iconic home feature that once upon a time symbolized the American dream. Nowadays the good ole wooden ones have been replaced with PVC which are much easier to clean…thank ye lord! Here are a few quick n easy tips that even Tom Sawyer might have used if he and Huck were around: Get a power nozzle for your hose and use the mega power button so dirt [...]...

Sometimes, you just don’t want a full on dish for dinner. Whilst tucking in to a meal works well most nights, there are some nights you want a little freedom. Perhaps a beer and some think that doesn’t require a fork and knife. Last Wednesday was an evening like that for my husband. He wanted to chill and munch on something right form the couch. Salmon was already on the cards, only, instead of doing my Asian preparation, which involved oyster sauce and sticky rice, I decided to make fish sticks. These were no ordinary fish sticks that were flour-dredged, egg-dipped, bread-crumbed and fried. These sticks had so much oomph that he didn’t even need ketch-up or hot sauce on [...]...

Half the fun of discovering a new restaurant is sharing it with people you know will enjoy it. As Rachael Ray’s resident restaurant guru, here’s an inside look at what I report back to Rach about some of my favorite restaurant finds and food experiences! From: Kappy To: RR Sent: Friday, May 10, 2013 10:42am Subject: A Meaningful Dinner in DC Hey Rach - As you know, I went from your high school alma mater’s fundraiser in Lake George to DC to visit my good friend, Jason. He’s the one I told you about - we went to culinary school together in New York and then on to hospitality school in Miami. And then? He joined the Army. He’s been around the world, most recently returning [...]...

My children attend public school in New York state, not too far from New York City, so it shouldn’t surprise me that we have a diverse student body.  But when we sent out a survey asking where the parents of the students were born, we heard of 35 different countries!  We sent the survey as part of something we call International Day-every other year we dedicate a whole Saturday to celebrating foods and cultures from around the globe. We wanted to make sure as many countries as possible were represented, so we sent out the survey and then of course asked the parents to volunteer on International Day to cook and serve foods from their native lands or ancestry. The [...]...

Half the fun of discovering a new restaurant is sharing it with people you know will enjoy it. As Rachael Ray’s resident restaurant guru, here’s an inside look at what I report back to Rach about some of my favorite restaurant finds and food experiences! From: Kappy To: RR Sent: Monday, May 6, 2013 1:32pm Subject: Ramen in Wicker Park… and a Brewpub Dear RR - I know that you and I both love a good, hot bowl of soup on a cold day or night, but me… ramen is my jam! I’m not a snob about it, but I sure do love a flavorful broth with great noodles! Oiistar is a new place in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago, not far from my apartment. [...]...

With warmer weather in sight, we’re breaking out our cottons, lace and flip flops and packing away our cashmeres, wools and boots.  YEAH! But before you do that, I just wanted to share some tips to insure when cooler months return and you break out your fall and winter clothing from their summer hibernation, you don’t also find your fave cardigan sporting new holes courtesy of those flaky little pests AKA Moths! First a few facts about ‘em.  They: o HANG: in humid, dark corners and folds o COCOON: which enables them to blend into fabrics making then hard to spot o EAT: wool, fur, down, dander (i.e. dead skin from ye and Fido) o PROCREATE: they’re love machines and love to mate Regardless, the point [...]...

Four large russets. Is that is what my kitchen is being reduced to at this present moment, I thought? I looked in the refrigerator one last time, bit this was really it.  It is on days like this, that I am particularly thankful for a well-stocked pantry. My mother had trained me well.  With a full range of spices and canned tomatoes, there was no way dinner would be an after thought. One of the dishes I loved growing-up, was ‘tariwala alu’ – potatoes cooked in a  bold gravy of tomatoes and mustard seeds.  The dish uses a lot of spices from the South, with ingredients like curry leaves and black mustard seeds – benign looking black seeds that pop like [...]...

As I was multi-tasking this morning drinking my second cup of coffee with my right hand and chucking the used filter ‘n its grinds with my left, I realized that I should share some unusual uses for both these items particularly being in the spirit of Earth Day.  So here are some fab uses for coffee filters and what gives us that oh-so-important jolt in the morning.  BTW:  Use recycled filters they’re just as good and good for Mother Earth! DEGREASER:  Next time you order that greasy egg roll or bring home those fries put them in a filter to absorb the grease. DE-SERVER:  Keep those nails in tact and forget those serving dishes at your next home soiree.  Use those flat [...]...