Gluten-Free Blood Orange Cakes

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

These days, we all face the issue of making foods for every diet when inviting friends over for a party. While in New York City this week, my partner and I threw a brunch party for over 20 of his friends, and while only one had a special diet, we decided to make a gluten-free dish for her that didn’t take much effort at all, and actually tastes great to those who don’t have an issue with gluten.

With so many natural and flavorful gluten-free cake mixes on the market now, it was easy to find one to use for the blood orange upside-down cakes we were already planning to make. Ripe rings of blood orange, sprinkled with brown sugar, make anything taste great, but especially a gluten-free cake that everyone thinks is not.

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All about Easter Eggs

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

When Chris was little, he drew a picture of a bunny in mid-flight, dropping colored eggs like a bombardier. I think of that picture every year when I am inundated with eggs after Easter.

Even with the kids grown, I continue to cook and color eggs for Easter – they make a beautiful table centerpiece. (And, truth be told, I love a few leftover eggs for breakfast the rest of the week.)

First step, of course, is to cook the eggs perfectly. For that we turn to Ben, our cooking newbie blogger, and his first post. Tip: if you haven’t bought your eggs yet, go out and get them now, because older eggs will peel better.

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How to Cook Japanese Rice

By Sandy Hu
A new video for Video Friday

My friend Kay remembers going home from school and having to scrub potatoes and put them on to boil for dinner. I had a similar experience with the Asian version: making rice.

It’s been years since I’ve made rice in a pot – I always use my electric rice cooker, where it’s as simple as measuring out rice and water, pressing a button and walking away until the rice is done.

But recently, in trying to help out people on Twitter wanting to know how to make rice, I thought of the technique my mom taught me years ago. This is not the definitive way to cook rice and I’ve only tried it for white, short-grain rice – the sticky rice you get in Japanese restaurants. But for this type of rice, the method works like a charm.

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Moroccan Meatballs

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

Meatballs are made for boys and maybe for girls, too, but in our house boys rule the roost, except for Marilyn, of course, who’s really in charge. In addition to being an accomplished maker of spaghetti and meatballs, she experiments with a variety of seasonings, sauces and meat blends.

It’s always fun to watch Ben and Nick when Marilyn announces that dinner is meatballs; their faces light up, they typically yelp with joy a few times and Nick often breaks into a dance, or lately, does a break dance. Meatballs are also a fun interactive family dinner because the boys roll the meat mixture into balls and other odd shapes.

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Corned Beef and Cabbage Leftovers

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

As mentioned before, my mom’s a Murphy so when St. Patty’s Day rolls around, we all get cooking some corned beef and cabbage.

I’m lucky enough to have a store up the road that corns its own beef and even luckier that I got the last piece they had. Only problem was that it was a five-pound piece and not really conducive for one or two bites.

I do love great leftovers and this dish just gets better with age. Only thing is, after two nights of the same, I needed to change it up a bit. I confess I did freeze part of it to make some old-fashioned corned beef hash for a great weekend breakfast or brunch, but what to do with the rest of the bits such as the little bit of corned beef and then the broth, cabbage, carrots and potatoes?

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