Arroz con pollo from Flickr.com

One of my mother-in-law's standard feed-an-army dishes is chicken and rice. It involves chicken pieces (breasts, I think), several cups of white rice and a can of cream of mushroom soup. I'm reasonably sure there's also a packet of salty seasoning in there, like an onion soup mix.

She cooks it for a couple hours, under foil. The resulting dish has dry meat, slightly soupy rice and as much flavor as a piece of Wonder bread.

Now, I dearly love my mother-in-law — she raised the man I am blessed to share ...

We, the fine Wisconsin women of Better than Cheddar, have been getting a little domestic lately.

Two of us are pregnant. One of us had a baby on April 1 (welcome Harriet Sue!). And I, the childfree one, have been busy with all manner of housewifely things, such as ironing and gardening and telling P what spring cleaning needs to be done. (Windows are next, honey!)

The interesting food experiences I have had in recent weeks, such as pouring sherry down a marrow bone into my face, eating my way through Madison's international food carts and discussing how best ...

Today is my husband's birthday, and in celebration I'm getting a little fancy. However, I am planning to be smart about it. After many special occasions spent entirely sweating away in the kitchen, I've learned the virtues of making things ahead of time. If I'm going to make a four-course meal, at least three of those courses need to be chilling out in the fridge come dinner time, 98% ready to go, waiting only for a garnish, a swirl of sauce or other quick tweak.

On our last special occasion, this spin on a shrimp cocktail ...

Michael Pollan gave me a complex.

A former lover of Lipton Cup-A-Soup, Fruit Roll-Ups and Wish Bone fat-free dressing, I was doing the food marketers a favor every time I bought a Lean Cuisine or a reduced-fat Oreo. Then Mr. Pollan came along, and before long, I had the same complex about preservatives and emulsifiers as I have about throwing away plastic bags.

Now I look at hazelnut Torani sryup and think, what "natural flavors?" Are sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate food? Hershey's chocolate sauce contains two kinds of corn syrup, several things I have trouble spelling (polysorbate, diglycerides ...

At this stage of the winter, I'm pretty much roasting everything — parsnips, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower (with salsa verde) — and now, for the first time, fruit. 

Roasted grapes are so easy and so awesome. I popped these for about 15 minutes while roasting a chicken and they came out tender and sweet and amazing. Roasted fruit! Who knew?

Roasted Grapes

• Black grapes
• Fresh sage
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 425°F. Tear sage into smaller leaves and toss with grapes, olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. 

Roast for about 12 minutes, or until tender but not liquified ...

Quick: pick the top 10 things to eat in the city where you live right now (not including the stuff you make yourself).

 I have been turning over that question for the past few days, ever since fellow food writer Andre Darlington came out with a personal “top 50” list of things to eat (and drink) in Madison. A list like that reveals more than you might think about its creator — not only that he eats a lot of eggs (must be a morning person), but also that he likes unexpected food finds, ethnic flavors and good deals.

Below is ...

Risotto milanese photo by Rene Walhout on Flickr.com. 

If there was a magic version of risotto that would make you grow wings and shoot beams of light from your fingertips, it would taste like this.

The secret (magical) ingredients were: saffron, the world's most expensive and beautiful spice; prosciutto, cured ham from Italy; Parmigiano-Reggiano, the king of all cheeses. I used homemade turkey stock, a splash of cava and extra butter, and topped the whole thing with six enormous shrimp. (It was P's birthday, after all.)

The saffron turned the rice a gorgeous burnished yellow color, the ...

When it comes to the Superbowl, I’m generally a member of the crowd that gets more excited about the food on my plate than the action on the screen. I did have reason to be a bit more engaged with the game this year: my husband is a Giants fan. Hailing from Massachusetts myself, I simply had to throw out some loud cheers for the Patriots (it was a tough game for us New Englanders).

Nevertheless, the platters of chicken wings, meatballs, pulled pork, chili, spinach artichoke dip, salsa, chips, cheese and bread helped sustain me. I was in ...

I realize I'm a little late to this party, but I just got a slow cooker, and oh man is it wonderful!  For people like my husband and mother, I should clarify that a slow cooker is the same thing as a crock pot, which is to say that it cooks your dinner for you while you are out living your life, and has it ready when you get home. It is patient, diligent, and for some reason my cats don't mess with it.  In other words, it is the best thing since the SodaStream.

I'm particularly ...

Of all the difficulties inherent in pregnancy, the one I didn't anticipate was beverages. Of course, I knew I'd have to give up alcohol, but there are dozens of fun root beers and other sodas that come in bottles that make them look just like beer, or actually have the same name as wine varietals, so I figured I'd just drink something slightly different out of my wine goblets and pint glasses for nine months, and all would be well.

Problem is, there's a lot of sugar in soda. Like, a lot. Enough that with a ...