Dinner Recipes

My husband, a man who will eat almost anything, had a long-standing, well-documented hatred for squash. For years. He claimed it was mushy, bland, and … Read more

My brother-in-law Mark had sworn off pork chops for a solid decade. “Too dry,” he’d announce every time someone mentioned them, shaking his head like … Read more

My brother-in-law Mark asked why I couldn’t just sear the pork chops in the same pan as the garlic butter sauce. I started to explain … Read more

This was supposed to be a slow-cooker situation. I had the chicken thawing, the peppers washed, and a whole mental picture of coming home to … Read more

Thanksgiving dinner was in twelve hours and I’d completely forgotten to defrost the turkey. Not just forgotten—I mean, I’d bought the bird four days ago, … Read more

My neighbor, Maria, watched me hauling a massive, twenty-pound turkey across my driveway one November morning and didn’t say anything at first. Then she just … Read more

I wasn’t expecting cooking advice from a tax accountant, but there I was, standing in line at the post office on a rainy Tuesday in … Read more

Maggie wasn’t trying to impress me. I’d stopped by her place on a random Tuesday night to drop off a book I’d borrowed, and the … Read more

The church potluck was in three hours and I’d completely forgotten. Everyone else would be bringing their grandmother’s legendary casseroles or those fancy layered salads … Read more

I was at the farmers’ market last November, elbow-deep in a bin of heirloom squash, when the woman next to me—a retired schoolteacher named Carol, … Read more