When I was growing up, almost every Sunday after church we'd go to the only decent Mexican restaurant around - Chi Chi's. Regrettably, it closed down when I was still very young, but I can still remember the decor, the song they'd sing on birthdays (Happy Birthday, OLE!!), and most importantly, the FOOD! It's hard to put into words just how much my entire family LOVES Mexican food and sometimes I think we should've called ahead to notify them we were on our way so they wouldn't run out of food.I could write, in detail,...

One of the first lessons I learned as a young eater was that, in general, healthy food and tasty food are opposites. Take a look at this scientific graph: You may never have drawn a graph like this, but we all naturally understand this basic truth. There is an inverse relationship between health and taste. However, in rare cases, we encounter outliers (denoted by the "O" in the graph). These are healthy foods that taste great. They are very elusive indeed. One such dish is Chicken & Black Bean Stew. If...

Last week, a friend of mine was so kind as to bring me a treat to work. I let the excitement build as she pulled it from her purse and was delightfully surprised when a Starbuck's bag appeared! I can't help it...I love Starbuck's products...what with all their buttery, sugary goodness...Out came the cutest confectionary creation I had ever laid eyes on: a cake pop! What is a cake pop, you ask? Well, instead of candy on a stick, it's a ball of CAKE on a stick that is covered in chocolate and decorated. I was so lucky...

Being the only sibling who lives close to Mom and Dad is very beneficial - more food for me! This picture is being posted for the sole purpose of luring my brothers back home...BBQ chicken breasts, mashed potatoes with gravy, and succulent peaches n' cream corn. As nice as it is to have Mom's cooking to myself, it would be nicer to have my brothers living closer to ...

No time to write this week, but I came across this indescribably beautiful image in the Wall Street Journal this week: What's left to be sa...

If my memory serves me right, this dish has now been savored in various forms in our family for two decades. When Mama Noodle unveiled this classic on New Year's Day of 1990 or 1991, we had never seen its equal. No one quite knew what to do. Many years later, when I was living 2,000 miles from Mama Noodle, my wife Yankee Noodle Candy was sweet enough to prepare me a taste of home. Her first couple attempts were abject failures for various reasons (make sure you rinse the beans!). But in October of 2006, she aced it, and...

If my memory serves me right, my amazing wife first created her inimitable Lasagna Rolls on a hot, humid day in the summer of 2006. Since then, she has come up with many variations, but this remains my favorite. Lasagna is one of those foods that I did not like as a young eater but came to love as my palate aged. The question is: was it a change in the composition of my impeccable tastebuds, or did I simply open myself up to the possibility of new forms of lasagna? It's quite possible that the lasagnas I consumed in the...

Growing up, we were a fairly traditional "meat-and-potatoes" kind of family. Mom had us three children to take care of and our Dad selflessly worked shift work...I'm sure that didn't leave much time to be thinking of extravagant meals. As I've grown older, I've unleashed my palette to the wonders of Asian and Indian cuisine and I must say...it's been an unforgettable journey!!When my friend said she was coming over and making me butter chicken I could hardly wait! Here's what I knew about butter chicken: it was an Indian...

It's only been in the last year or so that I have tried my hand at quinoa and it turns out...it's delicious in almost anything! With so much versatility and so many health benefits it really is a power food! I've tried it in a stuffed pepper recipe, I've tried it as a warm cereal with milk and cinnamon, I've tried it as an alternative to rice and pasta, and I've tried it in chili. My most recent achievement, however, is a quinoa and chickpea salad. I lifted flavours from the Southwest and combined it with a bit of Greek...

Time for our first review of a grocery store item. This week, Mrs. Noodle, a fantastic couponer, found one for a new Hershey product called Air Delight. Hershey has always known how to make even a wrapper look scrumptious and nearly edible. As any veteran chocolate eaters knows, this is actually nothing new. It is a decades-late ripoff of a widely circulated British product called Aero. Hershey seemed to try to introduce this "aerated" chocolate as something revolutionary, which is laughable. The bigger letdown,...