Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
The night I made these sandwiches for dinner, I was on a mission. I needed to find one more recipe from The Carefree Cook, I needed to use up some severely ripe avocados, and I needed to get dinner on the table quick.
At first, I was skeptical [...]

Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
This soup may not look like much, but it is one of the best recipes I’ve made out of The Carefree Cook.
The soup starts by browning some sausage and then adding onion, carrots, celery and garlic to the pot. Normally, I don’t like sausage very much, but [...]

Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
Out of these two recipes that made up dinner, the short ribs provencale was, by far, the best. It is one of those dishes that takes a bit of prep work, but then spends the rest of the time slowly stewing away in the oven while you [...]

Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
This is banana bread on steriods! It was very moist and not too sweet, with pecans adding a nice crunch. What sets this banana bread apart from others is the cup of blueberries that is stirred into the batter, as well as a layer of streusel in [...]

Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
I was looking forward to trying this dish, as we eat a lot of chicken and sometimes that can get boring. Unfortunately, Neither Bryan nor I liked this chicken at all. Lately, we seem to have hit a few of Rodgers’ recipes that just aren’t doing it [...]

Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
I like apple pie. I like custard. I like nutmeg. But I hated this crostata. Don’t let its looks fool you (or the heavenly smell of it baking). Underneath that flaky crust, is curdled custard swimming in butter.
The premise of this crostata is that it delivers an [...]

Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
This pasta dish was . . . okay. Nothing spectacular. It just needed something more. As in more flavor, more spice, more taste. If you are looking for the flavors of a lasagne without all the time and work, this is it, sorta.
Like most other recipes in [...]

Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
The idea of using cauliflower in a pasta sauce is a new concept for me. When I think of cauliflower, I immediately think of roasting it, or eating it raw with plenty of Ranch Dressing.
Rodgers starts you off by browning some pancetta or bacon and then cooking [...]

Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
The weather up here in North Idaho has finally warmed up enough to get the grill out of storage, and to celebrate, we made these pork souvlaki skewers.
You start out by marinating cubes of pork in the classic greek flavors of onion, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic [...]

Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
I don’t have a very large repertoire of side dishes, and I haven’t cooked with orzo before, so I was excited to try this recipe.
If you aren’t familiar with orzo, it is a small, rice-shaped pasta that cooks up quickly and can be flavored in a hundred [...]