Kristine Cocchiarella
Classically trained Cordon Bleu chef turned anti-GMO, pro-organic, food hippie blogger with a passion for REAL food.
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Easy Baked Penne with Italian Sausage
The Stud Muffin (TSM) is Italian. It’s not pronounced Eyetalian. It’s ITalian. I felt I needed to clear that up. I love when people say Eyetalian. Um, it’s not Eye-taly, it’s ITaly, but I digress. Being married to an Italian has its perks. One of them is that we eat a fair amount of pasta with cheese–melted cheese. I prefer to make it myself, but I don’t own any fancy pasta shape cutters so when we want penne, I buy a good organic brand. I admit I was a little apprehensive about posting this recipe because I’m using a jarred sauce. That’s a no-no in our household, but I’ve gotten requests for a…
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Caramelized Onion Burgers with Gruyere
It’s been very warm here in MN this summer. We had a miserably long winter–as in measurable snowstorms in May. Once summer hit, it’s been hot and humid ever since. I’m not complaining. When you have 6 months of winter, you welcome the heat, humidity, and the sun. But not the mosquitoes. I don’t welcome those at all. I’ve been working for the past 4 days in this 90-degree weather, organizing my garage for the moving sale I’m having later this week. I spend about 6-10 hours in the garage each day and by the time I’m finished, I’m spent. The last thing I want to do is spend eternity in the kitchen…
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Ghee Whiz!
In keeping with my theme of easy recipes–if you can even call them recipes, I realized I have never taught you guys how to make ghee, also known as clarified butter. Ghee whiz! What kind of Real Food Blogger/Chef do I think I am? Talk about dropping the ball. Hopefully you’ll forgive me this teensy transgression because I feel terrible that it’s taken me so long to share this little gem of a kitchen staple with you. I’ve been using clarified butter since my favorite French chef-instructor taught us how to make it in culinary school. I think I made it once, years before I ever went to school, back when I was…
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Homemade Organic Brown Sugar
I refuse to give up sugar. I realize that puts me in a moderately small minority. There aren’t many Real Food Foodies/Bloggers that are advocates of real cane sugar, but I am. I also believe it can be enjoyed in moderation and that our bodies need sugar to function properly. This post however isn’t going to be a lesson on why this Real Food Girl isn’t riding on the ‘sugar is evil bandwagon‘. Instead, I’m going to save you a few coins and teach you how to make your own homemade brown sugar. The Brown Sugar 411 Brown sugar is so easy to make. You need only two ingredients. Organic cane sugar…
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Makin’ Bacon
It’s official. I’m bored out of my mind. This means I’m totally ready to get back to blogging, and I think everyone in my house, pets included are very happy about this. I know I am. I honestly cannot take one more night of mindlessly flipping through a poor selection of available Netflix movies to entertain me. I’m going to lose my mind. My surgery went well. I sincerely thank you for all the prayers and well-wishes. They removed one tumorous parathyroid gland and sent me home about 8 hours after the surgery was over. I proceeded to develop a moderately severe allergic reaction to the surgical tape holding the gauze over the…
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Nigella Ruined My Brownies
The other day I had a conversation with myself. I do this frequently. So far I haven’t been locked up, or committed, so until I’m threatened with a padded room in the looney wing located in the sub-basement of my local hospital, I’ll probably continue to have conversations with myself. I’m quite interesting, unless I’m boring. Then by default I’m not interesting. In case you were wondering. I’ve been meaning to share some of my conversations with you guys, but I figured you’d think I was a nutter and you’d stop following my blog. However, I changed my mind when my friend Mandy from South Your Mouth started blogging about her conversations with…
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Roasted Cherry & Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream
Wanna know a secret? I could live without ice cream. I know, right? That’s like blasphemy or something. It’s just wrong to not love ice cream. But here I am, and I don’t love it. I do however seriously enjoy homemade ice cream. I’ve had fun coming up with flavors that both The Stud Muffin and I like. TSM loves ice cream. The man has never met a bowl of ice cream that he didn’t like. When I told him he couldn’t have any of this ice cream until I had a chance to take photos I thought the poor man was going to pass out. It’s not nice to deny The Stud…
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The “Help Me!” Series, Chapter 2: I’m Stressed
I’m tired. No, really. I’m worn out, dog tired and stressed. Do you ever get like that? I honestly can’t imagine how you women with children do it. I don’t have kids and it takes every ounce of mental energy I have just to get out of bed. I’d be an even hotter mess if I had kids. You’ve gotta know what I mean, because I know I’m not alone. Today I wanted to talk about being tired, and worn out and go over some things to help us through those times. I already know why I’m worn out. We’re moving 1205 miles away in 10 weeks, my house still has to go…
