The Chopping Block Cooking Blog

Laura S

Laura moved to Chicago two years ago in pursuit of superior pizza and has not been disappointed. She works at a consulting firm in Evanston during the day, and moonlights as a food and book blogger at Page & Plate (http://pageandplate.com/) in her free time. She lives in Lakeview with her very patient boyfriend and not-so-patient cats, Kitty and Daily, and is always searching for new recipes, restaurants, and reads.

6 Ways to Eat More Sustainably

I love food. I love eating, I love cooking, and I love entertaining. But here’s the thing. I also love the Earth. And the more I learn about the way our eating habits negatively affect the Earth, ...

5 Dreamy Ice Cream Hacks for Summer

When the weather gets this hot, there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. Not a lot, that is, except for resorting to a diet made up of ice cream. There are very few who will complain about this ...

5 Tips for Making the Most of Your Grocery Trips This Summer

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s that walk back from the grocery store when you went a teensy tiny bit overboard. You know exactly what I’m talking about: reusable grocery bags (go you for ...

Cook the Book: AKA the best class ever

As someone who loves reading almost as much as I love cooking, I wasn’t even halfway through the title of the class before I signed up for the Cook the Book series that The Chopping Block is ...

What to Binge Watch (and Eat) While You’re Waiting for Summer

You can tell by the way everyone’s walking around, holding their breath and hoping that maybe, just maybe, they can start thinking about where to stash their Patagonia until next winter rolls ...

Ramen Workshop: It's all about the Broth

What if I told you there was a way to learn how to make better than restaurant-quality ramen at home? What if I told you that you don’t even need to spend three days studying David Chang’s recipe ...

Baby, It’s Freezing Outside: 5 Kitchen Hacks to Warm Up Your Winter

By this point in 2019, I don’t need to preach to you about the misery of winter in Chicago. Even though this isn’t my first frigid rodeo, something about this winter feels more painful than the ...

The Ultimate Cooking Showdown Competition TCB Edition

If there are two things you need to know about me, especially over the course of reading this blog, it’s that I’m ultra-competitive and I’m a pretty amazing gift giver. If I had to say what my ...

Bring This to a Holiday Party

No matter what holiday you observe this time of year, there’s parties to attend and along with parties to attend, there’s offers of “What can I bring?” to make so that the party-thrower is likely to ...

6 Things You Didn’t Know About Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner

Arguably the most important meal you’ll eat this year is rapidly approaching. Turkey Day. The Gobble Feast. Thanksgiving. Every year, Thanksgiving becomes a friendlier holiday to me, especially when ...