The Chopping Block Cooking Blog

Choosing, Understanding and Making the Most of a Recipe

Have you ever looked up a recipe online and ended up buying $70 worth of ingredients to make it? It's so common these days with the millions of recipes available on the internet. Although some ...

The Quickest Way to your Valentine’s Heart: a 20-minute Comfort Food Dinner

I have a love/hate relationship with Valentine’s day. It always seems to stress me out, whether it was when I was single and felt left out, or now that I am married and I feel pressure to outdo ...

How to Make Homemade Mexican-Style Chorizo

I love chorizo, and I am honestly baffled when I meet someone who doesn’t. When I ask people what they don’t like about chorizo, they often say it is because it is greasy. I’ll admit it can be ...

Beef Paprikash: A Cold-Weather Cure

Like many of you, when it was ridiculously cold last week, I went into survival mode. In addition to filling my gas tank and changing my furnace filter, I also made sure we had plenty of wine in ...

A Cooking Project for You and your Kids

Over the holidays, my girlfriend's daughter Amelia had a school project in which she was assigned to make a traditional dish. The students picked a country randomly from a hat and then had to ...

Brunch Chilaquiles

Brunch is one of my favorite meals to host. It’s always more laid back, no one seems to be in a hurry and truth be told, I like how inexpensive it can be.

Winning French Onion Dip

Football is a big deal in my house. Sundays are spent in sweatpants, cozied up on the couch, yelling at the TV, and enjoying delicious food to go along with the games (this is an all-day affair after ...

Grits vs Polenta: A Match of Equal Deliciousness

When I broke in my new kitchen a few weeks ago with a dinner party for friends, the star of the show was my Asiago cheese grits with fresh herbs. Just recently, my good friend Dan Smith of The ...

Celebrate Carnival with King Cake Cupcakes

I love Mardi Gras season for many reasons: my birthday, parades with masked people and their "throws" (i.e. beads and trinkets), and King Cake. Being from Louisiana, I'm particularly picky about my ...

Avocados + Chickpeas = “Hummole”

Try thinking of foods that are good for you and that you also have little to no guilt eating obscene amounts of. Did hummus and guacamole cross your mind? Gun to your head: which would you choose ...