Chicken salad is a favorite treat in my household.  Even though it's a simple recipe with easy to find ingredients, there's still something fancy about it.  So while it makes a nice lunch for guests — either in a sandwich or served on a bed of lettuce — I sometimes make up a batch for when it's just me and I need a pick-me-up.  This recipe is an old favorite, a real a classic that can easily be adapted to all manner of delicious variations and additions.  Perfect for picnics and pot lucks, too!

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Q: I'm in the process of starting a food blog and was wondering if I can publish adaptations of recipes I find online, as long as I credit the original author and link back to the original recipe?

Sent by Tracy

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Q: My husband and I would like to thank our neighbours for watering our plants while we were on vacation in Italy by cooking an Italian meal. Our guests will be a mom and dad, one 5-year old, one 2-year old and a baby, and the meal must be halal. Any recipe ideas for a family-friendly, pork-free, loosely Italian meal?

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When I first started brewing beer at home, I was a 5-gallon girl — much like most new homebrewers. It's just what you do. But there were drawbacks almost immediately. Brewing this much beer at once meant clearing out a precious coat closet for storing carboys and bottles, always having a buddy on hand to help lift the heavy (and hot!) pot on and off the stove, and drinking my way through a lot of beer — which may not seem like a bad thing at first, but can get tiresome if your beer proves less than stellar. Trust me. 

And then I discovered 1-gallon batches. Like a lightning strike to my brew pot, my life as a homebrewer was transformed overnight, and I ultimately developed all the recipes in my new book True Brews to be 1 gallon or less. Here's why I may never brew another 5-gallon batch of beer again.

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Have you ever noticed how on a warm day, it seems like half the scoop of ice cream will melt before you even get the bowl to the table? I hate that! Here's how to prevent ice cream puddles from happening.

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Memorial Day is this weekend! Break out the grill and kick-off the unofficial beginning of the grilling season with some cauliflower. It just may be the best cauliflower you've ever had.

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The more I cook at home, the more critical I am of my own mistakes. More often than not, these mistakes have to do with seasoning a dish. True confession: I'm an under-seasoner, always hearing my mother's voice in the back of my head warning me to avoid using too much salt and remain cautious with herbs. But there's more to bland cooking than simply under-seasoning. So often it also has to do with a lack of acid, or that little bit of oomph!

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Q: My girlfriend is a complete novice when it comes to cooking, but she wants to learn. It seems like every food blog I follow assumes that readers have basic cooking skills, access to fancy or expensive ingredients, and a whole lot of time. 

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My dad is a major snacker, with Pringles being one of his favorites. I studied abroad in Finland my junior year of college. Where in the world could these two statements possibly overlap? Well... More

Q: I just bought a large container of sumac because I wanted to make fattoush salad and it was the only size I could get my hands on at the time. It was delicious, but now I have a lot of leftover sumac. Any suggestions on what to use some of it for?

Sent by Kasey

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