Anne Wolfe Postic

Anne Postic writes about cooking for her family on The Kitchn. She lives in Columbia, South Carolina with her husband and three very handsome sons. She loves talking cooking, travel, parenting and art, though not necessarily in that order.
Everything You Need to Throw a Fabulous Cocktail Party
We love a good cocktail party. Great drinks, delicious snacks, and lots of laughs with good friends. Whether yours is large or small, everyone you know or a few close friends, The Kitchn has some tips to make it the best one you’ve ever hosted. First things first: Let’s start with the drinks. The Kitchn’s 9 Bottle Bar column is a great place to start if you’re ready to build your bar, bottle by bottle, garnish by garnish.
May 9, 2022
Dessert is Optional. (But We Do Love It!)
There’s something exciting about dessert in our house — shocking, even. Dessert rarely appears at the table, even though we have no specific rules about sweets. Every now and then one of the children will make a request — usually cookies, a love they inherited from their dad — or I’ll feel nostalgic for something like cobbler, vinegar pie, or homemade Magic Shell over ice cream. Dessert is not a required course and we definitely don’t need it to survive.
Sep 30, 2020
How MasterChef Junior Taught My Kid to Love Soft Boiled Eggs
Some seven-year-olds are fickle. I am parenting my third seven-year-old, and he can be a little picky. For a long time, he has enjoyed two regular breakfasts: cheese toast or peanut butter on bananas. He will also eat pancakes, waffles, the occasional chicken biscuit and toad in a hole. Those breakfasts are just fine, but variety is good. MasterChef Junior has him inspired to try new things, and I love it.
Sep 30, 2020
Kitchen Convenience: 5 Prepared Foods That Are (Almost) As Good As Homemade
I pride myself on making things from scratch, but with three children to feed, not to mention a decent sized crew of regular dinner guests, I don’t always live up to my own expectations. Like most of you, I’m a label reader, sometimes pleasantly surprised to find a pancake mix that saves me the trouble of mixing ingredients or a jar of marinara sauce that needs little more than a sprinkle of this or that to mimic the one I would create.
Sep 30, 2020
Get Them While You Can: The Pleasure of Leftovers for Breakfast
oeufs durs mayonnaisen’est-ce pas Worse — they are acutely aware what a cardboard box in the fridge means: Fancy leftovers! What could it be? Ratatouille from a favorite local chef? Pad Thai from that chic Thai bistro down the street? Maybe half of a perfectly prepared, rare filet mignon! If I want my leftovers, I have to eat them early. I can take almost any half eaten dish, sauté it in a pan, throw in a handful of microgreens, and crack an egg over the top.
Sep 30, 2020
What’s Your Sick Day Dish?
“ Oooh The slow cooker had been loaded up hours before, and a wonderful smell filled the kitchen. “Chicken soup,” I answered. “Yum! Who’s sick?” Since my children are not unlikely to jump from one subject to another with no warning, I didn’t immediately see a connection. “Nobody. Why?” Apparently, I only make chicken noodle soup when someone stays in bed for the day.
Sep 30, 2020
Real Help from Kids in the Kitchen: 8 Actually Helpful Ways to Put Kids to Work
I don’t believe in making pretend work in the kitchen for children, the kind of jobs that create more work for me. I’m not that nice. Do it right, or don’t do it at all. But they’ll never learn if I don’t teach them, will they? Finding tasks they can do saves me time. Also? It keeps them nearby, so we can chat and enjoy the work together. Here are eight kitchen tasks that kids can do that will actually help you out.  I love to cook.
Sep 30, 2020
4 Pizzas and a Burrito: What They Eat When I’m Away
I was out of town for five days. I left food, real food, like vegetables and fruit, all easily indentifiable. I left enough vegetables for a large stir-fry, which I made as an afternoon snack the day after my return, so the aging produce wouldn’t go to waste. I married a man who knows how to cook, a man who shuns junk food, who once shamed me for my fast food drive-through habit. I had three wonderful sons with that man. Somewhere along the way, he chose pizza as a food group.
Sep 30, 2020
When You Want to Impress the Kids, Make Popovers
Popovers are awesome. You can do anything to them, and all you need to start are some really basic ingredients — flour, milk, salt and eggs — and a muffin tin. You can add grated cheese, Nutella, mashed bananas, your favorite jam, a dollop of ripe mango or a spoonful of last night’s barbecue pork. Sweet or savory, it’s all delicious.
Sep 30, 2020
Food Art for Kids and My Inferiority Complex
When I was little, “happy meal” meant food in the shape of a face. My parents weren’t fans of fast food and, with four kids, it wasn’t even a bargain. Banana slices with peanut butter for eyes, an apple wedge for the mouth and broken crackers and cheese for all the other features. It was fun! These days, the game has changed. I’m no artist, and my food faces are pretty lame compared to what the internet has to offer.
Sep 30, 2020
Fun in the Kitchen: Silly Utensils that Make Me Smile
I’m a serious person. I was forty years old in my own mind by the time I was in first grade. But having children has made me a little more fun. We spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and they’ve found some silly kitchen tools that make me smile and are just as functional as their more mature counterparts.My mother had to force me to go outside and play when I was six or seven years old, only to look out the window a few minutes later and find me reading under a tree.
Sep 30, 2020
On Kids Cooking: How Old Were Your Kids When You Let Them Use the Stove?
My babies will always be babies to me. And I’m often accused of being a little uptight. (My response? Sure, I’m uptight, but nothing really horrible has ever happened to me. Because I’m careful! Too careful!) The idea of letting my babies use a stove, especially our gas stove, with its daring open flame, was unfathomable.
Sep 30, 2020
5 Steps to the Perfect Bowl of Pasta
How boring is it that I learned the secret to making perfect pasta in Italy? Yes, fresh made pasta is amazing, and no, that’s not the technique I’m about to share with you. (Now that you know I’m not going to talk about fresh made pasta, are you a) disappointed, b) disgusted, or c) totally excited, because pasta should be easy?) My friend’s Italian husband Peldi taught me the five steps to a perfect bowl of pasta: Use the biggest pot you have.
Sep 30, 2020
Why Having a Toddler Made Me Eat More (and Not Better)
First of all, that chasing thing is sort of a myth. Toddlers are slow, forcing their parents to move at a snail’s pace. I used to speed walk from place to place, but those days were over. Many toddlers reach an age where they don’t want to go in the stroller any more. Maybe you can force them, but then you get those judging looks from other parents, wondering why you won’t let your toddler have any exercise. Also, the screaming can be hard to endure.
Sep 30, 2020
Eight Life Lessons We Learned from MasterChef
I don’t have a television. This used to keep me from watching too much, but with just about every show a girl could want available online, I probably watch more TV than anyone. MasterChef is one of my favorites. Yes, the chef hosts are handsome with varying degrees of charm. And some of the contestants have heartwarming stories, while others are gloriously despicable. The cooking challenges are fascinating; the Mystery Box is one of my favorites.
Sep 30, 2020
Best Lunch Box Ever by Katie Sullivan Morford
Katie Morford is a food writer, a registered dietician and a mother of three children. These qualifications show in her book. I’ve read lunch box books before that made me balk. The recipes were complicated, or I found myself thinking, “Sure, my kids will eat this in theory, but at the lunch table under the watchful eyes of their peers? Not so much.” Katie gets it. Her ideas are simple, healthy and varied enough to appeal to any child. Think you know it all?
Sep 30, 2020
Water with Meals: A Page From My European Husband’s Book
When I was a child, our parents made us drink orange juice with breakfast and a cup of milk with our evening meal. I hated milk then and, as an adult, I really don’t love it, unless it’s accompanied by a stack of Oreo cookies. Most of my friends drank milk with supper, while our parents drank water or, occasionally, iced tea. My husband, who grew up in the United States, the child of two Europeans, was accustomed to water on the table, and our family has adopted this habit.
Sep 30, 2020
Tip: Save Time by Chopping Garlic and Saving it in Oil
There are some tasks in the kitchen I don’t enjoy: grating cheese, shucking corn, and peeling and chopping garlic among them. The kids can take over some of those tasks, and they should, because — just like my mother told me, over and over — while they live in my house, they have to live by my rules. She also observed that when I had my own house, I could make my own rules. She was right. This totally came true! I make rules all the time! Even though they get broken.
Sep 30, 2020
Another Ten Minute, Ten Dollar Dinner: Pat-in-the-Pan-Crust Quiche
I was careful when I first introduced quiche to my young sons. Presentation is important to preschoolers, so I referred to it as “Pizza Pie,” with a big, inane grin on my face. They liked pizza, and pie was a rare treat, so the combination was a winner. These days, they are mature enough to call it quiche, and I make it at least once a week, because it’s easy, economical and quick. The “pat in the pan” crust makes it easy, because I always have the ingredients.
Sep 30, 2020
Easy DIY Pizza for Weeknight Kid Guests
In our home, dinner guests come in all sizes. Make Your Own Pizza Night is great for kids, but adults love it, too! Using ready made whole wheat naan for the crust makes it easy and allows everyone to build their own, pleasing even the pickiest eaters. Also? A varied toppings bar is a great way to clean out the fridge. Whole Foods whole wheat naan was a recent discovery, and it’s perfect for individual pizzas.
Sep 30, 2020
Kitchen Skill Classes with a Kid? Absolutely!
When a local kitchen store called to see if I would be interested in trying one of their classes, I jumped at the chance. I’m a self taught cook and I have the scars and culinary tragedies in my past to prove it. Hoping to save at least one of my children from their own mistakes, I brought my 12 year old son Xander with me to the class. It was a lot of fun and we both learned how to use knives in a safer, more efficient way. By the time it was over, we were pros!
Sep 30, 2020
The Absolute Easiest Way to Compost
My friend Ryan Nevius is really cool. She’s an environmentalist (hard-core!) who cares enough to make it simple for the laziest of her friends. (Ahem. That would be me.) Ryan taught me how to compost the easy way, by making the kids do it.
Sep 30, 2020
Tackling the Fridge and Freezer: Here I Go!
Day 1 Task: Declutter and purge fridge and freezer, clean. So, this task made me cry. Was it the scary, scary cucumber I found at the bottom of the veggie drawer? The massive number of jars, some with dubious origins? Was it the nearly full bottle of expensive umeboshi plum vinegar silently mocking my failure to go macro or whatever that was? No. I cried because the last time I cleaned the fridge was the day my mom died.
Sep 30, 2020
How The Kitchn Cure Made Me Remember My Favorite Breakfast
I forgot how much I loved steel-cut oatmeal, especially with yummy additions like dried tart cherries and pepitas. The Kitchn Cure has me all kinds of organized and I can finally see what’s in my pantry. Hooray for a hearty breakfast! I like my oatmeal with almond milk instead of water, for a richer taste. Steel-cut oatmeal can be made in the slow cooker the night before for an easy morning, but I’m the only one in my family who likes it, so I just make it in a pot.
Sep 30, 2020
Special Project: The Kid Gets in on The Kitchn Cure
Day 7 Task: Special project I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was feeling guilty, because my special project wasn’t all that special, or difficult. I needed to deal with the cookbook situation. I have a thing for random cookbooks and that thing is getting ugly. And the spaces behind the cookbooks were getting really ugly, so it had to be done. But then something amazing happened: My youngest son got totally into the Cure, and I don’t mean the band.
Sep 30, 2020
On To the Pantry. What Is This Stuff?
Day 2 Task: Declutter and clean pantry and food storage areas Who bought this stuff? It can’t have been me. Okay. Well. I think we all know it was me. Though my husband will have to claim a few things, jars of who-knows-what he got in gift baskets at work and stuck in there, never to see the light of day again. But it was pretty much me. By the way, the picture above is the “after” picture. Before was just too scary.
Sep 30, 2020
Day 4 of the Kitchn Cure, Deep Cleaning: Do I Have To?
Day 4 Task: Deep clean. I have a confession: This task was not too scary, because we have a house cleaner once a week who takes care of a lot of deep cleaning type tasks, so our space doesn’t get too bad. The floors are clean, the baseboards dusted and the counters and backsplash polished on the regular. There are, however, a few scary spots, which I tackled with glee. (Hey, this is starting to get fun!) The worst place in my kitchen is under the sink.
Sep 30, 2020
Another Ten Minute, Ten Dollar Dinner: Girl Scout Stew
There are a couple of things you need to know about Girl Scout Stew. It is not endorsed, as far as I know, by the Girl Scouts of the USA, but that’s what my mother called it and she was a Girl Scout. Also, Girl Scout Stew is not pretty, but it’s not about looks, is it? This hearty, mostly healthy meal is perfect for a busy weeknight. I could call it Campfire Stew, but I don’t camp and I am the only woman in a house full of men, so I cling to femininity when I can.
Sep 30, 2020
How the Lowly Stick Blender Changed My Feelings About Soup
I love the idea of cream soups. They look pretty, taste delicious and are a super easy way to sneak random vegetables into kids. But that whole “purée in batches in your blender” thing stopped me. You see, I hate it when hot soup explodes in my face or anywhere in my kitchen. But when my husband and I got married, he brought something to our shared home: Betty Crocker the Pbrrt.
Sep 30, 2020
How I Make Peeling (and Cleaning) Pumpkin a Little Easier
Sure, it’s a cliche. But when October rolls around, I want pumpkin. No, not the flavor of pumpkin spice, but actual pumpkin. I love pumpkin soup, pumpkin chili, even pumpkin muffins, and it seems more festive to buy a fresh one than pick up a few cans of purée. But peeling pumpkin is a pain, or it was until I learned a few tricks. Sadly, I know of no better way to remove the seeds than to just dig in to the slimy insides with my bare hands.
Sep 30, 2020
Where Did You Get That Recipe? And How Do You Keep Yours Organized?
If you are like me, you have recipes written on scraps of paper, loosely filed somewhere near your actual cookbooks. Or maybe you’re more organized. Any way you store them, those recipes are often family favorites. Mine came from a variety of sources and I need to organize them. My split pea soup recipe and a delicious slow cooker recipe for peanut butter chicken came from an online parenting community I used to frequent when my now 15-year-old son was a baby.
Sep 30, 2020
How I Got My Slow Cooker Fixed (And Honestly, It’s Even Better Now)
You remember my slow cooker? The one I broke? Twice? I really didn’t want to buy a new one, because I had already done that once and it’s important to me to make things last. (Evidence: My husband’s car has 175,000 miles. My car, “the new one,” has 95,000 miles, and we aren’t considering a car purchase anytime soon.) Before I replaced my cooker, I got in touch with Brenton Sadreameli of Mr.
Sep 30, 2020
Homemade Mayonnaise vs. Duke’s: A Family Decision
Once again, South Carolina favorite Duke’s mayonnaise is in the news. According to the Washington Post, it has a cult following. And it’s a pretty large cult: Duke’s ranks third, behind Hellman’s and Kraft. As a South Carolina native, I weep for the rest of the nation, especially those who haven’t realized Duke’s is clearly the superior choice. And yet, while the commercial choice is obvious to me, I wondered how it compared to homemade.
Sep 30, 2020
Our Microwave Broke: And I Don’t Think We’re Going Back
Just before Christmas — or was it just after? —our microwave broke. Actually, I’m not sure it was broken, but it made a big spark and that was enough for me. We paid around $60 for it nearly nine years ago, so we’ve gotten our money’s worth. We never had a microwave before we moved to this house, and we managed just fine, but I sure have gotten used to the convenience. So I’ve had to make a few changes since the death of the microwave.
Sep 30, 2020
Why Every Kid Needs a Signature Dish
Every kid needs a signature dish, something they can cook for themselves, a dish they can offer to make when they visit someone else for the weekend, something they can use — one day — to impress a potential partner. My oldest son is a breakfast guy. He can make eggs to order, he flips a mean pancake, and he knows how to make the best use of leftover bacon grease. Our middle son loves a bowl of pasta, and he was riveted when I showed him how to make a variation of carbonara.
Sep 30, 2020
To Peel or Not to Peel: 7 Questions I Ask Myself Before Peeling a Vegetable
I used to be meticulous about peeling vegetables. Also? I used to eat a lot less vegetables and have three less children than I have today. I’ve gotten lazier about peeling, especially if the vegetables will be cooked. Besides, aren’t there nutrients in the skin of vegetables and fruits? In the end, whether or not the vegetable gets peeled depends on a few things. How do I make the decision? How many hours are there in a day? How busy am I and how long can I wait to eat?
Sep 30, 2020