Sharlene Lal

In this day and age, who doesn't want to save a little dough when you're at the check out counter at your local grocery store? With the popular rise of the reality show Extreme Couponing, I think American's, myself included, are looking for creative wa...

 Sausage and peppers, a classic Italian staple, and one of my favorite dishes. Many of you who live in and around the Sacramento area might have heard of or even been to Paesanos Italian Restaurant, at the least you have probably driven by it. Pae...

Eggplant, beautiful, purple, complex and flavorful. That is exactly what I thought when I spied the purple beauties as I perused the produce section of my local grocery store. Usually the selection local markets carry, leave something to be desired, bu...

I haven't blogged in about a week and I am starting to feel really bad about it. Although I have been cooking, I put in almost 50 hours at work last week, which included two back to back evenings. Safe to say I have been pressed for time, and therefore...

No clay oven? No problem. Every time I go to an Indian restaurant I can't resist ordering something off the Tandoor section of the menu. So today, I decided, it was time to try my own! Tandoor style chicken and shrimp not made in a traditional cylindr...

Country fried chicken, and that's exactly what it is, chicken, served with bite-sized bursting with flavor red potatoes. It seems like a lot of trouble to go to on a weeknight, and believe me it was, but the ends definitely justified the means. Please ...

A sweet southern favorite, Hummingbird cake! This cake is sweet, moist and topped off with a traditional cream cheese frosting. Hummingbird cake is a pretty simple cake to make, doesn't take much time and is definitely a crowd pleaser. I opted for baki...

Any time I have had delicious and authentic tacos they have always been very similar to these, small tortillas, grilled meat, onion cilantro and a bit of fabulously spicy salsa to top it all off. I've only been to Mexico a couple of times, and even the...

Twenty minutes start to finish, the easiest (and tastiest) pasta dish to prepare on a weeknight when you have zero time to spare. The quality of the ingredients really play an important role in the freshness (and taste) of this dish, the fresher the be...

I've made stuffed shells before, but these are different, these shells are the star of the show. You could pair them with a meat and serve the shells as a side or add meat to the sauce if you prefer. But I think these shells stuffed with spinach, Rico...