We recently challenged some of the best food bloggers out there to a recipe contest. Make a weeknight meal for 4 for less than $4 per serving. Entries came in from chefs of all kinds - cookbook authors, vegans, college students, stay-at-home moms, engineers and we had to narrow a large pool down to our favorite six. But even our runner up recipes were pretty awesome and we thought we'd share with you some of our favorites that didn't make the cut... Apron Adventures: Asian Ginger Steak

About three months ago, I purchased my first home - a modest one bedroom, less than a fifteen minute bike ride to work, in a safe but diverse neighborhood and with a gorgeous, gorgeous brand new kitchen.  I remember when I first moved in how my enthusiasm (and lack of funds - man, closing costs add up!) drove me to cook meals for myself from scratch almost every night.  I've since fallen out of this habit - choosing to go out with friends or just 'grabbing something quick' instead of enjoying my own home cooking.

I've been traveling this week - nothing too spectacular- just a flight to upstate NY for a family reunion, followed by a road trip back down to NJ to spend a week with the family and on Sunday - the NYC Century.  During a particularly long layover on my way to NY, as I circled the terminal for the tenth time, I realized just how few options exist in airport dining for anyone seeking healthy, natural or organic - let alone anyone with a dietary restriction.  Same goes for a road trip and its commonly frequented fast food joints and gas stations.  So how do

I wish my childhood lunches had been filled with more delightful and evocative images, so I could recount to you complete sensory detail, my memories of elementary school at noon. But alas, I had a lot of bologna on white bread, American cheese on white bread and peanut butter and jelly... on white bread. Not that my mom wasn't awesome, but she lacked the time and the... culinary creativity to spin brown bagged meals into flavorful memories. But, what I lack in personal experience in my youth, I've more than made up for in living vicariously through other people's lunches.

Is it just me or are you feeling a bit like this lately? It's mid-August and all of the maps of daytime temperatures across the US show firey shades of red, orange and yellow. It's undeniably hot outside and it seems like everyone's talking about it. The blogosphere and the news are abuzz with chatter about the heat and ways to combat it and we thought we'd share with you some of the best ways to beat (or enjoy) the heat that we've found this week...