I am a chef, mom, TV host, cookbook author, blogger, professional voice over artist and terrace gardener. I cook in a way I call "Meat on the Side" which focuses on veggies, making them unique and the star of the plate.
Nikki Dinki on Food Network Star Season 9!! Click here for pics, clips and more from the show
Monday, June 24, 2013 
I like any sauce with a name that I can’t easily pronounce. Because I'm guaranteed that I will eventually say it to someone else and they will have no idea what I'm talking about and suddenly I will look super smart.
And really my goal in life is to pretend to be smart.
Oh, and make delicious food of course!!
Monday, June 24, 2013 
TEAMS!!
As we are opening up our envelopes that tell us what genre we are cooking for I am sitting there thinking "just not Western."
I can fit my POV into a Romance or Musical theme (though I'm not sure what kind of food is musical in nature) but "Meat on the Side" doesn't exactly scream western. Western flavors are more or a Russell thing filled with bacon and smoky meats.
But of course on this show you rarely get the easy route.
Monday, June 17, 2013
When your child is young you feed them pureed vegetables. This food is nutritious and easy to eat.
And then, without warning, it goes down hill...fast!! You start trying to give them whole broccoli instead of the pureed stuff.
This seems logical enough until the tree like foreign object is promptly rejected and dumped on the floor...
And there it sits, under their chair, next to the scary carrot and every horrifying brussel sprout.
But why give up the simple idea of eating pureed vegetables??
Hate the texture of a vegetable? Puree it!
Think veggies are too bitter or bland?? Add other more tasty pureed stuff to them!
Before you know it you’re eating a whole head of broccoli in a single serving...
Or maybe a whole eggplant...
Monday, June 17, 2013 
BACK ON TOP!!!!!!
I felt a lot of pressure going into this week. After last week I couldn't make another mistake or I really could be going home.
With this realization on my shoulder I walk into the mentor challenge only to see mystery bags on each of our stations. I don't like mystery bags, oh geeze
Wednesday, June 5, 2013 
People tell you all the time that things are easy.
I usually don't believe these people.
It's like when someone tells you to take a class at the gym and they reassure you that it's easy...
But when you can't walk like a normal human being for a week and sitting down makes you grunt a little, you learn to be skeptical.
Sunday, June 2, 2013 
Here we go again!
As we pull up to this massive set up with grills, a stage, tables and more chairs than were at my wedding I quickly realize that though the day will be spent in the sun, I will definitely not be relaxing and working on my tan.
Thursday, May 30, 2013 
Today we are going to talk about cute things. Silly cute things. And no, I'm not referring to another YouTube video of a wet cat or a laughing baby...
And no, it's not a picture of two animals that don’t belong together and yet are best friends.
Oh! Like the one where the baby monkey is sleeping with the doggy and he's got his arm around him and you just know they will be BFF's till the end of time!
No!!
I’m talking about something cute…silly cute…that you can eat!
Something that says “hey, look at me” and when you do you think, “well hello, aren’t you beautiful, and precious, and...and...I MUST EAT YOU!!”
I'm talking about the crazy delicious idea of making an apple pie...
wait for it...
keep waiting...
IN AN APPLE!
Friday, May 24, 2013 
The food processor is my best friend.
As much as I love to be in the kitchen, there is always a point that if I have to chop one more clove of garlic I just might snap. Let's face it, prep is no fun! That’s why all the big name chefs have prep cooks in their restaurants. The prep cooks do all the dirty work and the real chefs get to just throw things in a pan and light them on fire.
So the closest thing to a prep cook that I can manage in my meager kitchen is...THE FOOD PROCESSOR.
I call him Francesco.
There is nothing better than throwing a bunch of ingredients into Francesco’s able hands and suddenly having something, well...quite tasty! So I bring you yet another quick dip featuring my partner in crime, the food processor...
RECIPE:
2 Roasted Red Peppers
1lemon Juice and Zest
2Tbs Olive Oil
1.5tsp salt
1Tbs parsley
1Tbs basil
6oz cream cheese
Put all ingredients in a food processor and chop until pureed and smooth. Serve on it’s own as a dip or over pasta, shrimp or chicken! ENJOY!
You might also like these recipes:
Brownie Bites with Caramel Centers
Roasted Garlic + Basil Hummus
Irish Soda Bread
Cookie Dough Truffles
Dill HummusTuesday, May 7, 2013 
People change... Times change... Feelings change... And though your Italian grandmother would scold me, I have to confess...My tomato sauce recipe...has changed....
Lucky for me I am still young. (Although the impending “3-0” this month makes me feel like I'm 10 steps away from the nursing home.)
But at 30 I’m pretty sure I am still young enough that I can change my “signature” sauce recipe. And hopefully by the time I'm 70 no one will remember how fickle I used to be with my famous “Sunday gravy."
Tomato sauce was one of the first things I ever made and it was the very first thing my husband and I ever made together.
(The first and the last, there is no room for two cooks in my tiny kitchen ;)
Wednesday, May 1, 2013 
As a society we like things on a stick, things that are fried and things that are STUFFED!
The idea of something stuffed inside of something else is a simple but exciting idea. It's a mystery and a surprise.
You have something already delicious, like a doughnut, a potato or a turkey and then you take these things to a whole new level. You stuff the doughnut with jelly, load up the potato and then of course there is the ingenious idea of stuffing a turkey with a chicken and a duck!
You have made something new! You have taken something and not just made it the best it can be, but even better. You have STUFFED IT!!
Now let's talk about cookies. We all like cookies and many times I judge my cookies like I do my books...by its cover of course.
I look at the outside, I see if it's thick or thin, smooth or bumpy. And far before I bite into it I have made a certain judgement about this cookie.
