Welcome to Cooking with Virginia!
Here you will find delicious and doable, seasonal, chef-driven recipes for home cooks along with tips, techniques, and stories. And, given Virginia’s health journey and 65# weight loss, the recipes are not only good — they are good for you, too!
Each post features mouth-watering food photography, easy-to-follow instructions, and helpful hints for well-tested recipes from Southern chef, Food Network Kitchen Instructor, and James Beard award-winning cookbook author Virginia Willis.
You’ll also find Virginia’s signature stories chronicling formational childhood experiences gained baking in her grandmother’s and mother’s kitchen, her extensive professional experience from working in patisserie in a Michelin-starred restaurant, to the hot lights of food television, and her culinary centric far-flung travels. The recipes build on this practical knowledge and are written so that the reader feels that Virginia is by their side in the kitchen, as she walks the reader through surefire recipes that work every time. The recipes are rigorously tested and are essential, foolproof dishes you actually want to make and eat!
Bon Appétit, Y’all!
Virginia Willis
Make This: Romesco Sauce
Spring is here in much of the country and warmer weather means more time outdoors and generally, more socializing. Patio parties and do-dahs on the
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Weeknight Supper: Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions
Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions is an easy dish for a weeknight supper. First, you have to know what to buy. All four-legged animals
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Baked Broccoli Risotto: Modern Comfort
Somewhere along the way when women were “liberated” from the kitchen, processed and convenience foods became Standard Operating Procedure. One-pot casseroles became the go-to for
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Valentine’s Day: No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites
Chocolate and Valentine’s Day go together like, well, chocolate and peanut butter. To help celebrate Valentine’s Day I thought I’d share these Chocolate Peanut Butter
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Hunter’s Chicken with Mushrooms
You know the story. “Chicken Recipes” are the number one recipe-related search item on the internet. Well, not really. According to Google that worthy topic actually
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Winter Salads: Think Outside the Arugula Box
Summer salads are easy. A couple of chops of straight-from-the-garden fresh vegetables and you’re good to go. Winter salads require slightly more thought, but it’s a
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Cooking with Citrus: Spicy Chicken with Clementines
Earlier this week I was in the local co-op experiencing a bit of a conundrum regarding planning this week’s meals. After seemingly months of rich,
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Happy New Year: Vegetarian Hoppin’ John
Eating black-eyed peas and rice in the form of a dish called Hoppin’ John and Stewed Greens on New Year’s Day is a Southern tradition. Folklore
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Christmas Traditions: Old-Fashioned Yeast Rolls
Every family has at least one culinary Christmas tradition. In our family, at the top of the list of our Christmas traditions are Old-Fashioned Yeast
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Holiday Cheer: Bourbon Apple Cider
The smells, sights, and colors of fall are brilliant, vibrant, and comforting. However, once the leaves change and the days grow shorter, to many it
