The first thing I do when I start cooking is crank up the tunes - it really gets my creative juices flowing! Today I'm sharing one of my go-to cooking playlists that I call "Women Who Rock" - it's a compilation of lots of my favorite songs by female artists. I hope you love it!  The playlist is available on Apple Music and Spotify.  (photo: Brigitte Lacombe)

Now that it’s September and everyone is back to school and back to work, couldn’t we all use a new foolproof weeknight dinner? My recipe for Chicken Thighs with Creamy Mustard Sauce might just do the trick. I sear chicken thighs in a cast iron skillet and then set them aside to rest while I make a quick mustard sauce right in the skillet with the delicious juices from the chicken. Dinner is on the table in a half hour  - you just need a green salad and bread to mop up the sauce! 

Nothing says summer more than a clambake on the beach but who wants to do all that work!?   (Not to mention getting sand in your dinner!)  Instead, I make a “Kitchen Clambake” – I layer potatoes, kielbasa, clams, mussels, shrimp, and lobster in a huge stockpot and pour in lots of white wine.  Thirty minutes later I have a fabulous clambake to serve my friends right in my kitchen- and no sand!! That's my kind of dinner!