About Me / My Style

About Dorothy Reinhold

I am a career newspaper editor currently on hiatus from that dying challenged industry. I have been married to a fabulous Poindexter-science-math geek for more than half my life (!), and have two children who are perfect. (Except when they aren’t.)  I have 25 years of food writing and recipe developing under my belt, and I freelance as a food and financial writer, while helping to lead the PTA at school and volunteering at our local community theater. There are never enough hours in the day to do all the things that interest me! You may reach me at DReinhold@charter.net.

About Shockingly Delicious

“Shockingly delicious” is one of those things I say when something tastes beyond wonderful. Or else it’s “scary good,” but that doesn’t sound so fantabulous as a blog title, does it? Scary good, as in, “This caramel-banana-butterscotch-pecan bar is scary good.”  If something is shockingly delicious or scary good, prepare to find a 12-step program to wean yourself from it.

How many recipes do I have?

Thousands. Millions. Quadrillions. Like many recipe hoarders collectors, I have clippings coming out the wazoo (what is a wazoo, anyway?), 400+ cookbooks, and my computer overflows with links and recipes and cooking sites and culinary ideas.

As vices go, that’s not so bad, is it?

What kind of cook am I?

I specialize in scrumptious, simple-to-prepare, tried and true recipes, tips and coaching to make YOU a fabulous home cook. These are “scary good” recipes with big flavors, so don’t blame me if you need a 12-step program to wean yourself from your addiction to some of them! You’ve been warned!

Shockinglydelicious offers inspiration, a nudge and a formula for success, because if you start with the right recipe at the right time, you are halfway to the finish line!  These recipes will definitely get you noticed when you bring them to a potluck.

• I skew on the cost-conscious side. Call me cheap if you like; I don’t consider it an insult.
• Leftovers are king at our house, so we actually prefer when a recipe makes more than enough. That just means lunches later!
• When I use canned goods (beans, tuna, etc.) in a recipe, I try to use the whole can.
• I like to use produce in season.
• I take advantage of sales. Nothing makes me happier than mangos on sale three for $1;  I will come home with 12.
• I try to buy organic when it makes sense.
• I trim as much fat as possible, but fat is flavor, and sometimes you just need it. Nothing is more satisfying than eating a grilled chicken thigh with the skin on. Go ahead, eat the skin.
• Even if I trim the fat, or salt, or sugar, it has to taste fabulous. If it tastes like cardboard, I don’t care how healthy it is, no one will eat it. And where’s the joy in that?

You CAN do this! It is not rocket science (well, some recipes are, but I leave them for others).

Where did I learn to cook?

I am a lifelong cooking enthusiast, learning early at the expert hand of my mother and my first Brownie Scout cooking badge. Then there was Mrs. Whittaker, my home ec teacher in 7th grade, and her recipe for onion rolls, with which I wowed my family one night at dinner. In high school, I gave out loaves of cranberry bread to friends one year for holiday gifts, and after college, I dived into “The Silver Palate” cookbook, as did many.

As I began my journalism career, I began to write food stories and recipes for whichever paper I worked at, culminating in the Tried & True food/recipe column I have written for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group since I began working there as an editor in 1993. I now also write for AOL and Gourmandia.com.

I can remember my fantastic feats (an elegant pumpkin-prosciutto lasagna with béchamel sauce that wowed visiting Canadian relatives) and my failures (a lemon cake that resembled a pancake after baking afterI added a too-generous splash of lemon juice just for fun; my mother helpfully dubbed it a “torte.” ). Or the batches of cookies that made it hot to the counter and then straight into the gaping maws of my three brothers without a stop at the cookie jar, as well as the batches I mercifully scraped straight off the cookie sheet and into the trash.

For many years I cooked just for the two us, so I am fluent in couples food as well as elegant brunch fare and impress-the-boss dinner party grub. Now it’s the four of us, and children put a whole different spin on the question, “What’s for dinner?” don’t they? I learned to cook in my 6-member family of origin, and now I’m back to that square with my own family of four.

Good times, all of it!

Welcome to Shockingly Delicious. Get comfy and stay for awhile!