Charlyne Mattox
Charlyne Mattox is a staff food editor of Real Simple, where she writes and develops recipes for popular columns such as “Ten Ideas For” and “Secretly Simple,” as well as entertaining. Before joining the magazine, she was the Associate Food Editor at Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food. She got her culinary start in New York, where she spent time in the kitchen of the acclaimed restaurant Blue Hill as Stone Barns. A military brat, she moved around a lot as a child but now lives in Queens with her boyfriend and two cats.

Recent Posts By Charlyne Mattox

6 Ridiculously Easy Homemade Salad Dressings

March 20, 2012 | By | Comments (7)

A dressing can make or break a salad. Too much and it becomes a soggy mess, too little and it’s tasteless, too acidic and you pucker with every bite. Here are six simple dressings which will hopefully help you put down the bottle, and get on your way to more exciting salads. Let me know if you make any of […]

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Healthy Salad Week Three!

March 13, 2012 | By | Comments (1)

Spring seems to have arrived so early this year (fingers crossed we won’t have a cold snap!) which gets me really excited about one of my favorite vegetables—mushrooms!!  Chanterelles and morels aren’t in the market yet but the crisp air inspired me to make a light salad with a few quickly sautéed shiitake mushroom, watercress, Napa cabbage, and scallions. The dressing […]

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Healthy Salad, Week Two

March 6, 2012 | By | Comments (1)

This salad was the bomb!! As my co-worker said while eating it, “I can feel the energy running through me”. I took one 5-ounce container of braising greens (essentially different types of kale torn up into bite size pieces) and tossed it with lemon juice, olive oil, Kosher salt, and pepper. I then let it sit on the counter, stirring […]

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Healthy Lunch Salad Ideas

February 27, 2012 | By | Comments (2)

I have probably mentioned before – when we are developing recipes in the Real Simple test kitchen we tend to do a lot of eating, and more eating. and even more eating! Some days it’s hot dogs for breakfast and lunch. Other days it’s chicken cooked up a million different ways. I am not complaining—I love my job and especially (you […]

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How NOT to Break an Egg

January 23, 2012 | By | Comments (3)

In the test kitchen earlier today I was working on a cake recipe. Trying to save time while making the batter I decided to break the egg on the rim of the bowl, while the mixer was running. Rookie mistake! I dropped the egg in the batter, the shell got mashed every which way and it was a big ol’ […]

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Flor de Jamacia a.k.a. Hibiscus Tea

January 9, 2012 | By | Comments (2)

I bought this loose dried hibiscus tea (it’s actually the sepal from the Hibiscus flower) in my local market a couple of weeks ago. I was first attracted by the beautiful purple/pink color and once I figured out what it was, by the smell, I decided it was cocktail time! I first rinsed the tea, then simmered it in a […]

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Hearty Winter Soup

January 3, 2012 | By | Comments (5)

I love making big batches of soup in the winter and eating them for days and days. It’s always amazing how the flavor changes and morphs as the soup ages. Above is my latest creation—Merguez sausage, butternut squash, collard greens, and white beans. The sausage is from my favorite new butcher—The Meat Market in Great Barrington, MA. They have such […]

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What is Parsley Root?

December 20, 2011 | By | Comments (4)

I live in a very ethnically diverse neighborhood—Jackson Heights, Queens. Within 20 blocks we have at least five Indian grocery stores, three Asian markets, and many, many Latin bodegas. So on most trips to the market I come across ingredients—either packaged or fresh—that I didn’t know existed. Above is my latest “find”—parsley root. I needed to buy parsnips for a […]

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My Favorite Childhood Cookbooks

November 9, 2011 | By | Comments (2)

My mom recently mailed me two of my most cherished childhood possessions—my first cookbooks. She must have been reading my mind because I have been thinking of these books a lot lately—they invoke a feeling of comfort and nostalgia. I received these books for Christmas when I was around 6 or 7 years old. I spent hours and hours swooning […]

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Do You Grill in the Fall and Winter?

November 1, 2011 | By | Comments (8)

This past weekend in the Northeast we had our first snow storm of the year. Originally it was predicted that we would get 8 to 12-inches….we woke up Sunday morning to 24 plus inches!! I love the snow—snow shoeing, cross country skiing, sitting inside by the fire drinking wine and reading. Grilling in the snow, now that’s a different matter. […]

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