Categories
Main Dish Soup

Don’t leaf through your cookbooks for ideas, make this instead

Gumbo collard greens is a slightly spicy soup with tons of fresh flavor from leafy, fresh collard greens. It is delicious alongside a slice of cornbread and can be enjoyed all throughout the year.
Gumbo collard greens is a slightly spicy soup with tons of fresh flavor from leafy, fresh collard greens. It is delicious alongside a slice of cornbread and can be enjoyed all throughout the year.

My allergies are totally angry at me right now.

I don’t know what kind of plant is surviving well enough in this late-July heat to attack my sinuses, but something certainly has been.

So when I told you I was immediately attracted to a soup recipe, you’ll forgive my stuffy nose for wanting a hot meal when the mercury is about to burst out of the glass.

I will say that, considering this is a southern-inspired dish, it’s probably not really meant to be consumed in the middle of a Kansas winter, either, but if you can find the fresh collard greens to make it happen, I’d recommend this gumbo literally any time of the year.

I got this recipe from cook Daven Gates from his Instagram account, called “One Stop Chop.” I switched up the protein a bit and retooled the spices, based on what I had available at my local grocery store and my spice cabinet.

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Gumbo Collard Greens

Gumbo collard greens is a slightly spicy soup with tons of fresh flavor from leafy, fresh collard greens. It is delicious alongside a slice of cornbread and can be enjoyed all throughout the year.
Course Main Course, Soup
Keyword Andouille sausage, bay leaves, bell pepper, cajun seasoning, canola oil, celery, celery salt, chicken, chicken broth, chicken stock, collard greens, fresh garlic, fresh thyme, garlic, garlic powder, green bell pepper, gumbo, minced garlic, olive oil, onion powder, parsley, red pepper flakes, vegetable oil, Worcestershire, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 1 pound andouille sausage sliced into medallions
  • 1 cup oil canola, vegetable, olive or avocado
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 large yellow onion diced
  • 1 large green bell pepper diced
  • 3 celery stalks diced
  • 8 to 10 cloves garlic minced
  • 10 to 12 cups chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon celery salt
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • black pepper to taste
  • 3 large bunches collard greens stems removed and roughly chopped (wash it really well)
  • 2 pounds chicken cooked, deboned and shredded

Instructions

  • Heat a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat, and add the andouille sausage.
  • Saute until the sausage is lightly browned on all sides, and remove it to a plate to the side.
  • Add the oil and flour to the Dutch oven, stirring constantly and breaking up any lumps, until the roux mixture is chocolate brown in color. (This may take anywhere from seven to 10 minutes.)
  • Add the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic, and stir to coat the veggies in the roux you made.
  • Pour in the chicken broth, and stir, making sure to get any browned bits up from the bottom of the pot. Add in all of the seasonings, and continue stirring until everything is well combined.
  • Let the gumbo come to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
  • Add the collard greens, a handful at a time, stirring to wilt it, until all of the greens are in the pot.
  • Add the sausage back in, along with the shredded chicken, and stir to combine. Once the meat is heated through, serve this alongside some fresh cornbread.
  • Store the leftovers in the fridge or freezer. (It’s better the next day.)

This was amazing. The flavors melded fabulously, and the slight spice of the sausage, combined with the freshness of the greens made for a hearty meal.

You will likely be a little intimidated by the amount of collard greens I am telling you to include in this. I will just say to trust the process. It’s amazing how much it wilts down once it hits the hot broth. The entire time I was cooking this, I was afraid I was going to max out the room in my Dutch oven, but it just kept reducing into more deliciousness.

This also reheated really well, which is always nice if you’re in the midst of a summer cold, when cooking isn’t always your favorite.

Or, just save this one for when fall hits and the temperatures go down instead. If you’re like me, you’ll be “lucky” enough to have another round of allergies hit about then, too.

This piece first appeared in print July 30, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

It never ‘a curd’ to me that this lemon dessert was worth a try

Lemon curd bars are a simple, fresh-tasting dessert that is perfect for a hot summer day and a great crowd pleaser for any event.
Lemon curd bars are a simple, fresh-tasting dessert that is perfect for a hot summer day and a great crowd pleaser for any event.

Every time I feel like I may have tried pretty much everything in the grocery store, I run across another ingredient I can’t believe I’ve never tasted.

For this week’s recipe, that magical ingredient was lemon curd.

I knew lemon curd existed, but I can’t remember ever buying or trying it before.

If you’re like me and a little unsure what makes something a “curd” (outside of the cheese kind), you might find a post by Dr. Neil Buttery on his website, “British Food: A History,” interesting.

He does a deep dive on fruit curds. He notes that they are a little like preserves and a little like a custard.

“Looking in the recipe books, the earliest mention of the term lemon curd I have found goes back to 1844 in The Lady’s Own Cookery Book by the splendidly named Lady Charlotte Campbell Bury,” he writes.

He goes on to say that some older recipes also call it “lemon cheese,” so who knows?

Regardless of what lemon curd actually is, I recently needed a light summer dessert for an event, and I realized I had a recipe saved that would be perfect for being out in the heat.

This recipe came from the blog “Baked by Rachel.” You can find the original post at https://www.bakedbyrachel.com/lemon-curd-blondie-bars/. I didn’t change anything, outside of adding some powdered sugar to the end.

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Lemon Curd Bars

Lemon curd bars are a simple, fresh-tasting dessert that is perfect for a hot summer day and a great crowd pleaser for any event.
Course Dessert
Keyword brown sugar, butter, fresh lemon, lemon curd, lemon zest, summer dessert

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • zest of one large lemon
  • 1/4 cup lemon curd
  • 1 1/4 cup flour
  • powdered sugar for decorating

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare an eight-by-eight-inch baking dish by lining it with parchment paper, leaving some hanging over the sides to help you remove the bars later.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars until the mixture is fluffy.
  • Add in the eggs, beating between each one, then beat in the salt, baking powder, zest and lemon curd.
  • Finally, beat in the flour until everything is just combined, and spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.
  • Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges are browned.
  • Let the bars cool completely in the pan, and then use the parchment to remove and slice them. If you want to make them look a little fancier, lightly sprinkle the tops of the bars with some powdered sugar. Store the bars in an airtight container.

These were a little cake-y and perfect for a non-meltable dessert on a hot day.

The brightness of the lemon from both the zest and the curd were the stars in these bars, and I went home with exactly zero of them at the end of the night.

I’m pretty sure that would still be true if I would have made a double batch. They were very popular.

And now I have a jar of lemon curd in my fridge that I will get to experiment with. I will say, from newly acquired experience, just eating a big spoonful by itself is pretty darn delicious.

Those Brits clearly knew what they were doing.

This piece first appeared in print July 23, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

‘Lattice’ talk about blueberry pie bars

Blueberry pie bars are a delicious dessert that looks pretty without the headache of trying to roll out a round pie crust or having to break out the forks.
Blueberry pie bars are a delicious dessert that looks pretty without the headache of trying to roll out a round pie crust or having to break out the forks.

One of the best parts of post-Thanksgiving leftovers (in my humble opinion) is going to the fridge and grabbing a piece of pie to just eat with your hands over the sink.

It’s not the most elegant move, but it’s definitely one of my favorite things.

I was thinking about that experience of getting to just enjoy a piece of pie without a fork and plate when I made some fabulous pie bars recently.

I was looking for a dessert to take to an outdoor event, and while I knew there would be forks there for enjoying potato salad, I thought it would be nice to have a more of a finger food for the crowd to enjoy.

The recipe I tried comes from Cambrea Gordon’s blog “Cambrea Bakes.” You can find the original post at https://cambreabakes.com/blueberry-pie-bars. I added spices in my version.

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Blueberry Pie Bars

Blueberry pie bars are a delicious dessert that looks pretty without the headache of trying to roll out a round pie crust or having to break out the forks.
Course Dessert
Keyword allspice, bars, blueberry, brown sugar, canned cinnamon rolls, fresh blueberries, lemon juice, pie crust

Ingredients

  • Double pie crust
  • 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 egg beaten
  • sugar for sprinkling on the crust

Instructions

  • Press one of the pie crusts evenly into the bottom of an eight-by-eight-inch baking pan.
  • Put the pan, along with the other crust, into the fridge while you prepare the filling.
  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  • Add the blueberries, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, allspice and salt in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring regularly until the mixture comes to a boil.
  • While the mixture simmers, add the cornstarch, along with one tablespoon of water, to a small bowl and stir to dissolve the cornstarch. Add it into the blueberry mixture, and continue to stir often, letting it cook for a few more minutes until the mixture is thickened.
  • Remove it from the heat, and set it aside.
  • Bake the bottom pie crust for 20 to 30 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
  • Roll out the second crust and cut it into about one-half-inch strips.
  • Weave the dough into a lattice, placing it on parchment paper and trim the lattice to an eight-by-eight square. Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and put it in the freezer.
  • When the bottom crust is done, spread the blueberry filling evenly on top and place the lattice on top.
  • Use a pastry brush to coat the top of the lattice with the beaten egg, and then sprinkle the top liberally with sugar.
  • Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling.
  • Let the bars cool completely before slicing. Store the bars in an airtight container.

These were really good, and they were gorgeous, too. My container might have been about a third empty before the burgers were even off the grill, thanks to enthusiastic party-goers.

The fresh blueberry flavor was perfect with the light, crispy crust.

And they were a great treat to eat with your hands. Even better, I was able to enjoy a bar without ever having to lean over the sink or worry about making a mess.

What a great way to savor a piece of pie.

This piece first appeared in print July 16, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Rich garlic pasta is the ‘confit’ package

Garlic confit pasta is the perfect dinner for garlic lovers. Featuring both the cloves and infused olive oil from making slow-roasted garlic confit, this recipe is hearty and delicious.
Garlic confit pasta is the perfect dinner for garlic lovers. Featuring both the cloves and infused olive oil from making slow-roasted garlic confit, this recipe is hearty and delicious.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my adventures in making garlic confit.

After slow-roasting all those beautiful garlic cloves, making them soft and deeply flavorful, we’ve been using them on everything we could think of, but if you’re interested in using a boatload of cloves in one recipe, I have the perfect one to share with you.

The original recipe also included instructions for making garlic confit, if you want to check it out, but I opted to follow the procedure I shared with you a few weeks ago. It’s on my website (spiceupkitchen.net), if you missed it.

I found this recipe on the blog “Dang That’s Sweet.” You can see the original post at https://dangthatssweet.com/garlic-confit-pasta/. I added meatballs, mushrooms and spinach, along with a bit of extra cheese, to my version to really make it a meal.

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Garlic Confit Pasta

Garlic confit pasta is the perfect dinner for garlic lovers. Featuring both the cloves and infused olive oil from making slow-roasted garlic confit, this recipe is hearty and delicious.
Course Main Course
Keyword baby bellas, bowtie pasta, butter, fresh spinach, frozen meatballs, garlic, garlic confit, roasted garlic

Ingredients

  • 26 ounces frozen meatballs cooked according to package instructions
  • 1 pound bow-tie or similarly shaped pasta cooked according to package instructions
  • 1 tablespoon garlic-infused olive oil from making garlic confit
  • 12 to 16 ounces fresh mushrooms sliced (I used baby bellas)
  • 25 roasted cloves of garlic confit drain off the oil
  • 8 tablespoons butter softened
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream or milk
  • 1/2 cup parmesan freshly grated (plus more for serving)
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup fresh baby spinach roughly chopped

Instructions

  • Begin cooking your frozen meatballs according to package instructions.
  • In the meantime, boil your pasta, and be sure to reserve about one cup of the pasta water when it’s finished.
  • In a large, deep skillet, heat the garlic-infused oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and saute until they are softened to your liking.
  • Meanwhile, add the cloves of roasted garlic and the butter to a bowl, and mash until everything is well combined.
  • Add the cooked pasta, one-quarter cup pasta water, garlic butter, milk, parmesan, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to the mushrooms in the skillet, and stir to combine, letting the butter melt and the flavors marry.
  • Turn the heat to low, and stir regularly to keep the dairy from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Let the sauce thicken to your desired consistency. If it’s too thick, add pasta water until it thins to how you want it.
  • Stir in the fresh spinach until it wilts, and if you want to coat them in sauce, add the meatballs, or just serve them on top of the prepared pasta, topping with more grated parmesan.

This was absolutely delicious. The garlic was definitely the star, but adding in the extra ingredients helped to make it feel more balanced.

We ate our pasta with some crusty bread and fresh green beans (sauteed in garlic olive oil, of course), and it felt a bit fancy for how easy it was to make.

This would be a great meal to make for someone special, if you’re trying to impress them with your cooking skills.

Of course, make sure it’s someone you don’t mind having garlic breath around. Even a strong mint will be no match for this meal.

This piece appeared in print July 9, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Appetizer Condiment Recipes

Slow-roasted garlic confit creates ‘clove’ at first bite

Garlic confit is made by slowly roasting whole cloves of fresh garlic in olive oil to create a nutty, spreadable garlic with a delicious, concentrated flavor.
Garlic confit is made by slowly roasting whole cloves of fresh garlic in olive oil to create a nutty, spreadable garlic with a delicious, concentrated flavor.

I seem to always be several years behind on the big Internet cooking trends.

I can’t tell if that’s because I’m skeptical of the hype or because I have too many recipes to try already.

This week, though, I finally crossed one that I just hadn’t gotten around to off my list: garlic confit.

Apparently, I’m just in the mood for weird French cooking terms lately.

I wasn’t totally sure what constituted “confit,” but an article by J. Kenji López-Alt on the website “Serious Eats” breaks down the process.

Essentially, López-Alt writes, “The word confit (pronounced ‘kon-FEE’) derives from the French verb confire, which simply means to preserve.”

He goes on to write that, to confit, meats or vegetables are traditionally slowly cooked in fat and fruits in a super-concentrated sugar syrup, which is supposed to kill off bacteria and keep it from growing later on.

López-Alt said the way we use the term confit in modern cooking isn’t quite true to the tradition (or the part of speech), but it’s generally adjacent.

In the case of this week’s recipe, my goal wasn’t necessarily preservation so much as wanting to completely transform fresh garlic.

I read a few different techniques before I began my process, and I ended up combining several ideas to get where I wanted to go. America’s Test Kitchen and the Food Network have nice posts about the process and how they did it, for example, that are both a good read.

In the end, I decided I wanted pure slow-roasted garlic, so while a lot of people add herbs like rosemary to their confit, I opted to leave it alone.

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Garlic Confit

Garlic confit is made by slowly roasting whole cloves of fresh garlic in olive oil to create a nutty, spreadable garlic with a delicious, concentrated flavor.
Course Appetizer, Side Dish
Keyword confit, extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, olive oil, whole garlic

Ingredients

  • at least 3 or 4 bulbs garlic
  • enough olive oil to cover the cloves I used extra virgin

Instructions

  • Peel the whole cloves, trimming just a sliver off each to remove the root ends, and place them in a small oven-safe dish. (They don’t need to be spaced out at all. You just need enough room to cover them in oil.)
  • (As a side note on peeling garlic, I watched various people online put several cloves into a canning jar and shake them up for a bit, which had the magic effect of separating the skin from the cloves. I did this and had decent success with it, although some were still a bit stubborn. It definitely saved time, though.)
  • Pour olive oil into the dish to just cover the cloves.
  • Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and roast the cloves for one to one and one-half hours, checking after the first hour.
  • The cloves are done when they’re a light, nutty brown and are completely soft.
  • Let the garlic cool completely, and then you can use both the cloves and the oil in recipes where a concentrated garlic flavor would be desireable.
  • Or, you can eat it spread onto crusty bread and sprinkled with some of your favorite seasonings. Just strain the cloves from the garlic and spread them with a knife.
  • Store the cloves and oil in the refrigerator.

We are big into garlic at our house, so the hidden benefit of this was the aroma that filled our house while it roasted.

The final product was a rich, concentrated garlic flavor that we have used for all kinds of applications, from a pasta that I’ll share with you soon to spreading it on burgers. The roasting process takes some of the bite out of the garlic, but it leaves all the flavor.

And I have to be honest, I’m a little mad I didn’t try this sooner. But now that I have little containers of garlic confit and garlic-infused oil in my fridge, I can’t wait to find a ton of ways to use it before I run out. The French got this one right.

This piece first appeared in print June 25, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

It’s OK to wing it, even with classic French chicken dishes

Dijon roasted chicken and vegetables is a play on a classic French dish, known as poulet à la moutarde. It creates decadent crispy skin, juicy chicken and perfectly roasted vegetables for dinner.
Dijon roasted chicken and vegetables is a play on a classic French dish, known as poulet à la moutarde. It creates decadent crispy skin, juicy chicken and perfectly roasted vegetables for dinner.

When I go to try a recipe I think sounds tasty, I often follow the directions pretty closely, only deviating here and there to kick some of the flavors up a notch.

When Joey is inspired by a recipe, he looks up a few more versions of the same dish and then goes completely rogue, creating his own, unique interpretation.

That was the case recently, when he announced we were going to figure out our own path to making a French dish, poulet à la moutarde (or mustard chicken).

He volunteered to spatchcock the chicken (one of my least favorite kitchen chores) and told me to grab pen and paper, as he already watched several videos on making the classic French recipe and had ideas on how to do it his own way in our Kansas kitchen.

So, while I normally give you a source for these recipes, this one is a Joey Young creation. He was certainly inspired by the French, but if you look at their recipes and what we ended up making, you’ll see he improvised quite a bit.

The best part, though, was the experiment was absolutely delicious.

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Dijon Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Dijon roasted chicken and vegetables is a play on a classic French dish, known as poulet à la moutarde. It creates decadent crispy skin, juicy chicken and perfectly roasted vegetables for dinner.
Course Main Course
Cuisine French
Keyword celery, chicken, dijon mustard, fresh garlic, garlic, garlic salt, milk, onion, onion powder, paprika, parsley, potatoes, rosemary, whole chicken, yellow onion

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken spatchcocked
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • leaves from one sprig fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried
  • about 1/4 to 1/2 cup dijon mustard
  • 2 large potatoes cut into one-inch pieces
  • 1 medium onion thinly sliced
  • 3 stalks celery diced
  • 1 bulb garlic cloves separated and peeled
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • black pepper to taste

Sauce Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup milk I used skim
  • 3 tablespoons dijon mustard
  • garlic salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Place the spatchcocked chicken on a cutting board while you prepare it.
  • Combine the garlic salt, paprika, onion powder and rosemary leaves in a small bowl, and then rub it evenly under the skin of the breast and along the bottom of the chicken.
  • Now, coat the entire outside of the chicken in a thin layer of dijon mustard.
  • Put the prepared potatoes, onion, celery and garlic, along with the parsley and black pepper into the bottom of a nine-by-13-inch baking dish, and stir to combine.
  • Add the chicken on top, breast side up.
  • Put the chicken in the oven and check the internal temperature after 45 minutes.
  • Let the chicken cook to 160 degrees, and then remove it from the oven. Carefully place the chicken on another dish or cutting board to rest while it up-cooks to 165 degrees.
  • While the chicken rests, mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, and then pour over the vegetables in the baking dish. Give it a stir and then place it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the oven, and give them another stir.
  • When the chicken has reached 165, slice and serve it, along with the roasted vegetables.

This was moist and tender, and while Joey and I both expected the mustard to overpower the entire meal, it was actually just a really nice supporting character to the overall dish.

Plus, the mustard created a beautiful, crispy skin on the chicken, which was a great texture and flavor addition.

Everything also reheated well, which was nice, as we ate on this for leftovers.

And, luckily, I did manage to keep up with Joey as he explored our spice cabinet and added ingredients, or we’d never know exactly how to recreate this awesome dinner.

But who needs a recipe when you are this good at making it up as you go along?

This piece first appeared in print June 18, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Don’t have the right fruit? Your ingredients may ‘berry’

Berry pie bars mimic a great, fruit pie taste without having to roll out any dough. While the original recipe called for blackberries, it’s delicious to use raspberries or mulberries, too.
Berry pie bars mimic a great, fruit pie taste without having to roll out any dough. While the original recipe called for blackberries, it’s delicious to use raspberries or mulberries, too.

In one of our first shopping trips together over 20 years ago, I remember Joey grabbing a bottle of ketchup off the end cap at the grocery store.

“Whoa,” I said. “Why are you buying the expensive ketchup?”

He looked perplexed.

And that was the day I probably made my then-boyfriend reconsider his relationship choices by explaining unit pricing to him.

Nowadays, he’s an expert at it. (I’d like to think I helped him grow as a person.)

I thought about that when I went to pick up blackberries for this week’s recipe and figured out that the raspberries were much, much cheaper that week.

I decided to pivot from the original ingredients list and see what happened. And, thank goodness, they were awesome.

This comes from the blog “The Novice Chef.” You can find the original recipe at https://thenovicechefblog.com/blackberry-pie-bars/. I switched out the kind of fruit and added just a little extra vanilla in my version.

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Berry Pie Bars

Berry pie bars mimic a great, fruit pie taste without having to roll out any dough. While the original recipe called for blackberries, it’s delicious to use raspberries or mulberries, too.
Course Dessert
Keyword bars, blackberries, brown sugar, cinnamon, easy dessert, fresh lemon, fresh raspberries, lemon juice, lemon zest, mulberries, summer dessert, vanilla

Ingredients

Crust Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • zest from one lemon
  • 1 cup cold butter cut into pieces
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 teaspoons cornstarch
  • juice from one lemon
  • 4 cups fresh raspberries/blackberries/mulberries

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by coating the inside with butter or cooking spray. Set it aside.
  • To make the crust and topping, add the dry ingredients to a food processor, along with the zest, and pulse to combine.
  • Add the butter, egg and vanilla, and pulse until everything it well-distributed and forms large crumbs.
  • Press half of the mixture evenly into the bottom of the baking pan.
  • For the filling, add the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice to a bowl, and stir to combine. Gently fold in the berries, being sure to coat them all in the mixture, and then carefully distribute them into the baking pan.
  • Finish by evenly crumbling the rest of the dough mixture over the top of the berries. (You won’t have full coverage. It’s OK for some of the fruit to be peeking out.)
  • Bake for 45 minutes or until the topping is lightly browned and the fruit is bubbly.
  • Let the bars cool completely before slicing and serving. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

We enjoyed these at a cook-out, and I came home with just crumbs in my pan afterwards. They were a huge hit. The raspberries were perfect in this, and I think blackberries or even mulberries would be good in there, too. They were buttery and sweet and great for a summer dessert.

And I was able to save a few dollars at my local grocery store, while making something really delicious.

For me, that was a definite win-win.

This piece first appeared in print June 11, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Cookies Dessert

‘Chew’se a chocolate-free bar cookie for your summer treat

Southern pecan chewies have a chewy, soft center, as advertised, with pops of crunchy pecans throughout. They are a great bar cookie for summer events.
Southern pecan chewies have a chewy, soft center, as advertised, with pops of crunchy pecans throughout. They are a great bar cookie for summer events.

There’s a phrase we often hear when we travel north: Minnesota Nice.

It refers to how friendly the folks in Minnesota are, and that’s especially true when you visit in the summer months. After being snowed in and freezing in sub-zero temperatures all winter, they are ready to go out and about and are happy to see any other smiling face around them.

Kansas obviously doesn’t have quite the same winter woes as Minnesota, but I do think there’s a kind of excitement when the weather warms to be social and spend time out on a porch or patio with other people.

We benefitted from some friends’ desire to host on a recent, beautiful evening.

As soon as I heard we were going to hang out and enjoy food off the grill, I knew exactly what recipe I wanted to try to bring along with us.

This recipe comes from the blog “Pear Tree Kitchen.” You can find the original at https://peartreekitchen.com/pecan-chewies/. I added extra vanilla in my version.

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Southern Pecan Chewies

Southern pecan chewies have a chewy, soft center, as advertised, with pops of crunchy pecans throughout. They are a great bar cookie for summer events.
Course Dessert
Keyword bar cookies, brown sugar, butter, cookie exchange, pecans, quick bar cookie, summer dessert, vanilla

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter melted
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup pecans chopped

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  • Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray, and set it aside.
  • Add the butter and brown sugar to a mixing bowl, and mix until it’s well combined.
  • Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt, and mix until smooth, and finally, stir in the pecans.
  • Evenly pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the edges are browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with only moist crumbs.
  • Let the bars cool completely before slicing and serving. Store the bars in an airtight container.

These were nutty and sweet and perfect for a summer evening.

It’s nice to have some non-melty desserts in your back pocket for summer events, and these did not disappoint. They’re a little chewy and soft in the middle, and the crunchy pops of pecan are a perfect addition to these bars.

And, even better, I didn’t need to bring any leftovers home with me. They were well-loved by the assembled group.

There are few things better than sitting in a lawn chair, eating a masterfully charred burger and fresh salad, while talking with a group of interesting people, and summer in Kansas is the perfect time to do so.

This piece first appeared in print June 4, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Cookies Dessert

Oven mistake? Just keep calm and ‘berry’ on

Fresh strawberry cookies are perfect to make when ripe strawberries are in season. They feature a sugar cookie base, with pops of sweet fresh fruit throughout. They’re a perfect summer dessert.
Fresh strawberry cookies are perfect to make when ripe strawberries are in season. They feature a sugar cookie base, with pops of sweet fresh fruit throughout. They’re a perfect summer dessert.

When I graduated from college and rented my own home for the very first time, I decided that I would do my darnedest to cook meals for myself as much as possible and avoid premade stuff from the freezer section.

I remember one of the first times I fired up the stove, heating some oil to fry something or other. I was shocked to turn around and see flames shooting out of the pan.

Luckily, my mom trained me well, and I knew to smother the fire and kill the heat, but I was completely confused. I had never managed to start a fire in the kitchen before.

Then, I made some cookies for the first time and burned them to a crisp, and I suddenly realized that not all ovens are made equally—and this one could maybe double as a kiln. I had to be careful the whole time I lived there.

This week, when I made some strawberry cookies in my own oven. They were spreading out really quickly, and they were way softer than they should be. I kept trying to figure out what in the world I did wrong with the dough, even tossing it in the fridge at one point, but I should have remembered the oven lesson I learned years ago.

I made a double batch of the cookies, and each pan just kept having a strange bake. It wasn’t until I went to turn off the oven that I realized I was using the “quick bake” setting by accident. Oops.

Despite mine turning out a little weird, these cookies were really yummy and perfect for a summer get-together. The recipe comes from the blog “Luxe Beauty.” You can find the original post at https://www.beauty-luxe.com/soft-chewy-strawberry-cookies/. I added extra vanilla in my version.

Print

Fresh Strawberry Cookies

Fresh strawberry cookies are perfect to make when ripe strawberries are in season. They feature a sugar cookie base, with pops of sweet fresh fruit throughout. They’re a perfect summer dessert.
Course Dessert
Keyword butter, cookie exchange, fresh strawberries, strawberry, sugar, summer dessert, vanilla

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup fresh strawberries diced

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a couple baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper, and set them aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until the mixture is light yellow and fluffy.
  • Beat in the egg and vanilla, and then beat in the flour, baking soda and salt.
  • Finish by folding in the diced strawberries.
  • Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto your prepared baking sheets, leaving about two inches between each cookie.
  • Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are set and the cookies are light brown.
  • Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet before transferring them to an airtight container.

These were delicious. They had pops of fruit, combined with a very nice sugar cookie base.

And if you want them to be fall-apart soft, you can always try baking them with convection, too, although I don’t recommend it.

Luckily, our friends don’t mind some slightly ugly cookies, and they helped clean up all the evidence of my oven mishap.

I figure soft cookies are superior to the burnt kind, though, so it was probably a win. Plus, I don’t think I’ll be making that same mistake again any time soon.

This piece first appeared in print May 28, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

‘Rice’ to the occasion with tasty caramelized pork

Caramelized pork with rice is slow-cooked on the stove top, along with onions and plenty of Asian-inspired seasonings to make a hearty dinner, along with plenty of leftovers.
Caramelized pork with rice is slow-cooked on the stove top, along with onions and plenty of Asian-inspired seasonings to make a hearty dinner, along with plenty of leftovers.

Until I really started exploring some Asian recipes during the pandemic, the ginger in my spice cabinet was pretty much only for baking sweets.

If you would have asked me, I would have said it was there merely for projects like pumpkin bread and ginger snaps.

Boy, was I missing out on an entire, delicious genre of ginger-filled recipes.

I was thinking about that recently when I made this week’s recipe for some delicious, Asian-inspired pork.

This comes from the blog “Berry & Maple.” You can find the original post at https://berrymaple.com/sweet-caramelized-pork-rice/. I added extra onion and soy sauce and added more seasonings in my version.

Print

Caramelized Pork with Rice

Caramelized pork with rice is slow-cooked on the stove top, along with onions and plenty of Asian-inspired seasonings to make a hearty dinner, along with plenty of leftovers.
Course Main Course
Keyword brown sugar, dried ginger, fish sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, pork butt, pork shoulder, rice, soy sauce, white onion, white rice, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small yellow or white onion diced
  • 2 pounds pork butt cut into one-inch pieces
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 4 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons dried ginger
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • prepared white rice and sesame seeds for serving

Instructions

  • Heat one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet.
  • Add the onions and saute until they are almost cooked through.
  • Add more oil, if necessary, and saute the pork in batches until it’s browned on all sides.
  • Add one cup of water to the skillet, along with the onion, pork, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, garlic powder, dried ginger and onion powder. Stir to combine well.
  • Bring the mixture to a low boil, and then let the mixture simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring regularly, until the sauce reduces and becomes thick. Give it a taste, and add salt and pepper, if needed.
  • Serve the pork over white rice and topped with some sesame seeds.

In the past, I would have never thought to add ginger to a recipe like this, but it adds a lot of great flavor, so I highly recommend it.

It’s amazing how many applications different spices have, especially ones like ginger, cinnamon or even cayenne, when it comes to both sweet and savory dishes.

Something I take pride in is continuing to explore the entire grocery store aisle of herbs and spices. The good news is I don’t think I’ll ever get bored or actually conquer them all.

The better news is there’s always good old ginger snaps to come back to, as well.

This piece first appeared in print May 21, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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