This is the first year of major holidays our family will celebrate without my maternal grandparents. Thanksgiving was a tough transition to the new normal, and I know Christmas will be even more difficult. When my paternal grandmother passed away several years ago, I began taking solace in using her pie pans every holiday season. …
Continue reading “Recipe traditions can provide a ‘berry’ Christmas”
Well, I can officially say I survived my first experience with hosting Thanksgiving dinner. I floated the idea a little over a week out from the big day to my mother-in-law, not wanting to step on her toes but also knowing she’s been extremely busy at work lately and could likely use a break from …
Continue reading “Leftovers may necessi’tater’ cooking some soup”
I recently found myself going on a whirlwind trip through the grocery store, quickly grabbing something to make for dinner on my way home from work. Joey and I were all geared up to watch a basketball game, and I (of course) ended up getting caught in the office far later than I wanted. And …
Continue reading “Sometimes speed is what cooking is all a’sprout’”
For the week before Thanksgiving, some friends of ours invited us to their house for a “Friendsgiving,” where we’ll all enjoy a big potluck meal together with a large group. This is the second year for the tradition, and we’re really looking forward to spending time with everyone while eating a great meal. I will …
Thanks to this column, I’m constantly on the lookout for recipes I have never tried. If you look at a lot of food blogs and recipe books like I do, you’ll find several common words and phrases in the titles of recipes. There are quite a few that include the descriptor “Amish” in the title, …
Continue reading “Chicken mushroom soup is ‘chowder’ this world”
As the leaves began falling off the trees recently, I got the chance to spend some time with my now two-year-old niece. She’s in love with being in the backyard, so we went outside for awhile, and she showed me the crunchy leaves laying in the grass. She would carefully pick up each one she …
Continue reading “Be ready to fall for a casserole with autumn flavors”
When I’m searching for recipes, I sometimes stumble across ideas that seem so weird that I’m completely compelled to try them. This week’s recipe is one of those: banana bread hummus. I have made hummus quite a number of times, and it’s a favorite for us, especially when we’re setting up a snack table for …
Continue reading “‘Hummus’ give a strange combination a try”
On our honeymoon, Joey and I visited a great Italian restaurant in New York City. It was the most expensive meal of our vacation, with us spending a generous gift from a family member that was earmarked for just that purpose. The place wasn’t all that fancy to look at, but when your waiter is …
This past week, we went north to Iowa and Minnesota for a newspaper conference and to visit some friends. One of my wonderful friends, who has inexplicably given up her Kansas roots for the big city of Minneapolis, assured us that Minnesota is generally pretty mild in October, so we were excited to experience some …
I recently unpacked a few boxes of books that were stored away and uncovered some cookbooks I hadn’t looked through in awhile. They’re now all neatly in a row on my new bookshelf, so I suspect they will be getting some use in the coming weeks and months, but as I looked at each one …
Continue reading “Your spaghetti may be the ‘bella’ the ball”
