I love acts of subtle service. You know, acts that are seemingly so ordinary that, to someone who has never struggled with that particular essential, it’s almost an invisible need in their day-to-day lives. One subtle act that I really like is an event that takes place every Thursday in Newton, Kansas, called “Laundry Love.” …
Continue reading “‘Nut’ing compares to eating dessert for a good cause”
Joey puts up with a lot of weird stuff when it comes to this column. The poor guy watches me put random ingredients in our shopping cart all the time and never knows what I’m going to come up with next. With that said, he’s a terrific sport. He tries all my experiments and gives …
Continue reading “‘Orange’ you glad these weird cookies made an appearance?”
One of my unofficial New Year’s resolutions each year is to try to use up the random ingredients hiding in my pantry. In this case, one of the culprits was a large can of pumpkin pie filling that I bought by mistake, thinking I found a great deal on plain canned pumpkin. It’s been staring …
Continue reading “Combo recipe is piece of cake and easy as pie”
It must have been sometime when I was in middle school that a family acquaintance gifted us with a basket of homemade goodies during the holidays. Most of the items were run-of-the-mill, well-done treats, but there was one none of us could identify initially. Upon further inspection, we discovered a sweet that none of us …
Continue reading “Overcome old assumptions with something sc‘rum’ptious”
As soon as the weather forecast called for snow this past week, I immediately began reviewing soup recipes I saved over the past year. It was time. Joey and I prepared our “get ready to be snowed in” list for the grocery store, and I was thoroughly ready to make some awesome, hearty meals while …
Continue reading “There’s ‘snow’ excuse for waiting to try this great soup”
I know it’s January and I should have tons of goals in my mind for 2025, but honestly, I haven’t considered very many resolutions for myself. Well, I do have a couple, but of course, they’re all cooking related. The first is to master my new pasta roller, which already had its maiden voyage with …
Continue reading “It’s a wrap on these tasty dumpling pockets”
One of my favorite parts of December this year has been the honor of being able to try out four different reader-submitted recipes—one for each week. I have often said that I think sharing food—whether in physical or recipe form—is a kind of love we show to each other. I think that’s especially true of …
Continue reading “Be a chip off the old block and bake a family pie”
When I was a teacher, I often said that I wished I could have a day or so to audit my colleagues’ classes, just to get a feel for their style and methods. I had a bucket list of people I would have loved to sit in on to learn some tricks of the trade. …
Continue reading “This is a really ‘yammy’ way to eat sweet potatoes”
One of my favorite parts of Christmas, now that my sister and I are adults, is our annual pilgrimage to my parents’ house, where my mom treats us to a delicious spread for breakfast before we retire to the living room, coffee cups in hand, to exchange gifts and watch my niece enjoy the spoils …
Continue reading “‘Role’ into Christmas with a tasty breakfast dish”
There is a museum in Key West, Florida, that claims to house a haunted doll named Robert. According to the museum’s website, thousands of people take the trip to see this supposedly haunted toy every year. Part of the local legend is that being disrespectful to the doll can lead to bad luck, which is …
Continue reading “The devil’s in the details for this addictive snack mix”
