It’s hard to believe that we are almost at the end of the season. The market, the hay maze, the pumpkin patch, full of people, will be empty in a couple of weeks. The straw jump will seem lonely without laughing, shrieking little kids and the local middle-schoolers (our live scarecrows) will have to find …
I am literally “Falling” through this season, going from wake-up to work to dinner to activity to bed. My children are busy too, and I am proud of them, watching as they handle themselves , their school work, their music and sports. I am sometimes such an observer in their lives, standing back a little …
I told my kids I was going to make you something with apples to celebrate this Pumpkin Festival week, because pumpkins are for carving and apples are for eating, at least among the younger set here. I was thinking maybe a raw apple lunchbox cake or a sugary upside down apple pancake. Both are delicious and …
I love good metaphors. They don’t always have to be profound; they just have to be true. I particularly liked what Kristin Armstrong, blogger of Mile Markers fame, recently wrote: that “time spent with good girlfriends is basic, organic nutrition, not dessert.” So isn’t Cheddar Corn Chowder, this week’s magic soup-pot selection. When the leaves …
We interrupt this regularly scheduled healthy eating blog with a message from the processed cheese food lady… You know, the one in charge of selling the deliciousness–in particular, the yellow colored, foil wrapped, no-refrigeration-needed deliciousness—otherwise known as Velveeta. Why? Because this processed cheese food is the main ingredient in our football season favorite: Mexican Cheese …
When I make Vegetable Soup, I feel a little bit like Strega Nona. Do you remember her, from the dePaola book, the round Italian grandmother with the magic pasta-producing pot? My pot makes soup instead of pasta. It fills itself right up, no matter how small a batch I’ve intended. And it stays full too, …
The kids got off the bus today right in the middle of a rainstorm and I was late getting home from work. They had to trudge up the driveway all by themselves. (Guilt makes me say trudge, but I’m sure they more ran or skipped… What little kid doesn’t like rainstorms?) Still, I felt bad …
In this house with small-to-medium sized children, the first week back to school marks the passage of time more profoundly than birthdays or New Year’s. Everyone is a year older at the end of August, walking down the driveway pressed and polished, backpacks squarely on their shoulders. The summer air has made them taller and …
My friend Jen is hilarious, an amazing mom, and just about the best cook I know. She’s not intimidated by anything (Sit-down anniversary dinner for 50? No problem!) She cans, freezes, and bakes. She’s healthy and fit and feeds her family accordingly. Plus, her food is so good that, when we invite her to a …
The thing about cooking (and I guess about almost everything) is that we can really mess it up by making it too complicated. It’s easy to end up trying to do too much and it’s also easy to be overwhelmed. But really, cooking should be just EASY, especially when ingredients are fresh and flavorful all …