Dick and I are taking an aquasize class (two really… back to back… fifty minutes each) 3x/week at our local Y. To get out the door on time, I must either get up extra early to make our breakfast and pack an after workout snack… or prep the night before. For breakfast, my daughter Heather…

This bionaturæ® egg pasta has become a pantry staple. The noodles are so tender with a rich flavor. They have become a favorite alongside Eden Organic Kamut Spirals.    Most recently, I made Hamburger Bulgur Noodle Casserole with the pasta… so so good! The recipe, which came from an Eat  Heathy Your Way Magazine that I picked up…

This smoothie has nothing going for it in the looks department, but the nutritional goodness… now that's a thing of beauty. I copied the recipe from a fitness magazine that I was flipping through as I was getting primped at a hair salon yesterday. This bottle of tart cherry juice concentrate is made from approximately 25…

Hosting Christmas dinner reaps the benefit of leftovers.  To eek out the last bit of meat from a roasted turkey, a big pot of soup is a shoo in. This basic recipe, from bestcrockpotrecipes.net, does not require homemade stock. Just toss a few ingredients into your crockpot or, as I chose to do instead, let it simmer…

I have used this recipe countless times over the past 36 years to make frosted cutout cookies. It isn't fussy to mix together, rolls out easily without crumbling, and its flavor and texture rivals that of the best bakeries. The frosting is thick and fluffy creating a beautiful base for decorative toppings.   Cutout Cookie Dough 2 cups sifted flour…

Day 3 of the birthday party prep… baking, frosting, and decorating cupcakes. The carrot cake recipe Heather chose from allrecipes.com is by far the best I've tasted. All three of her kids (ages 2 ½, 6, and one day shy of 9 years) smeared the icing and formed a "campfire ring" on top using candy rocks. A birthday candle…

My oldest granddaughter chose a camping theme for her 9th birthday celebration, so this week, during Dick's and my stay at our daughter Heather's house in New York, we were immersed in the most amazing transformation as a home became a woodland forest setting. It began with rolling out homemade graham cracker dough which Heather, assisted by her 2 1/2 year-old son, cut into…

I had miscalculated and ordered way more buttermilk from our local food co-op than what I could use in a reasonable amount of time, so to whittle down my excess stock… which wasn't yet beyond its expiration date, pudding came to mind.  An Internet search produced a recipe from Simply Recipes.   The buttermilk provides a slight…

At the Farm of Plenty CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm south of Brainerd near Randall, where my weekly shares of produce come from… the pumpkin that came home with me.

Autumn and roasted vegetables… a perfect pair. Think about it. What veggies have you recently harvested from your garden? What in-season veggies are showing up at local farmers markets? Squash, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and broccoli… all perfect for roasting. The flavor of roasted veggies is much richer and the natural sweetness is more intense…