Blog

July 20, 2010 - Mom’s Treasures

I got the call that everyone dreads; my mom had passed away. It was January 18, 1988, 2 AM. The next morning I immediately went to her house. I had to retrieve her treasures. I walked through the backdoor driven to find them and get home to my small daughters. Were her treasures stocks and...
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July 19, 2010 - Speedy Beans

My family loves refried beans. As I tend to rush around a bit here with my obligations, I often end up…creating. Forgetting to soak seems to be my number one problem. Thus, I thought I’d share with you my funky way of speed cooking refrieds from scratch. First, wash up (for my 7 L size...
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July 16, 2010 - My Favorite Bean

At work, my employer often requests salmon as an entrée. The famous TV chef, Rachael Ray, has a recipe for champagne salmon that I really like. It has proven to be a hit on my employer’s table. This recipe calls for a whole vanilla bean. The only part of the bean used is the small...
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July 13, 2010 - Cornbread Salad Serendipity

In the great minds think alike category, or perhaps it was just that similar hungers lead to similar solutions, Suzanne and I seem to have gone on the quest for cornbread salad recipes at about the same time, and finding none which suited us, each made up our own. If you compare what she posted...
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July 12, 2010 - Sniffing and Sipping Cocoa Powder

The year 2002 changed my life. I was nursing twins and preparing to go back to college. My other three children were busy as ever with church and school, and my husband taught computer classes for a university as well as had a full time job (having twins isn’t cheap) and was doing grad school....
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July 11, 2010 - Christmas in July

It’s been reallllly hot in most places–at least here in the U.S. where it’s only a few weeks into summer. And I am thinking about Christmas? It’s not because I am trying to recall last December’s snowstorms here in WV (brrrrrr) in an attempt to stay cool. It’s about starting to prepare for Christmas while...
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July 9, 2010 - The Misunderstood Vegetable

I was visiting with a retired clergy friend of mine one day and he said that he always hated the summer. I asked why, and he told me that his car got so hot being locked up all of the time. When I inquired further, he said that he had to lock his car or...
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July 7, 2010 - Shopping in Aisle 1

You probably wouldn’t think much of a grocery store that only featured one aisle. After all, what could it possibly have to feed your family? My answer–a lot! My kids call my basement pantry Aisle 1. It started out as a joke. If someone needed something, go to Aisle 1. Applesauce, third shelf down on...
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July 6, 2010 - An Unusual Pastry Recipe

I have never talked with anyone who uses a recipe like this one. It is an “easy, no-fail” pastry, but the easy part is more in the handling. It makes 5-6 single pastries, so we freeze some in single pastry balls. If you heat one of these frozen balls in the microwave on high, forgetting...
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July 5, 2010 - I Love My Babies!

I love my babies! Yes, each spring I just admire the new life starting up in my yard and savor it knowing that it comes once per year. Each plant draws me in and truly entices me to stare at its unique manner of growth. I know others starting up seeds who also get very...
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July 4, 2010 - Celebrate Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! Today is the 234th year of celebrating the Declaration of Independence. John Adams wrote to his wife, “I believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival… it ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one...
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July 3, 2010 - Confessions of a Kitchen Diva Wannabe

Is that something anyone can even aspire to be? You see true kitchen divas everywhere, but that has always been an elusive title, something that other people can have, but not me. What? Are you crazy, Pete? Could be. Back eons ago, it became obvious to all that this cat had no interest in and...
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July 1, 2010 - Lessons in the Good Life

I have a very laissez faire attitude about housework and I blame it on the stories my mother shared with me about her days as a young wife. My parents were married in June of 1944, between my father’s training as a medic/surgical tech and being shipped to Europe in the midst of World War...
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June 28, 2010 - Buddy System Gardening

I don’t know of anyone who loves Spring as much as I! What a wonderful time to work together with friends. At least six different families have visited my back yard this spring with a shovel. It has rather a good/bad feeling to it. I have spreaders and volunteers and producers that others, with the...
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June 24, 2010 - Canned Coleslaw?!

I am the first to admit that when I ran across this recipe a few years ago I laughed. Out loud. The words ‘canned’ and ‘coleslaw’ just do NOT go together, I thought! There’s no way this can work! I am the only person in my house who really likes coleslaw. But the idea of...
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June 23, 2010 - Ice Cold!

It’s summertime and the living is….HOT!!! I don’t know about where you are, but here in West Virginia we have had a hot spring and it’s looking to be a hot summer on top of it. I’m ready for ice cold drinks. You? I came up with this one yesterday, and I’m planning on keeping...
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June 22, 2010 - Sandy Eggs

I will warn you right off…this is not about expensive food treats. No, this tiny story is about my life one summer when my family lived in a sandy little beach house, where the curtains around the neighborhood blew away from the open windows in the twilight and allowed the ocean to creep in. This...
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