Veal Paprika

Veal is one of those meats people either love or they can’t stand. My mother couldn’t eat veal. It made her sick. I love it. I used to buy a side of veal for the freezer. That was back in the days before veal prices got ridiculously expense. These days I mostly buy a shoulder to roast in the barbecue. I might cut some of the shoulder to use in this dish before cooking the roast. Otherwise if I see veal steak cheap I buy it. You can also use veal chops if you find them on special. But instead … Continue reading

Mixed Vegetables Au Gratin

Since I’ve been telling you what a fan I am of vegetables recently, I thought it was about time I gave you another recipe using vegetables. This one is always a winner. It is a good recipe for vegetarians and is also gluten free. The benefit is it can be prepared a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge till needed. You can also freeze it. It will keep for 3-4 weeks. It is however, unsuitable to microwave. The other disadvantage is it not suitable for those on a dairy free diet. Mixed Vegetable Au Gratin Ingredients 8 ounces … Continue reading

Oranges and the Holiday Table

Oranges have long been a symbol of the holidays. Back before candy and other treats were so readily available, a single orange stuffed into the stocking on Christmas morning was a decadent delight in the middle of winter. Beside the tradition, oranges are so aromatic and colorful, that they deserve a place on your holiday table. As I ease into the Food Blog, I thought I would offer a very simple idea that you can try. Orange Cups A festive and easy way to offer sweet fruit cups. They look so pretty on the table, and kids get a big … Continue reading

Easy Mother’s Day Meals-—Steak Stir Fry and Berry Parfaits

As I continue my guest blogging countdown to Mother’s Day I would be remiss not to include my sister-in-law’s favorite recipes. After all, she did serve as the inspiration for this series. Her husband (my brother) is not exactly the world’s greatest cook, but as a firefighter he is responsible for preparing at least one dinner a week for the guys at the station. (She jokes that he cooks more for his fellow firefighters than he does for her.) Consequently, his culinary skills are not that shabby. The following recipes are evidence of this fact. The first one is a … Continue reading

Nifty Things to Do With Crescent Rolls

I had two tubes of refrigerated crescent rolls. I had at least a cup full of cinnamon/brown sugar mix left over from the last time that I made cinnamon rolls. I had a living room full of hungry eyes staring at me. I had a brilliant idea. Why it has never occurred to me to stick stuff in crescent rolls before, I can’t tell you. But it only makes sense that stuffing them with some delicious filling, makes for a delicious snack and can make for an impressive spread. They bake perfectly every time and so they make a no … Continue reading

Body for Life Recipe: Chicken Salad

Having a vegetable salad or just a green salad for lunch can leave you hungry and cranky before your lunch hour is even over. It is our good-intentioned salad crunching mid day that kills many of our weight loss efforts. We try to go through the day on a bran muffin for breakfast and a salad for lunch but we know that no active adult can do anything of the sort. Eating a salad is very much like eating Chinese food. You will be hungry a half hour later. Knowing this is half the battle. The biggest problem with trying … Continue reading

Peanut Butter Lovers’ Dream Cookie

My college sweetheart loves peanut butter. Actually, I don’t think the word love does justice to the adoration my ex-boyfriend has for the creamy peanut concoction. Not long after we started dating he revealed that for nearly 20 years his mother made him the same birthday cake… from scratch. He called it the Peanut Butter Butterfinger Cake. Whenever we would stroll by a bakery or eat at a restaurant he’d talk about his favorite cake. By our first anniversary I could have probably made the recipe from memory (it was a triple layer angel food cake with peanut butter, chocolate, … Continue reading

What on Earth do I do with Chard?

Our adventures in the Botanical Gardens on Thursday proved to provide quite the amount of blog fodder. I wrote about planning to have a healthy lunch in my mission possible journal in weight loss. I wrote about the twins’ tantrums in the baby blog. And now I’m writing about the bounties from gardening class in the food blog. One of the side benefits of having my kids in a gardening class is that my kids harvest their own produce. Every week we abound in good fruits and vegetables. Fresh garlic, cherry tomatoes, basil–you name it–they’ve brought it home. I’m generally … Continue reading

Simple Party Fruit Salad

Last weekend, we had my son’s sixth birthday party. I really wanted to include some healthy choices for the kids and the adults, to go along with the chips and birthday cake. Plus, summer was just here and I was really starting to get a big craving for fresh fruit. So we put together this simple fruit salad, and it was a huge hit. I say “we” because it was a team effort. My husband picked out the fruit, and a friend and I cut it all up. (I believe in putting my guest to work.) It was prepared very … Continue reading

Frugal Fun With Chalk

As soon as the cold air leaves the area, and the warm sunshine is a more common occurrence, my children are outside with chalk in hand, drawing elaborate pictures on our driveway, roads and buildings, messages on our sidewalks, and coloring rocks and bricks with chalk. There are so many frugal things to do in the summer, and this is one of them. However, just since the month of March, when we had our first warm week, we have gone through about eight buckets of chalk. That’s more than a hundred pieces of chalk. And it was starting to add … Continue reading