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Tweet I love butternut squash, but I rarely cooked with it until last year. For some reason I felt compelled to buy an entire squash and cut it up myself. It’s not an easy task, and inevitably led cuss words, tired arms, and lots of wasted squash. Then one day I realized that I can [...]

Tweet We’re hosting a baby shower this weekend for our good friends and the theme is — you guessed it — Little Pumpkins. The mother-to-be loves Halloween, so the timing couldn’t be better. I’m serving some of the usual suspects: pumpkin bars, pumpkin beer, candy corn. But I was struggling with a main dish. Then [...]

Tweet There are a few things that I rely on whenever I am in the mood for an easy but elegant dinner. An omelette, a roast chicken, or some braised veggies will usually do the trick. I saw this recipe in last month’s Bon Appetit and found it to be the perfect antidote for a [...]

Tweet So, every week I use this blog to post a delicious recipe that someone else has created. You all must think I am just a big old follower. This is basically true. I usually lack the imagination and the chutzpah to come up with something on my own. But not this week. Today I [...]

Tweet As you may have read here, this week we celebrated peanut butter in Prairie Village. And although I never need an excuse to eat peanut butter, I sometimes need an excuse to eat a pie that contains chocolate cookies, butter chocolate chips, peanuts, cream, cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk AND peanut butter. Yes, this [...]

Tweet I’ve been wanting to make this banana bread for months now. It’s one of my favorite snack foods on the planet, and it’s great for breakfast, dessert, or slipped into a lunch sack. But it’s hard at our house to get my mitts on ripe bananas. My daughter eats two a day, and my [...]

Tweet We had a potluck dinner party on Sunday night. Good news was shared, babies performed to the height of cuteness, and a lot of nummy food was noshed. The many delights we indulged in included: marinated chicken that was grilled and then baked; a healthy and delicious bean and corn salad; and a labor-intensive [...]

Tweet The leaves haven’t changed yet, but these cool mornings and my full calendar make it feel like fall to me. September always seems to be one of the busiest months, and cooking dinner is the last thing on my mind. I often make this meal when I want something nourishing and hearty but I [...]

Tweet Labor Day often involves a picnic or a BBQ, so I thought I would post one of my favorite party dishes. This is actually a recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookie Book, but I have been making them for so long that I feel like they are mine. I’ve had lots of success with [...]

Tweet I can’t say I am a huge fan of eggplant – I think it’s a textural thing. I sometimes roast slices of it and stick it in a sandwich (with prosciutto and mozzarella), and once in a while I’ll make a garlicky Baba ghanoush dip, but usually I just stay away. But the other [...]

Tweet I apologize if I am overdoing it on recipes that involve fresh tomatoes. If you don’t like them, I promise I will move on soon. But this year we’ve decided to steer clear of tomatoes when they’re not in season, so I’d better get my fill now. This recipe involves some of my favorite [...]

Tweet Our oven died this week. Not bad timing, huh? I can’t say I’ve turned it on more than a few times this summer, although I was hoping to use it to roast some brussels sprouts. They’re one of our greatest successes from the garden this year. Luckily, there’s no problem with the stove top, [...]

Tweet Our tomatoes continue to ripen on the vine, and I’ve been doing my best to make sure that we are eating them at their peak. I already shared one of our staple tomato recipes (Checca Sauce), and I thought I would share one more that makes lots of appearances in our kitchen – Panzanella. [...]

Tweet Summer is usually my favorite season, but I’m ready for it to be over. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this heat is killing my desire to cook, exercise, go anywhere or do anything. In fact, the only thing that sounds good most days is lying on the couch and eating [...]

Tweet We’ve been having fun checking out the progress in our vegetable garden (I’m hoping that this hot weather is at least good for something). We’re still waiting for the big day when we can eat that first tomato, but little by little we’ve harvested broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and herbs. I’ve also had my eye [...]

Tweet We are big breakfast eaters at our house. Eggs, smoothies, pancakes, french toast, we love it all. On Friday nights I often dream about what I’ll make for breakfast on Saturday morning. My absolute favorite breakfast food is cereal. I eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and every time in between. It’s satisfying, sweet, [...]

Tweet It’s officially summer, when I make my annual pilgramage to the basement to haul up the ice cream maker we got as a wedding present five years ago. I had cause to use it for an Italian-themed dinner at a friend’s, and I thought, as always, “Why don’t I use this more often?” The [...]

Tweet Our refrigerator is often pathetically empty, but there are certain staples that we’ve got on a constant rotation. Whole milk, for the baby. Tortillas, to fill my husband’s near-nightly quesadilla craving. Yogurt and orange juice, for our morning smoothies. And hummus for pretty much everything else. We use it on sandwiches, we eat it [...]

Tweet At our house, like so many others, Fathers Day revolves around two themes: beer and barbeque. That’s especially true this year as our family and friends gear up to compete in the annual Great Lenexa BBQ Battle next weekend (Go Drizzlers!) So this week’s recipe combines beer and BBQ in one delicious little package. [...]

Tweet Watermelons of all shapes and sizes are on sale now through Sunday at the Hen House, and I’ve been getting a workout loading them into my shopping cart. It’s one of my favorite summer foods, and I try to work it into as many meals as I can. One way to turn watermelon into [...]

Tweet It’s been quite a week for many Prairie Villagers. The threat of storms, taking cover in basements, and worrying about the state of life in Joplin has many of us on edge. I’ve been holding my loved ones tight, and I’m looking forward to the long weekend to reflect and relax. As always, the [...]

Tweet I apologize for the plethora of dessert/berry posts. When berries are on sale at the Hen House (as they have been for the majority of the last 8 weeks), I just can’t help myself! Unfortunately, as we all know, the problem is that those low prices sometimes mean low quality. Not to worry: with [...]

Tweet I don’t know if anyone else has had this problem, but I’ve been a complete sucker for the giant packs of strawberries that have been on sale at the Hen House: $4.98 for 3 lbs of luscious berry goodness seems like too good of a deal to pass up. Then I bring them home [...]