Cooking

Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

I was a vegetarian for more than 10 years. I loved being a vegetarian. I eat meat now because it’s easier to eat what my family eats. It’s easier to eat a balanced diet with meat in the picture. So anyway. When I was in college, I was a vegetarian, and I ate in whatever [...]

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Apple Ring Pancakes

Breakfast for dinner is comfort food, don’t you think? I do. This particular recipe includes fruit, making it a wee bit healthier than plain old pancakes. That might be wishful thinking. I like to serve these pancakes with an omelet or sausage patties and a dish of diced apples. They are delicious, and pairing them [...]

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Crockpot Corn Chowder

One of Grace’s favorite suppers these days is crockpot potato chowder. She would eat it every day if we let her. Joe really likes corn chowder, so I started looking for a recipe that looked good. Unfortunately, most corn chowder recipes call for creamed corn, a flavor I really dislike. Not able to find a [...]

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Cheese & Onion Quesadillas

Do you remember the restaurant called Chi-Chi’s? It was a Mexican-style chain restaurant that folded in the late ’90′s after a salmonella outbreak linked to their scallions. In high school and college, I loved Chi-Chi’s; I ate there at least a few times a month. My favorite menu item was Cheese & Onion Enchiladas. We’ve [...]

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Lemony Slice and Bake Cookies

I am not usually a fan of lemon desserts. There’s no reason in particular, I just prefer the creamy sweetness of chocolate or cheesecake to the tart sweetness of lemon. However. I participated in a cookie swap at my MOPS group last month. My favorite cookie from the whole event was a very small cookie [...]

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3 Baking Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

After the wasteful extravagance of Grace’s first birthday party, I realized that two cakes were one too many. I would make just one cake for Allie’s birthday. Grace asked me to make triple chocolate cake again. It sounded like a good idea, but I worried that it wouldn’t make enough cake. I baked that cake [...]

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Garlic Chicken Stir Fry

The biggest thing I learned from my last weight loss attempt was that small changes are more likely to become permanent changes than huge life-altering . Parking further from the door when we’re out. Drinking water most of the time. Walking to Grandma’s house instead of driving. Small changes. I’ve recently been trying to increase [...]

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Turkey Salad – Perfect for Holiday Leftovers

After a major holiday, Joe and I usually eat leftovers of the holiday meal over and over and over. It’s pure laziness. We eat Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner or Easter dinner five or six or seven times over the course of the weekend. I wouldn’t mind that, except that I’m not a huge fan [...]

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How to Make a Cheesecake Without a Springform Pan

How to make cheesecake without a springform pan

I made a luscious chocolate cherry cheesecake for my church’s Christmas dinner this past weekend. Of course, there was nary a morsel remaining. Not even the bottom of my springform pan. When I realized that it was missing, I panicked. I went through the garbage bags in the dumpster. Joe and I, along with several [...]

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Triple Chocolate Cake with Homemade Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

Is your mouth watering? It should be. I turned a plain old cake mix and a few humble add-ins into a moist and decadent chocolate masterpiece for my dad’s birthday. I felt like Jesus, feeding the masses with a couple of loaves. Well, except that this cake didn’t feed the masses. It was so good that [...]