A few weeks ago my sisters and I flew out to Washington for a visit with two of my older brothers and hang out at the lake with them. We spent a lot of time laughing at family stories over delicious meals with lots glasses of wine and beer. We grew up in a crazy, big farm family in Iowa — our parents had twelve kids (9 boys and 3 girls) over seventeen years. A… Read More
Summer Strawberry Ice Cream Perfection
Last year for Father’s Day I gave my husband a Cuisinart ice cream machine. Well, I might have given it to myself, but only so I could lovingly hand make him fabulous ice cream. I made all kinds of ice cream last year, but it is August and I am just pulling it out for the first time this summer. I’ve been a bit of a slacker on the ice cream front I must confess… Read More
Finding Julia Child in Paris….and crepes on every street corner!
Julia Child is my food heroine. We have so much in common — we are both a little awkward, late bloomers in life, have an obsession with butter and things fly when we are in the kitchen. I loved Julia’s show “The French Chef” which PBS ran in reruns for years. Her charm was that she just kept on going when things went wrong — she flubbed her flips, burned things, murdered lobsters and… Read More
Awkward 4th of July Memories and Homemade Potato Salad
Almost every American family has its favorite memories of the 4th of July. Maybe it’s fireworks in your hometown, picnics at the beach, a local carnival or maybe a concert in the park. My memories are mixed. Yes, happy simpler times, with family and friends — but mixed with some rather awkward memories from a fat girl who was just a little too old to wear a paper plate hat for 4th of July… Read More
Church Cookbook Classics: Newlywed Lemon Chicken
I love reading church cookbooks — some of the names for the recipes — they entertain me! How could I resist this one called Newlywed Lemon Chicken, with the contributor’s comment that she and her husband ate this once a week for the first year of their marriage because she knew how to make it! Because I NEVER post a recipe I haven’t tested and have made my husband try, I sometimes find I need… Read More
Wellness Challenge Week 10, Mexican Pizzas + $25 Scheels Gift Cert.
We are nearing the end of our ten week wellness challenge with the Iowa Food and Family Project, unfortunatly not without an injury. I’d like to blame my time at the gym, but it is far more likely from moving something I should have asked for help to move. Consequently I hurt my back and I have been whiny and feeling sorry for myself. When I don’t feel good I want to feed my… Read More
Vintage Betty Recipe: Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
After starting my Church Cookbook Series recently, my husband asked me to make what he said was his favorite cake — a Pineapple Upside-Down cake. I thought for sure I would find the recipe in one of my church cookbooks, but I came up empty handed. I was kind of surprised, but decided maybe it was either a little old fashion or too fussy for the Church Ladies. My vintage 1961 Betty Crocker Cookbook came… Read More
Church Cookbook Classics: Mary’s Swiss Steak
It is a snowy Sunday afternoon in mid-March, my husband is asleep on the couch pretending to watch an old movie on TCM and I am having a glass of red wine and savoring the smell of Swiss Steak roasting in the oven. (It IS after 5:00!) Winter has reminded us that March in Iowa is a big tease. One minute it is 60 degrees and you are itching to get in the garden and… Read More
Church Cookbook Classics: Ice Pick Lemon Cake
Do you have recipes from your youth that conjure up mouth-watering memories? This cake is one of those for me. Mom would make this one in the summer and I just couldn’t keep my hands off of it. I just took teeny, tiny pieces every time I walked by it — they don’t count right? Cake Mixes with Jello and/or Jello Pudding became very popular in the 60’s, although cake mixes were invented in the… Read More
What Scarlett O’Hara and I Have in Common….
…and it is NOT an 18 inch waist! Part 1: The Land From this picture you may think that Katie Scarlett and I had the burning of Atlanta in common, close, but it’s really the love of the land. In the movie, Gone With The Wind, Gerald O’Hara said to Scarlett, ” It will come to you, this love of the land. There’s no gettin’ away from it if you’re Irish. ” Followed… Read More
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