Naptime Everyday: Recipes for Everyday Cooking and Baking

My Day So Far: Christmas-chaos! Present wrapping, stocking-stuffer shopping, packing for Cooperstown, cleaning out the fridge, etc, etc, etc (!!!) Naptime Goals: Make Ragu to get us through the next two nights before we travel. Finish, well…. everything. There is no end to what needs to get done before the 25th. Tonight’s Meal: Ragu with […]

By now most of my friends know they are getting Spiced Walnuts for Christmas, and today I am telling them that they are getting Peppermint Hot Fudge Sauce as well. This recipe was given to me by my mother-in-law who got it from her friend, Rhoda Janis, almost 30 years ago. As you all know, […]

Feeding a crowd shouldn’t be difficult, especially during the holiday season. At this time of year I don’t fuss around with complicated recipes, instead I concentrate on making meals that are easy to prepare ahead – even days ahead – and don’t require constant attention. This casserole, which I’ve aptly titled “‘Twas the Night Before… […]

It is easy for me to go overboard when consuming holiday desserts. I find it impossible to resist the tray after tray of sugary cookies and chocolate bark candy that are found at my every turn this time of year. After all, these treats only come around once every 11 months, which, in my mind, […]

It seems that Apple Mania has given way to Pumpkin Mania this month. While I’ve been chowing down on apples, I’ve also been opening can after can of pure organic pumpkin puree. There is no limit to the amount of dishes I’ve been making with the stuff, everything from savory pumpkin penne, to pumpkin bars, […]

My daughter is a great eater, but feeding her still comes with a few challenges. Although she enjoys most of the food we do, it is only just recently that she’s gotten most of her teeth and can handle chewing heavier foods. Before she had molars I often had to mince her food into small […]

Despite having dozens of fabulous cookbooks and food blogs at my fingertips, my favorite recipe resources are still my friends. Over the years I have found that whenever I swap recipes with a fellow home cook I come away with fantastic meal ideas that can’t be found in any printed materials I know of. My […]

A Spiced Apple Cookie is an apple pie in cookie form. Being that I am in the apple-mood these days, I’ve been baking these a lot lately. Over the weekend I made two batches, one for a friend, and one to eat at home. As what is quickly becoming the norm in my house, I […]

Almost everyone agrees that Macaroni & Cheese is the ultimate comfort food. There is something so inviting about eating a big bowl of pasta curls nestled in a bed of melted cheese, topped with a lightly breaded crust. It is dish that requires no tough cutting of meat, hard chewing or addition of complicated sauces. […]

In September 1992 I started 10th grade at Emma Willard School. Attending boarding school, let alone an all-girls institution, seems unusual to most people. A very small portion of the teenage population in the U.S. actually elects to live away from home during high school. And I was part of that minority. Though I had […]

I believe it’s alright to eat any kind of food in moderation. I have no qualms about eating one or two cookies each day, or enjoying a slice of bread with dinner. Instead of counting calories and swearing off certain foods altogether, I try to balance the good with the bad. When I occasionally go […]

My friend Mary has many fond memories of her Aunt Ethel. Ethel was, in fact, not her aunt, but her neighbor in Haverford PA who helped Mary’s mother care for Mary and her sisters while their father was fighting in WWII. During these tough times Ethel and her husband, Hamilton, who had no kids of […]