Valentine’s Day is such a sweet holiday. Get together with a friend to make cookies and it becomes even sweeter. That’s exactly what I did. Having limited artistic ability, I partnered with my friend Jennifer, a skilled baker, and followed her lead to create gorgeous homemade cookies for my friends ...
Kitchen Chronicles
Sunshine Committee
Among my group of friends, when someone has a new baby, breaks a bone or needs a major jolt of help, we call in the “sunshine committee.” Here’s the idea: Even when your life is in turmoil, you have to eat. People sign up for certain nights to deliver a home-cooked meal to the person in ...
An Old Fashioned Cooking Date
“Old fashioned” takes me back eight years ago when I first started cooking with Debbie. We both needed to feed our families healthy food, and we wanted to spend time together. It all started with a simple, fresh tomato sauce from our garden tomatoes and fresh basil, and some golden chicken tenders. ...
Vacation Cooking
There is something wonderful about vacation cooking, when you use local ingredients to create the taste of a place. Sometimes, it's fabulous--catching your own fresh fish off the side of a boat, or learning how to make traditional sauces of a country far from home. And sometimes it calls for great ...
A Little Cumin to Cure the Monday Madness
The school bus pulled up right on time yesterday afternoon and with a bright smile on my face, I greeted my older kids as they stepped off. Instead of arms open wide for hugs, I got crossed arms and shrugs of disappointment. No Root Beer left over from our Super Bowl party and no play dates planned. ...
Kitchen Mates
Some of you might think I'm crazy and many of you might not relate. But my husband Ben is one of my best cooking friends. I swear this is not just about Valentine's day and he does tend to have a Top Chef attitude--standing over a pot and asking for ingredients to be handed to him. We are working ...
The Cupboards are Bare
Well in this case, it’s really my freezer. In anticipation of the “Souper Bowl,” my freezers have been so full of soup for the last few weeks, I literally couldn’t fit in another item. In fact, I have been defrosting and eating foods from my over stuffed freezer simply to make room for more ...
Lots of Little Hands
With all of the excitement in our house getting ready for the “Souper Bowl” — our freezers so stuffed with quarts and quarts of soup that the doors barely close - it was only natural for my seven year daughter to want in. That’s why five little friends and ten little hands chopped vegetables, ...
Dreaming of Spring
On chilly nights, I love to read my seed catalogs. They are starting to come in the mail, full of sun and promise on winter days. So many possibilities and questions inside: Should I plant berry bushes this year? How can I learn more about Colorado's altitude and growing the best in my geography? ...
A Souper Tradition
Traditions with friends are great. When they’re for a special cause, they are even better. Add cooking and they can’t be beat. My friends, Emily and Christina, and I got together the other day and, for the second year in a row, made soup for a Cooking with Friends Club event called the “Souper ...