10 Kitchen Gadgets Moms Can’t Live Without

I am a self-proclaimed kitchen avoider. While I’m pretty confident in my cooking skills, I’m no lover of ending my day by cooking a big meal for the family. By the time dinner rolls around, I’m lucky if I actually have something defrosted enough to cook and I’m much more likely to pawn the job [...]

Product Review – Sassy Smoking Lily Linens

Happy Monday! It’s February and I have to say that this time of year pretty much sucks wind in my book. It’s that 6-week swath of gray before the flowers really start to bloom that makes me want to book an out-of-country holiday or – in less expensive, more local move – redecorate.
I also feel [...]

OBE’s Good, Bad and Ugly Homemade Halloween Treats

Good Morning. I have never aspired to be a genius in the kitchen, which by all accounts of my hearty Polish upbringing is so very wrong. There are a few things where I claim master title status – baked meat is right up there. I am a cole slaw champ. Potatoes 12 ways is my [...]

Green-e-ology – Mis-Adventures In Canning

Editor’s Note: Good Morning! Thinking local grains today? Check out the Brambles Demo with True Grains Bakery at 11 a.m.
But, really, the big event of the week is tomorrow when Royston’s ASH Berry Farm hosts the final Farm Event of the 30-Day Challenge. It’s going to be hot. So, what better way to cool down [...]

Best Family Food of 2008

I love to eat great food. My mother, brother and father all duked it out over time in the kitchen when I was a kid. So, I enjoyed being out of the mix, eating rather than creating.
(there’s a pattern surfacing here. My parents suspected I came out of the womb a career girl)
But, as usual, [...]

Holiday Gems for the Heart (& The Kitchen)

I like to think of our family as a crew of non-traditional traditionalists.
We love Christmas and birthdays, presents and sweets. But, in ways that present the age-old traditions of those times with a classic sense of heart, not necessarily a classic point of view.
After falling hard for Eve Bunting’s holiday gem The Night Tree this [...]

Homemade Holiday Treats – Baklava

It was my childhood Winter wonderland – this magical place where all things flour and powdered sugar, pecan tart and almond brittle converged and I knew I had caught a glimpse of perfection.
To the average person, that place looked like my grandmother’s basement. But, to me, with it packed – literally – from floor to [...]

Homemade Butter/Buttermilk

Today we have with us, all the way from Wisconsin, the delicious family-focused food adventures of Mom In Madison’s Denise Cusack who also writes up her foodie ways over at Cook.Eat.Think
I really dig Denise for so many reasons and absolutely L-O-V-E her take on getting her little people involved in every aspect of food, from [...]

Activity Books that Connect Hands and Heads

I know you’ll all be really shocked to learn this:). But, I love activity books.
In fact, it is one of my major missions in the parenting universe to try out every activity book I can get my hands on. If there is a childhood project to be test-driven, I’d like to at least know about [...]

Shaker Salad Dressing

I don’t have to tell you that I’m a big proponent of getting kids involved in the kitchen.
Kneading dough, scrambling eggs, flipping pancakes- some of my best childhood memories are of learning basic kitchen skills from my parents.
It’s with a love for nostalgia and good food that I find myself encouraging my little person along [...]

Banana Walnut French Toast

Good Morning
When you read on and check out Christa’s yummy breakfast recipe today, you’ll notice that her column has a gorgeous new banner. As a part of our ongoing redesign, all of our regular columnists now have customized banners designed by Ken Henderson Design with photos courtesy of Karen McKinnon.
This is one of the many [...]

The Babka Kitchen Adventure

Before I get started, here’s more farm fun from Day 2 at the Hands-On Farm. The place is hopping with tiny people (and tiny lambs, two that are just one-week old):

Christa and I have teamed up today to offer up a Spring Break Adventure in the form of a family day in the kitchen.
The [...]

Holiday Family Cooking with Kids

I am NOT the queen of the kitchen.
Growing up in a family of pretty darn great cooks, I never bothered doing much of it myself. It was something so much more beloved to other people. I happily watched while they created.
What I discovered years later, when I finally felt confident that our daughter could safely [...]