Many “seasonal shoppers” may have stocked up on a ham or two because of the loss leader specials many stores feature around Easter. Or you may just have some of the leftovers from your own Easter ham tucked away in the freezer, waiting for some new ideas. You made sandwiches, maybe even a casserole or…

Some time ago, the New York Times published a guacamole recipe that included, horror of horrors, green peas! The kerfuffle that arose from this deviation from the sacred guacamole text is something that I was aware of as I began working with ways to extend expensive avocados in my own version of guacamole. To avoid…

Many years ago, I found a chocolate apple cake that was moist and a favorite dessert of my kids. Unfortunately, it was one of those recipes that I managed to lose track of. As I recall, it was from a little paperback cookbook of apple recipes, and I think I gave that away in one…

I love to start a weekend off with a savory breakfast. Skip all those sweet breads and pastries; just give me a veggie-filled omelet or scrambled eggs, hash browns (the real kind, not those greasy patties), and salsa and I’m set for the day. My refrigerator had been filling up this week with small portions…

I find it very interesting to see how we Americans take festive or historical days from other cultures and give them our own spin and importance, Cinco de Mayo for example.Today we celebrate another of these adaptive holidays, St. Patrick’s Day. While lots of people will be celebrating with sometimes raucous parades and lots of…

Sometimes I include recipes here that barely fit my overall blog objective, and today’s entry is one of those. It is not particularly fast and, if you don’t have raspberries in your yard or in the gardens of friends or family, it is unlikely this would ever fit the “frugal” definition. (And I did have…

When preparing to make some quick bread for a morning coffee, I started my usual online search, looking for muffins using the apple butter and raisin bran that I wanted to use up. While there were lots of recipes using these, almost all were unfortunately much higher in sugar and fats than I wanted. Not…

Long ago and far away, I copied this recipe on to a scrap of paper that I later glued to a standard recipe card that went into the file with the rest of recipes I collected. As much as possible, I always tried to document my sources, but this one says only,  “From a magazine…

Sometimes, having leftovers is not a bad thing.  Leftover breads, for example. Earlier this week, I made whole wheat hard rolls for pulled pork sandwiches. Not knowing exactly how many people would be at lunch, I made a large batch of dough–when you’re working with yeast breads, it takes hardly any effort to make more….

Have you ever thought of how much we tend to associate certain foods with specific seasons or holidays, often serving them only during a limited time period? Cranberries are like that. Make some cranberry relish to go with the Thanksgiving feast, maybe make a cranberry dessert during the Thanksgiving to Christmas festive season, but then,…