Sometimes balancing budgets and time may seem to make really healthy family meals an impossible dream. However, here is a meal that used fresh foods on special and took hardly more time than waiting for a prepackaged microwave meal. I’ll give you the method used for this menu and then provide some alternatives that can…

That ham bone is starting to make you feel guilty every time you open the refrigerator. Look at all the meat that is still clinging to the bone; but it’s mostly in little pieces that are hard to think of ways to use it. And boiled eggs! Nobody in the family even wants to hear…

Rhubarb season has started early this year, so I had enough for some kind of coffeecake to take to Easter breakfast along with the hot cross buns. I was looking for something easy and quick and wanted to try a recipe without the support of strawberries or other fruit. Scrolling across the web, I found…

Perhaps you are looking for ways to use up all those boiled eggs. Or maybe you have been asked to bring an egg dish to an Easter brunch. First, some egg dishes you can still make for this year’s Easter breakfast or brunch: Vegetarian StrataBasic Frittatas, and MoreRaspberry French Toast and Savory Breakfast Eggs with…

Because we have long attended churches with Easter breakfasts, our family tradition has not really included a large Easter dinner. On the day before Easter, however, the house is almost always full of the fragrance of Hot Cross Buns. This is also the time for lots of egg dishes and early spring desserts. This year,…

When I freeze things like applesauce, pumpkin, etc., I put measured amounts in small sandwich bags, labeled with the contents, and then put like bags together in a larger, heavy freezer bag. Keeps things organized and easy to find….if you read the labels carefully. But reading labels doesn’t always seem necessary, especially when I am…

I love being able to use unusual words to describe some slightly out of the ordinary dishes. If you do an internet search for “carrot salad,”  dozens of sites will pop up, almost all including a can of tomato soup, yet I can’t remember when I have seen this served at a potluck or at…

This year’s early spring weather begs for a bright and sprightly dessert. With my favorite budget supermarket (four letters starting and ending with vowels!) featuring green grapes and oranges at really bargain prices, it was time to pull out this dessert that is not as hard as it looks, and its looks are pretty spectacular….

Several weeks ago, I had cooked several pounds of chicken quarters in my largest slow cooker, with poultry seasoning, some “aromatics” (chopped onion, garlic, and celery) and salt. The result was a huge quantity of rich and flavorful broth and a whole lot of chicken that was falling off the bone tender. …A little too…

Never let it be said that I waste perfectly good food. After making a pan of each of the Valentine cookies noted on the last post, I put the rest of the dough in the refrigerator to regroup. After thinking about it a bit, I let both doughs warm just enough to be malleable. The…