Last Spring we took a family trip to Paris. Besides falling in love with the splendor and beauty that often defines the city of lights, my daughter also fell in love with Nutella. Wherever we went, she’d seek out a creperie or a crepe cart on the street to order up a hot crepe, overflowing with Nutella – sometimes bananas and strawberries were mixed in too. Although Nutella tastes very chocolate-y and looks like chocolate, it’s not chocolate! It’s actually a hazelnut spread. I couldn’t wait to support her seemingly healthy Nutella habit … [Read more...]
The Benefits of Family Meal Prep
September 9, 2011 By 10 Comments
As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it. ~Buddy Hackett It’s safe to say that the by-product of the back-to-school rush is a frenetic household environment. Until a sense of routine is established, everything seems a little bit undone. New start to the school day, different bus pick up times, later school days, after school, religious school, increase in homework – all of these factors exacerbate the pace of the day and usually what tends to suffer most is dinner time. For me, after a long harried day at … [Read more...]
Summer Jamming with your Kids
July 27, 2011 By 6 Comments
Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand. Mother Teresa Every summer my father used to put on his ripped jean shorts, grab some plastic bags and a crudely-made walking stick, and take us on a windy journey through the ivy-infested woods of our back yard. The mission: blackberry and raspberry picking! We’d spend hours half-listening to Dad drone on and on about the insects and the flora and fauna and anything else he found interesting. While we desperately tried to fill up our bags to the top, they were always … [Read more...]
Working from Scratch: Lessons for Cooking and Life
July 13, 2011 By 2 Comments
"Friendship isn't a big thing. It's a million little things" - Unknown As I'm stumbling through Mom's recipes and consequently the kitchen, the grocery aisles, the farmer's markets, I'm slowly learning to appreciate the hidden benefits of cooking meals from scratch. For years, okay, for my entire adult life up until this past year, I took way too much comfort in preparing meals from mixes or nifty little packages where the food items are dumped inside and supposedly accounted for on the outside label. There is some logic here. It's much … [Read more...]
