I first made Chicken Corn Chowder in December of 2002 and have been making it regularly ever since. We love soup any time of the year and it’s particularly nice on a cold and snowy evening. It recently snowed in my area of Virginia and I made this soup for us to enjoy after a…
What is it about cold weather that makes one crave hot chocolate? It’s so warm and chocolatey good yet can be so bad for the diet, particularly post-Christmas where most all of us did our share of overindulging. I came up with a low calorie hot chocolate that can be enjoyed without the guilt. I’ve…
Whew! It’s the first week back to work in 2015 and I’m already exhausted. Two weeks off spoiled me and made me forget how tiring it is to get up early and to be on my feet all day working with young people. When I finally get home in the evening I not…
Happy 2015! It’s a new year and if you follow tradition, you’ll have black eye peas for one of your first meals. Several years ago my friend invited me over for a New Year’s meal where she served Lucky Soup, a traditional family dish. At the time I didn’t realize that I liked black eye peas, I…
A favorite holiday tradition for most families is baking. My mom used to bake batches of cookies for us to enjoy and so did my grandmother. When my grandmother arrived for her before Christmas visit, she would shower us with tin after tin of cookies to enjoy. I don’t bake nearly as much as…
My first memory of Russian Tea was my grandmother bringing it to our house along with tin after tin of cookies when she came to visit at Christmas. Granny packaged her Russian Tea in a Sanka bottle and we enjoyed an occasional cup the rest of the winter. Low-Calorie Russian Tea I love to drink…
In my family a relish tray is a staple on a holiday table. We all enjoy the olives and homemade pickles that are staples on the tray. I think my love of olives started early in life, probably because of the many relish trays that were passed around our family table. Entertaining is more casual…
Baking is one activity that I really look forward to at Christmas time. I like to make family favorite cookie recipes and I enjoy trying new recipes. Today I’m sharing a new favorite, Chocolate Crinkles. I found this recipe in a local cookbook written by a well known caterer, Maryanne Rhodes. The cookbook is only…
Hot Spinach Taco Dip is easy to make and a real crowd-pleaser. Hot Spinach Taco Dip One of my favorite things to take to a party is a dip for all to enjoy. To make this yummy dip, spinach, salsa, Monterey Jack, cream cheese, and red wine vinegar are mixed together and topped with sliced…
It’s finally fall, the perfect time for a dessert with one of fall’s food pleasures, apples. Caramel Apple Pound Cake gets its caramel flavor from brown sugar in the batter. Granny Smith apples and plenty of butter make this a super moist cake that I honestly can’t get enough of! After the batter is made,…
We love cookies at our house. A recipe for Maple Vanilla Chip Cookies has been in my files for many years. Like my mother and grandmother, I like to write notes beside my recipes when I serve them for various occasions. The first two notes by this recipe are marked, “6/22/01 – Beach” and…
It’s August which means gardens are producing abundant supplies of tomatoes. My favorite cherry tomato variety is Sun Gold which is fabulous for eating straight off the vine. We also enjoy them sliced in half and tossed in a bit of rice vinegar. Another way I like to use my abundant supply of Sun Golds…