Summer is my favorite season--I love the long sunny days, the warmer temperatures, and the abundance of local produce in my CSA box. But because summers in Minnesota are so short, cramming in all my favorite summer activities can be hectic. Consequently, my cooking routine becomes much simpler.
I have been on a soup kick lately, because soups--along with air-popped popcorn and microwaved bowls of quick oats--are what I turn to when I need an edible security blanket. The past few months have been a topsy-turvy period of transition, an effort to close the gap between the person I am and the person I want to be.
On my recent trip to Milwaukee for the Women in Travel Summit, Visit Milwaukee hosted me on the Milwaukee Food & City Tours Craft Breweries & Cocktails Bus tour. Milwaukee is known as the home of brewing giants like Miller, but this tour focuses on small craft breweries and distilleries before they become famous.
Popcorn is my snack food of choice: a tub at the movies, a bag of kettle corn to nibble on at the farmer's market, a box of Cracker Jack at the baseball game. But most of the time, I enjoy my popcorn as a snack at home, and I'm in a flavor rut--all I ever do is add salt. Barlean's recent challenge to develop a recipe with Barlean's Butter Flavored Coconut Oil...
On my recent trip to Milwaukee for the Women in Travel Summit, Visit Milwaukee hosted me on the Milwaukee Food & City Tours Pizza Bus tour. If you're planning to take the Pizza Bus tour yourself, make it a meal: the three-hour tour includes transportation, generous samples of three different styles of pizza, and a scoop of gelato for dessert.
It's been awhile since my cooking set off the smoke detector. I realized this as I stood on a chair in my living room, randomly stabbing at the innards of the dissembled device dangling from the...
I recently got a chance to sample foods from the newest vendors at this year's Linden Hills and Mill City Farmers Markets. It was an afternoon of delicious eating, but the true highlight was connecting with people who are pursuing their passion, whether that's brewing ginger beer or baking artisanal pastries.
It's time for my annual gripe about how warmer temperatures arrive in Minnesota long before the first produce of the year. The birds are singing, the days are lengthening, and I'm running through the...
As longtime readers know, I love to support local businesses, from my CSA farmer to my favorite Ethiopian restaurant. Recently, I had a chance to take a sneak peak at some of the dozens of local artisans and craftspeople who will be selling their wares at Lowertown Pop, a maker event at St. Paul's Union Depot on Saturday, April 15, 2017.
Every year, I do a summer round up post with the edible and non-edible highlights of my favorite season (2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016). But here's the thing: while summer in Minnesota is a glorious thing, the majority of the year is taken up by winter.
This month, I accepted Barlean's challenge to develop a recipe using their Forti-Flax Premium Ground Flaxseed. If you're unfamiliar with flaxseed, it's an excellent source of fiber and plant-based omega-3 fatty acids. Ground flaxseed is easier for your body to digest than whole flaxseeds, making Forti-Flax an easy way to add some extra nutrition to your diet.
For the past several months, I've been working to establish myself as a freelance travel writer. This sounds glamorous and summons up images of me trotting the globe, notebook in hand. In reality, it...
A couple years ago, I read a piece by Shauna James Ahern about her family's weekly dinner template, with Mondays for meat and potatoes, Tuesdays as kids' choice night, soup and salad on Wednesdays...
As longtime readers know, I occasionally work with Stonyfield to promote their line of organic yogurts. I'm selective about the brands I produce sponsored content for, and one of the reasons I work with Stonyfield is because I appreciate their commitment to sustainability.
To those on the outside, I look like I've got the healthy eating thing down pat. I snack on carefully measured portions of cottage cheese and edamame, I spend Sunday nights prepping a week's worth of...
This season will be my seventh year as a CSA shareholder. Each year, I gets lots of curious questions from family and friends: how does this whole CSA thing work? What do I get in my CSA box each week? And most importantly, what do I with all that produce? If you're new to CSA shares, or if you're thinking of subscribing but want to know a little more, here's everything you need to know.
Around here, Saturday lunch is a fend-for-yourself meal. For me, it usually involves oatmeal, roasted vegetables, or whatever leftovers are rattling around in the fridge. Mike, on the other hand, uses Saturday lunch to eat the sort of convenience foods that we never have for dinner: frozen pizza, tater tots, fried chicken from the grocery store deli, and chicken nuggets dipped in hot sauce.
I still remember my first-ever potluck contribution, back when I was a very new cook: onion dip. The classic recipe, where you mix one packet of onion soup mix with a tub of sour cream, and serve it with a bag of potato chips. Looking back, it seems somewhat basic. But my classmates were impressed that I had actually made something--they all brought packaged cookies.
As a food blogger, I spend a lot of time thinking about food. My weekly meal plans are intricate works of strategy, taking into account produce seasonality, pantry inventory, and the various...
I love Ritter Sport: the square German candy bars combine my appreciation for quality chocolate with a a compulsive urge to collect the brightly colored packages and admire my personal chocolate rainbow. And about the only thing I like as much as eating Ritter Sport chocolate is writing about it. My review of the Ritter Sport chocolate flavors available at the time in the U.S. is one of my all-time most popular posts, and I've also written a review of Ritter Sport's seasonal summer 2016 flavors.
