I do my best to eat local, but it can be difficult once the CSA season ends and farmer's markets close for the winter. That's why I was interested to try Smude Sunflower Oil--unlike the imported olive and coconut oils I usually rely on, Smude produces their oils in Pierz, Minnesota from Minnesota-grown sunflowers.
Sugar cookies, shaped like Christmas trees, with piped icing garland and a garnish of festive sprinkles. Gingerbread men with chocolate chip eyes and cinnamon candy buttons. Those round buttery cookies filled with chopped nuts and rolled in powdered sugar, called Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Tea Cakes or Snowballs, depending on your generation and geographic origin.
As much as I love holiday lights and candy canes, there are certain things that I dislike about this time of year. The big one is the music. My college-era retail stint spanned three holiday seasons, complete with a soundtrack of horrid renditions of classic Christmas songs.
Last Christmas season, I wrote a post about developing new holiday traditions. This year, I'm focusing on a recipe that has held a place of honor on my family's cookie trays for decades: my Grandma Ruth's no-bake cookies.
As an avid snacker, I'm always on the lookout for something new to mix up my munching routine. Sensible Portions recently sent me a couple of bags of Poppin' Peas, a brand new item from their line of better-for-you snacks.
As much as I love apples, sweet potatoes, and smoked salmon, bread is my all-time favorite food. Hearty loaves of homemade rye, impatiently sliced while still steaming; round loaves of sourdough from Whole Foods, picked up on the way home from work; crusty baguettes purchased at the farmer's market--I love it all.
At first glance, no one would describe me as trendy. I've had the same hairstyle since the seventh grade--long, no bangs, parted down the middle (I've occasionally tried cutting my hair shorter, but...
Last summer, this blog passed the four year mark. That's a lot of recipes and restaurant reviews and pictures of my dinner. Although I try to focus on new-to-the-blog ingredients and techniques,...
One of the most the thoughtful gifts I've ever received was a wedding present from my Aunt Ruth. She compiled a binder of family recipes: my Great-great-grandma Malerich's blueberry muffins, my...
I have long been skeptical of baked apples. They've always struck me as something that well-meaning but clueless adults offer children as "dessert," even though anyone old enough to chew understands...
The Zeus Big River Pizza knows how to take care of vegetarians. I've eaten my more than my fair share of margherita pizzas over the years, and while there's nothing wrong with tomatoes and basil, they...
I'm a longtime fan of Beatrice Ojakangas. Besides writing 29 cookbooks and earning a place in the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, she's a fellow Minnesotan. Much of her work reflects her Finnish-American heritage (The Finnish Cookbook, The Great Scandinavian Baking Book, Scandinavian Feasts) and skill as a baker (Great Whole Grain Breads, The Soup & Bread Cookbook, The Great Holiday Baking Book).
There's a joke about all the people who would become vegetarians, if only bacon were a vegetable. Personally, I'm too non-dogmatic about food to rule out entire categories--I like my French onion soup...
This post is sponsored by Stonyfield Organic and Bob's Red Mill via the Clean Plate Club blogger program. In exchange for this post, I was provided with the products used to develop my recipe. As...
It's time for my annual summer recap, now that the State Fair has come and gone and school buses are making slow circuits around my neighborhood. June, July, and August are what keep me in Minnesota year after year, and here's how I made the most of them:
As an American with internationally-minded wanderlust, one thing that bums me out about the United States is that it's so big. Foreign travel usually involves pricey plane tickets and copious amounts of vacation time.
Making the most of my CSA share with a refreshing bowl of cold tomato soup and corn-on-the-cob This post is sponsored by Untiedt's Vegetable Farm, Inc. I've been an Untiedt's shareholder since their...
This post is sponsored by Stonyfield Organic and Justin's via the Clean Plate Club blogger program. In exchange for this post, I was provided with the products used to develop my recipe. As always,...
There is a tendency on food blogs (and their accompanying social media accounts) to present the best possible moments to the world: a brilliantly-hued smoothie bowl, a gorgeous scoop of ice cream, a story about finding the perfect tomato at the farmer's market.
Of all the places we visited on our travels across Germany, Dresden is the city I'm most eager to return to. We spent less than 24 hours in Dresden, just enough time to explore the Baroque Old Town,...
