Category: Seasonal Favorites

Creating and blending my own spice rubs is something I love to do. I know what is and isn’t in them. Home-made rubs are less expensive than those you purchase ready-made. Best of all, I can control the sodium or eliminate it all together. You would be amazed at how much salt is in most…

Raspberry pie is just plain delicious. Seriously, I cannot even begin to describe it well-enough. It has to be my most favorite dessert ever. The raspberries are a bit tart, but just sweet enough. I never add whipped cream or ice cream to my piece of pie. OK, pieces of pie is more accurate. This…

My mother canned so much food for our family. As a little girl I remember the glass jars of dilled yellow-wax beans, as we always called them, lining the shelf of our basement fruit cellar. The beans were crispy and delicious, and always a treat. One time when about 8-years old my neighborhood friend and…

Cold pasta salads are always the rave in summer. They are good, and sometimes even scrumptious. But let’s get serious for a minute. Anything would be delectable if you poured on a heavy mayonnaise-based dressing, refined sugars, lots of bacon and hard-boiled eggs. They would even be yummy if you slathered on a bottle of…

We eat a lot of kale every summer. We cook it in just about every way possible. Our son even grilled kale leaves recently that were pretty good too. But, there is always a but; every time I clean kale and strip those leaves from the stems I wonder why the stems are always added…

In the past I have added dried cherries to my quick breads, but I have never used fresh, tart, cherries. The result is a flavorful and super-moist quick bread. It is easy to make and so simple but so good.  If you don’t have fresh cherries,  frozen or canned tart cherries will work well too,…

Potato salad is a traditional summer favorite and shows up everywhere. It seems no matter what you do to make your potato salad a bit more unique, it is still potato salad. If you’re looking for something a bit more nutritious and more diet friendly, give Moroccan Sweet Potato Salad a try. The spices are…

Fruit pies are a hit with me any time. If I had to choose between all of the desserts available to me, it would be pie. Pie is not very friendly when it comes to carbohydrates and fat so I knew there had to be a way to improve my favorite dessert and still enjoy…

Rhubarb is one of my favorite fresh foods of spring. Crisps, cakes, breads, muffins, pies, and even sauce are so good. They are also problematic for me because I loose a bit of self-control and eat way too much, which means more calories, more sugary carbohydrates, and then of course the ‘food-guilt’! I was thinking…

This is the best pasta sauce if you like clam sauce. It is so simple and so fast you won’t believe it. It is really low in fat and sodium as well. It is so simple, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before! There are those Italian purists who believe you never,…