Blueberries are appearing in the grocery store. They are from the southern states–it will still be a while before the Michigan berries are ripe. Even though they are not from Michigan the blueberries are lovely, and so I made a family favorite pie. Pastry: 1 cup flour 1/8 tsp. salt…
Meals and special desserts are a part of family life. In our home we enjoy pies, especially fruit pies. I have practiced and tweaked my recipe for pie crust until I was satisfied. The shortening in pie crust should be 1/3 the amount of flour. (I don’t remember where I…
It is the first day of Spring and I am looking forward to the appearance of flowers and herbs. The snowdrops are up, and the robins have returned. The hyacinths are beginning to poke through the thawing soil. Before long the violets will be blooming. I plan to gather these…
On New Year’s Day we like to sip coffee and enjoy cinnamon rolls while we watch the Rose Parade on TV. I have a recipe that allows me to make the dough the afternoon/evening before, and then in the morning I shape and bake the rolls. My dear husband makes…
Spring seems to be on hold as cold temperatures persist in Illinois. But I am beginning to think about my herb garden. I recently read that Tansy is a deterrent for Japanese beetles. I have seeds to plant, hoping that it will help get rid of the throng of beetles…
Recently I have been going through some old folders and found a copy of a recipe with a story. According to the distributor of the recipe, she paid $250 for the Neiman-Marcus Cookie recipe. Did I ever try the recipe? I couldn’t remember. I had the ingredients on hand—well, most…
When we are in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, about as far north as you can go in Michigan, we enjoy getting a meal at the 4 Suns Fish & Chips. Sometimes we get fish & chips to go. At other times we sit outdoors with a view of the…
The berries in my backyard are abundant . . . and so are the Japanese beetles. The upper leaves of my cherry tree were eaten, just the skeleton of leaf veins left. So pretty but so destructive! I have even been up on a ladder, shaking the branches of the…
Dates have some surprising health benefits for expectant mothers. Women often receive a prescription for iron during pregnancy. During pregnancy a woman’s blood volume increases by 50% and the red blood cells increase by 30%. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin that carries oxygen; iron is a component of hemoglobin. Iron…
Today I am making some potato salad for dinner. I read an interesting article that listed the health benefits available in potatoes and rice which are cooked and then cooled. According to the article: The process of cooking and then cooling potatoes and rice leads to the formation of resistant…