O is for October and all things orange as far as I’m concerned! The beautiful leaves changing, pumpkins, carrots, sweet potatoes…mmmm. Can you believe how many years I spent microwave “baking” my russets and sweets whenever we had baked potato night? Until a few weeks ago, when my sister served baked-in-the-oven potatoes with the skins [...]

We have officially had a full week of gray, rainy days in Charlotte. I have to really, really push through the way that weighs me down. Even though the kitchen is my oasis and I love love love to cook, I drag when there’s no sunshine. Enter a slow cooker recipe that turned out so [...]

The start of fall, officially today, commences the start of soup season for me! Savor this fix it and forget it slow cooker meal after a long day. It is plenty hearty on its own but don’t let me stop you from serving it with some crusty bread or over rice, couscous, or quinoa. French lentils, red [...]

I made fresh corn tortillas today! They only involve 3 ingredients and take the same time as it would to run to the store to buy ready corn tortillas, return home, and warm them. Obviously, if you threw them into your cart during your usual grocery shopping, it’s quicker to use the ones in the [...]

We don’t eat a lot of pasta around here partly because of the starchy carbs and also because I want to be an unconventional vegetarian. In fact, my biggest compliment of the vegetarian food prepared for us on the Disney cruise last year is how impressive it was that in 7 dinners, I never once [...]

(Polenta cakes served with goat cheese, roasted veggies and hot sauce.) Polenta, which originated in Europe, is similar to grits as both are made from stoneground corn. The type of corn for each varies as does the coarser texture of the cornmeal used to make polenta. I consider polenta to be a great vessel for [...]

As you may have read in my Get Well Sooner post last week, we had the go-round with colds last week. When the kids are sick, I try to balance what I want to get into them nutritionally with their diminished appetite as well as special requests. Because everyone deserves to be spoiled when under the [...]

What started out as an interest in eating :) and led to my love of cooking was then followed by my weight loss journey. Through books like The China Study, documentaries like Food, Inc. and Forks Over Knives, attending seminars, and following investigators like The Food Babe as well as physicians like Dr. Mercola and Dr. Weil as well as other [...]

On one hand beans have had an excellent reputation since the beginning of time being a cheap, accessible, nutritionally dense food and on the other, many claim that beans are hard to digest causing gastrointestinal distress and diets such as Paleo are against them all together. I have already said a few times on this blog [...]

Another Labor Day weekend is upon us and marks the end of most swimming pool seasons and the last of cookout get togethers. I’m always glad for a long weekend but never ready for summer to slip away! Let us be positive and reflect on how much gratitude we hold for the American work force and ethic. [...]