For some people, eating wheat (and rye and barley) is not a choice.  Their bodies can’t handle it. And this condition, whether it’s gluten intolerance or full-blown celiac disease, seems to be increasing in prevalence.
Let’s just stop and think about that for a minute.  No hot bread, straight from the oven, slathered with butter, the [...]

Continue reading " Living Gluten-Free for Dummies "

We all have ideas about what our ultimate kitchen looks like.  Some want the latest and greatest appliances and others wish for simplicity.
Me?  I dream of organization.  See this kitchen pictured on the front cover of this book… right over there to the left?  That’s my idea of perfection.  Every dish, every pot, every thing [...]

Continue reading " 1001 Ideas for Kitchen Organization "

My guys pretty much get right down to business at the dinner table now, but boy, there was a time that I’d have paid good money for them to just sit still for a few moments so I could actually eat a warm meal.
I don’t know if I would have used this at the dinner [...]

Continue reading " Doodles at Dinner: 36 Tear-Off Placemats "

I love these books that combine food/cooking with murder/who-dunnit because they’re so light and fluffy. And you gotta have light and fluffy reading if you’re gonna help Junior with his math homework, right?
In Fudge Cupcake Murder, bakery owner Hannah Swensen discovers the fudge-stained corpse of town butthead Sheriff Grant in a trash receptacle near [...]

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The New York Times bestselling phenomenon, Hungry Girl, delivers another fantastic cookbook: Hungry Girl: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories. Delicious recipes for hundreds of recipes with each serving under 200 calories.  Perfect for a light snack or combine a few for a satisfying lunch.  Sassy Southwestern Roll-Ups, Cheesy-Good Cornbread Muffins, Holy Moly Guacamole or my [...]

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I just finished Julie & Julia, a book which details a woman named Julie cooking her way through all the recipes in Julia Childs’ first cookbook, and now I want to cook some French food.  Although I can honestly say I don’t have the guts to eat brains. I’m a pretty adventurous eater, but, [...]

Continue reading " Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One "

The kids have been out of school for awhile now, and I can’t stand one more, Mom, I’m bored! Give your kids something fun and interesting to do while actually enticing them to learn. Bwah ha ha ha. That’s how it is here… education disguised as fun. This goes way past [...]

Continue reading " The Hungry Scientist Handbook "

Our local farmer’s market is chock full of gorgeous fresh local produce and my little home garden is even starting to show signs of generating some actual edible food. We’re gonna have a lot of corn, but the jury’s still out on the tomatoes. I’d love a bunch of tips and recipes to [...]

Continue reading " Simply Organic: A Cookbook for Sustainable, Seasonal, and Local Ingredients "

So, by now you know James got kicked to the curb last week, right?  We’re left with Bronwen, Courtney and Mary.  This week’s challenge was to create a 5 foot cake for a mystery client and transport that cake to the party venue.  They have 24 hours to get ‘er done.  Uh oh, the twist… [...]

Continue reading " FN Challenge: Last Cake Standing Finale "

Earth Day is April 22, although we should be paying attention to the things we can do to impact our planet every day, not just once a year.  Kate Heyhoe has a ton of great ideas in her new book, Cooking Green: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint in the Kitchen. She defines your cookprint as the [...]

Continue reading " Cooking Green by Kate Heyhoe: What’s Your Cookprint? "