In the Kitchen

Often, I have the sensation that I am a “voice crying in the desert”–but I’ll keep on crying out  while people continue to look everywhere

Food Safety Storage Tips Should you pitch that carton of milk with the passed-by expiration date? Or what about slightly wilted produce in the refrigerator?

Wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday… you remember how it goes in Little House on the Prairie, don’t you? And Saturday was

I remember cooking omelets in teflon pans in high school and thinking how easily they came out of the pan despite the lack of fat

I’m not sure how this happened but everywhere I turn there are remnants of a humanely butchered animal. Now, before this comes off as morbid

One of the foods I will buy when I’m crunched for time is canned beans. I’ve been cooking dried beans for years, but sometimes I

When we don’t have vegetables coming out of the garden that I can work with, I generally buy quite a bit of produce every week.

There are a lot of takes on what exactly the pilgrims ate at the first Thanksgiving. I wouldn’t even hazard a guess, except to say

Besides broccoli, I know of no vegetable that brings on fear and loathing like the Brussels sprout. They’re so cute, the children say, like tiny

Nearly two years ago I wrote about dealing with scratch cooking burnout. Even us die hard real foodies get a case of burnout every now

If you’re anything like me, then you could happily cook all day long without complaint. Three meals a day? No problem! Homemade everything? Sure! Dishes?

As the cold weather approaches, I’m able to indulge my home-body nature and do a lot of cozy, homey activities.  We build fires in the

I haven’t juiced in a really long time. For one, the only reason we really got started on juicing was when we were doing the

A freshly plucked, sun-ripened strawberry has no rival. Eating fresh fruit in season assures you the best taste, nutrition and environmental stewardship. Now is the

We almost never order pizza. If we’re having pizza, I’m making pizza. Unless, of course, it’s almost 100 degrees in which case ordering pizza happens

I know this isn’t the case for other regions of the country, but it has already started to get hot here. We’ve already hit 100

We had garlic scapes for the first time and we are converted! I am a serious garlic lover and I didn’t think anything could be

When I began to look into traditional cuisines of various cultures there was a common thread in all of them – the use of herbs.

Sometimes, once in a great while, I have a Good Idea. One of those ideas that makes day-to-day living easier and that I have opportunity

If you’re familiar with Nourishing Traditions then you’ve certainly heard of soaking grains. I personally believe that soaking is just a half-step towards the better

I’m sure it’s already a dead giveaway, but I’m a lover of all things old timey. I like the slow and simple life of those

Did you notice that when I started this whole family table series of posts that I was very non-committal about how long I’d be posting

What do you do when a neighbor puts lots of homegrown pork plus lard on the community market? If you’re us you say “We’ll take

I was a new wife when I realized I only knew how to cook a handful of things. This wasn’t all that upsetting until I

The wood stove is crackling and the heat radiates all around us. Our faces burn so we lean back in our chairs and put our

There is something rustic and beautiful about sourdough baking. The long rise time, the slight tang, the unique flavor and shape that every loaf takes

It’s been seven years since I said I do to my husband and the role as family cook. Just over a year later we added

So it’s November and if you’re eating seasonally you might be staring at a big old winter squash. Maybe it’s butternut or pumpkin or acorn

I stand behind real food not only because it is the best nourishment for our families, but also for the knowledge that it is grown as

Do you remember that movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and the father who used Windex to fix everything from a scratch to the rash

Has the price of just about everything been slowly creeping up in your area too? Chief amongst the expensive groceries is meat – whether it’s

A few posts ago I got a question about how to preserve food without canning. Canning is one of the most popular ways to put

When my husband saw me reading this book he was like, “Why do you need a whole book?  Can’t you basically feed babies  what adults

I remember the summer before we moved off-grid. I was in the throes of morning sickness with our baby girl and we were trying to

Disclaimer: We’re just showing you what is working (or not) for us. We are not homesteading experts. Kitchens aside, I believe water is a top

I first began to really drink coffee shortly after my youngest son was born. I had previous forays into sweet, ice-cream like frozen coffees, but

Images of beautiful and functional rustic kitchens, fresh baked breads being taken from a woodstove, bushels of potatoes stored away in the root cellar, and

I’m no expert on making cheese.  So, if I can do it, you can do it!  For awhile we were drinking exclusively homemade almond milk,

Originally from the far north of the U.S., I am a southern transplant. I grew up in the land of the casserole, where if you

Just about six weeks ago we had our third baby – our first girl! Those first two births looked a lot different, and so did

Have you tried your hand at culturing dairy yet?  It’s really not as scary as it sounds.  Making my own buttermilk was seriously the easiest

Moving off-grid can seem like this quaint little experiment where you lay in meadows of wildflowers during sunny afternoons and play with kittens all day.

Over the holidays we did a lot of traveling and I found myself worrying about my kids surviving on party food alone.  To minimize the

After moving to Texas we have sort of fallen in love with the local Tex-Mex cuisine, including corn tortillas. I have been serving these up

Over the next couple of months there’s a good chance you will be doing some entertaining. You might be having the gang over to watch

It’s autumn. The winds of change are blowing. I know you all woke up this morning and rushed straight to your computers so you could

  We recently spent a week at the family cabin in Montana.  My husband and his dad spent hours on the lake together.  They’d get

I think a lot of people are overwhelmed when they consider a switch to traditional or real foods as an overarching philosophy for feeding their

I often discover something new and exotic to love when I shop at the local Asian market.  This time it was agar agar.  I’ve been

This time of year, I tend to buy as much stone fruit as I can because the season never seems to last as long as

As our family prepares to move off-grid later this year, I am slowly switching from cooking techniques that require electricity to those that don’t. This

Now that it’s officially summer, I am thankful that our weekly schedules have slowed down a bit. We have almost no sporting events, committee meetings,

      Photo by Lauren Mitchell Going green means different things to different people. To me, it’s the intersection between eco-friendly, frugal and simple

Last week, Andrea shared some of her favorite Simple Kitchen Quick Tips. Today, I wanted to add to her list with a few of my own!

My journey through the world of food intolerances and allergies and special diets has taken me a lot of different places. I’ve tried therapies and

I love cooking and baking, but I’m not willing to spend hours and hours in my kitchen each day. So I’m always looking for shortcuts,

I probably look like a crazy woman when I head to our local grocery store and load up my cart with bags of “overripe” bananas,

With growing concern about the safety of conventionally grown fruits and veggies — and the relatively exorbitant prices of organic produce — properly washing produce

As this is my first post for Plan to Eat, I feel it’s only polite to actually introduce myself. And seeing how this is a

I have what appears to be a lifelong quest for the perfect whole wheat pie crust.  So far, I haven’t had much luck with a

At this time of year, school is well under way, and it’s easy to get into a rut when it comes to packing healthy lunches

Although I’m really not a great cook — despite my best efforts and the fact that I cook almost every day for my family! —

Can I tell you a secret? I’m a terrible cook. I’m getting better the more I practice, but the truth is that I over think