Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, are three very important actions in our world today. As we strive to go green, these three actions do many things. It reduces the waste that ends up in landfills, keeps good items that still work out of landfills, and keeps materials that can be used again – you guessed it – out of landfills. It results in less hazardous waste being compressed into the ground and a greener cleaner Earth.

Alright, that’s enough preaching, let me show you one way I reduced, reused, and recycled. Hopefully, that’ll inspire you to do the same.

For the Teen Week graduation class, I always purchase flowers and have the kids use them to arrange centerpieces for the dining tables. Naturally, we had a red, white, and blue theme last Friday. Forty-eight hours we were leaving town and I didn’t want the three bunches of flowers to go to waste.

[Read more →]

There is nothing like the vintage images of young children setting off fireworks to wish you and yours a very festive, delicious, and Happy Independence Day! Have fun and stay safe! xoox

[Read more →]

The fruit on my fig tree is ripening just in time…. for me to be out of town… and unable to harvest any. No matter, the birds are flocking to the tree by the dozens and feasting on them.

I don’t have a clue what kind of bird this is, but every day, all throughout the day, there are between 10 and 20 of these black birds chowing down on my figs.

[Read more →]

Hey look at that… I took two days off in a row and you still came back… Thank you! Really, I mean it, thank you for all your support and your kind comments, it means so very much to me.  xoxo

These quick and easy dessert bars may be made into any flavor that your heart desires. Use whatever jam, jelly, or pie filling you have on hand – I chose strawberry pie filling to make these. Just drop a teaspoon in the center of each bar and it sinks into the batter as it bakes. I’m thinking of trying Nutella or PB&J next time.

[Read more →]

Today is the last day of the 2012 Summer Kid’s Cooking Classes – meaning yesterday was the last “Surprise Me Thursday” – which is the day we make cool stuff I found on Pinterest.  How darn cute is this?

Rice Krispies Treats are one of my favorite things in the whole wide world, always have been, always will be. It takes all kinds of stupid willpower to avoid them at the ballpark when those vendors come down the aisles with a tray full of them. I am proud to say that I have never paid for a Rice Krispies Treat at Chase Field. Why pay for such a thing when they are the easiest things on earth to make at home? That being said, somehow I still have to fight the temptation to pay big bucks for one. I can tell you one thing if they sold Rice Krispies Treats that look like this, I’d buy one for sure!

[Read more →]

Mini Skirts, Mini Coopers, and Mini Food – they’re all awesome.

What is it about taking what is commonly full-sized and shrinking it down to mini-sized that makes it even more appealing? Is it just that it is cuter or does it actually make it taste even better?  I’m not certain, but there is most certainly something about it that is so very likable.

[Read more →]

Every week of summer cooking classes we take time out of the kitchen and gather around the table in the dining room to learn how to set a proper table.

Each student is given a Dinner plate, Salad fork, Meat fork, Dessert fork, Dessert spoon, Meat knife, Soup spoon, Bread plate, kitchen towels, and Water glass (actually it holds lemonade each day).

Sometimes one or two students (usually returning from a couple of weeks earlier or sometimes as long ago as last summer) get it perfect as shown above.

I use this mnemonic to help the kids remember how to set a proper table: The word “Right” has five letters, as do the words “spoon” “glass” and “knife”. So remember that the spoons, glasses, and knives all go on the right of the plate.

Likewise, the word “Left” has four letters, as does the word “fork”. Therefore forks go on the left of the plate.

To help remember which way the dessert fork and spoon face, just place them on the sides of the plate they naturally go on (spoon with 5 letters on the right and fork with four letters on the left) and slide them from there to up above the plate and they are naturally facing the way they belong. 

Finally, if you have trouble remembering which bread plate and which drinking glass are yours at a crowded table, just do this: Make a lower case “b” with your left hand and a lower case “d” with your right hand. Hold them up in front of you. Your bread plate “b” is on your left. Your drink “d” is on your right.

[Read more →]

For our Meatless Monday classes this summer, one of the favorites has been this salad. An adaptation of the iconic Stetson Chopped Salad from Cowboy Ciao, which has been open on Stetson Drive in Old Town Scottsdale for 15 years.

Traditionally the salad has a row of chopped smoked salmon. We have left it out to make it a vegetarian dish.  If you would like to make it the Cowboy Ciao way, (which is exactly what I would do!!) add in 4 ounces of diced smoked salmon as the last row of the salad.

The photo above is the salad at Cowboy Ciao. It is an individual serving, brought to the table with the dressing on two spoons, ready for you to toss in as you like.

This recipe makes enough for 8 and is also brought to the table to have the dressing added at the last minute and then served family-style.

[Read more →]

You know how it is when you know something and you just assume others know it too? Then it dawns on you that maybe not everyone knows what it is that you know. For instance, did you know that the PLU numbers on produce stickers hold more information than just the price of the item? Important information, that can help you make more informed and conscious buying decisions.

There you have it! Check it out the next time you go grocery shopping.

I have a “Tip Index” over there on the left, under the “Pages” heading. During the first year or two of the blog, I was ultra-diligent about updating the index every time I posted a tip in a recipe. I’ve been way too lax about it recently. So, I thought I’d share with you a couple of good Cooking Tip sites.

[Read more →]

Good Sunday Morning!  Is this image not one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen? I can not begin to tell you what joy it brings to me. Peace, happiness, calm, just joy! Keep reading to learn where it came from…

Yeah, so guess what I just read on, Heather Bullard – Lifestyle Blog, which by the way, is where the gorgeous image came from and is one of my very favorite blogs in the whole wide world?  This is what I read…

“Posting on a Saturday. I’m sure I’m breaking all kinds of professional blog rules.”

What?!? Posting on Saturdays is against “professional blog rules”?  Man, am I ever in deep trouble. Not only have I posted on a Saturday 135 times, but as of today, I’ve put up a new post 141 times on a Sunday in the nearly three years since I created this space. I’m guessing that if posting on Saturday is against the rules, then posting on Sunday is … well, nothing short of sacrilegious!

[Read more →]