The end of the year: time for celebration, reflection, and goal setting. This year, I have lots to celebrate and plenty of goals set for the coming year: maintain my blog, maintain my patience with my two year old (and try to become a better parent in the process), successfully breastfeed for the rest of […]
Fast & Easy Family Friendly Party Menu
I love New Year’s Eve. It’s easily one of my favorite holidays; its celebration is short-lived, non-committal, requires zero travel, and celebratory beverages and staying up late are optional. The last few years my husband and I have started a new tradition with some friends: Deep Fried NYE. We find that it’s the perfect way […]
Funky Crunchy Mama’s Creamy Wild Rice Soup
If you’ve ever been up nort’, I’m guessing you’ve been introduced to a few local favorites: cheese curds — both squeaky and fried — a local Friday night fish fry (and hopefully the fish was a locally sourced walleye), and wild rice — probably in a soup, possibly in a pilaf, perhaps stuffed in mushrooms, […]
How to Use a Stalk of Celery
Celery. Does anyone really like celery? I’ve always kind of been on the fence as to whether I like it or not. Maybe it’s good or maybe it’s just necessary, but most of the time when I buy it, it sits in my refrigerator, unused, until it becomes so wilted that I finally just chuck […]
How to Keep Thanksgiving Simple
Man, oh man, can Thanksgiving be complicated! When my husband and I started dating, we’d pretty much split our day into three parts: his parents, my parents, and the bar. We’d eat too much at both sets of parents’, receive leftovers at both places, then dress up like truckers and digest with our friends from […]
Unexpectedly Spicy, Tangy Cranberry Sauce
I received this super delicious recipe for cranberry sauce from an old co-worker. I have no idea who she received it from, but it’s ah-may-zing and every year they’re a hit at our holiday gatherings. They’re quick to make, they freeze really well, and if you want exceptionally grateful guests, make enough to send some […]
Six Soup Making Tips and Tricks
I love making soup. I might even love making soup more than I love eating it. Savory, spicy, sweet and squashy, chunky or creamy, brothy or beany… it’s all so good! Over the years, I’ve heard a few people say that making soup is a lot of work. I wholeheartedly disagree; all you have to […]
Grandma Lori’s Midwestern Pasta Salad
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen an episode of How I Met Your Mother (none-the-less binged the entire show), but if you have, you’ll learn that Jason Segel’s character, Marshall Eriksen, is a midwestern boy from a stereotypical, oversized, Minnesota family. There’s an episode where Lily and Marshall return to St. Cloud and Marshall’s […]
Five of My Favorite High-Fiber Foods
Sufficient fiber is such an important part of every diet. As a vegetarian, it’s not something that I generally lack in my regular rotation of foods, but it is something that I need to give greater consideration to when I’m pregnant. Pregnancy puts a lot of stress on your body. Your growing uterus crowds other […]