Most mornings the kids and I start the day with a blueberry-spinach smoothie.  We all love it and it is super healthy, but sometimes I feel like changing the routine a bit.  When we’re not in the mood for homemade pancakes or steel cut oatmeal, I will try a new smoothie recipe.  Yesterday I decided […]

Yesterday while Mack napped and Chris worked on his computer, Evie and I ran some errands around our neighborhood.  One of the best things about living in the middle of a big city is that everything we could possibly need is within a 10 minute walk of our home.  Evie and I picked up some […]

Today I enjoyed one of my absolute favorite salads for lunch.  The ingredient list is short and simple, and most of the items are easy to keep on-hand all the time.  My favorite ingredient is the chick peas.  I buy a pound of dried organic chick peas for less than $2, but after I cook […]

We’ve been keeping an eye on our spending the past few months, so weekends for us have been kinda quiet.  To make Saturday evening a little more special I employed Evie and Mack in the kitchen to help me bake a special dessert.  With a bunch of brown bananas sitting on the counter top, I […]

I wrote about chia seeds a few months ago, and ever since I’ve been having fun trying out new uses for them in the kitchen.  I saw a recipe in a recent issue of Food & Wine magazine for a chia “pudding”, and it seemed easy, interesting and healthy.  The magazine recipe called for almond […]

Growing up, I never once had pot pie for dinner.  I seem to remember my mom recalling horror stories of her childhood: forced to sit at the dining table for hours until the pot pie she absolutely detested was eaten.  She hated it as a child, and so she never served it to her children. […]

Happy Valentine’s Day! To start this lovely day off right, I made a batch of homemade pancakes.  To the batter I added mashed fresh raspberries and red-&-pink M&Ms, and I topped them off with homemade yogurt and pure maple syrup. Making pancakes from scratch doesn’t take much more time than a box mix, and homemade […]

When I was 8 years old my mom’s brother married a woman from Bangladesh.  Feryall was outgoing and chatty and so friendly – she dove right in to our big family and fit in seamlessly.  Growing up, I remember that she never spoke down to the kids in the family – she made a real […]

Baking is always a bit challenging for me.  It is such an exact science, and if one measurement is even a little bit off the whole recipe can flop.  This seems to be especially true with homemade bread.  So, when I read about Average Joe Bread Kit in my college alumni magazine I was immediately […]

I really love the farmers co-op we belong to.  Every two weeks our friendly farmers bring fresh and wholesome food from their Michigan farm to Chicago, and my family and I are healthier and happier because of it. I almost always order delicious eggs with marigold yolks, juicy whole chickens that roast up perfectly, earthy […]