Chocolate "Declare"

Summertime is the season of vacation. And vacation with family is always the best. Hellos and warm hugs that have waited all year to be given, piles of cousins getting to know one another again, warm sun and cool water, laughter in the kitchen and around the table. 

Baked Ziti

Ziti is one of my favorite company meals. It can be made ahead, it's satisfying and almost everyone likes it, especially children. And this recipe is so good. It's not a dump-everything-in-and-bake kinda dish, but the few extra steps reward you with tender noodles, punctuated by cheesy goodness and a bright, tomato sauce. 

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I love old family photos. The black and white kind. My parents and grandparents as they used to be.  Young children, chubby cheeked and precocious, with large silk bows perched atop their curls or looking uncomfortable in knickers and buttoned-up shirt. Or maybe as young adults, flashing beautiful, carefree smiles, dressed in the classiest of dresses or looking handsome in uniform. Little moments, captured at a time when all of life was before them. 

How-To: Knead Dough

Kneading bread dough is something that causes many new bakers to blanch and turn quickly to a different recipe. It seems daunting and difficult, something that died out with our great-grandmothers.

But kneading is so fun! Remember when you were a kid and you used to sit at your mom's kitchen table and make all sorts of fun fake foods out of Play-Doh? Kneading gives you the chance, as an adult, to get your hands into a lump of dough and transform it into something beautiful. Kneading can seem intimidating and scary, and there are some guidelines to follow, but really what you're doing is playing with dough!

Pudding Drop Cookies

There's nothing like getting a package in the mail. 

Particularly when you are a starving-for-good-food college student. And particularly when you see your mother's name as the return sender. 

Grammy's White Bread

My Grammy turned 93 on Wednesday. 93 years. Most of them spent tending gardens, pickling produce, planning suppers and baking bread. In a house built by a young husband for his young wife many years ago. 

On the breezeway, the mid-afternoon sun warms the row of freshly picked cucumbers, still glistening from their bath with the garden hose. Two steps up into the porch where piles of shoes, a bucket of clothespins and hung up coats all have their place. An assortment of pies, strawberry, pecan and chocolate, placed precariously on the washer and dryer, catch your eye as you pass through. A curtained door leads into a faded kitchen, alive with the bustle of getting supper on and the smell of homemade food.

Rice Pudding

My son was sick last week. The really sad kind of sick where he just hung in my arms, forehead hot with fever and cheek squished against my shoulder, snoring softly through his open mouth. The kind of sick where nothing gets done and its perfectly ok because the little one needs his mommy more than a clean house and a gourmet supper.

How To: Scrambled Eggs

There's not much better than breakfast together on a warm and sunny Saturday, when the schedule is open and nothing presses for your attention but your cup of coffee.

Quicky Sticky Buns

"What's for dinner?" the question that brings a sinking feeling and blank stares from every mother. My mom particularly disliked hearing this question on the way home from church. Sundays, though wonderful and worth it, can be tiring. After a busy morning and putting on a big lunch, the last thing she wanted to do was come up with a creative, inspired dish for dinner.

Cornbread

There's something about a good chili that just begs to be paired with cornbread. The meat and bean dish needs the simple heartiness cornbread offers and chili's take-your-breath-away heat is somehow tempered by the bread's neutral corn flavor.