A Day in the Life of a Busy Kitchen
- I have a confession to make ... my kitchen in normally, everyday, mostly in a state of disarray of one kind or another. Stuff on the counters, stuff in the sink, floor needs sweeping or mopping, or the dishwasher to be loaded or unloaded. Sound familiar? If you cook at all I'm sure you can totally identify! But, you might say, The Granny Plan step number three says it's important to clean as you go. And I do. So, what's going on here? An Active Kitchen is Always in a State of Becoming the Next Meal Take a look at these three stunning kitchens and what do you notice? Zero cleanup, zero meal prep ... all is perfect! Of course we all know these are model kitchens, but I still think it has an effect on us that we see oh so many of these picture perfect kitchens on TV shows, in advertisements, online, on cooking shows, and on and on ad nauseum. On cooking shows all is clean, ingredients are pre-measured and in cute little bowls and totally ready to cook. But, in your own home there are dishes from the last meal in the sink, a full dishwasher… READ MORE
Most Recent Posts
Making the Most of Granny’s Free Meal Plan
Last week I released my first meal plan as a free download for anyone signing up for my mailing list. The meal plan has a page devoted to getting started with the plan but that is necessarily brief, so I wanted to share a few more thoughts with everyone on how best to work the […]
Three Spice Snickerdoodles
This funny sounding cookie is believed to have originated in New England in the 1800’s. So not only did your grandma likely eat these cookies, but your great-great-great grandma may have had them too! Supposedly the older recipes used cream of tartar and to make the cookies rise, while the newer recipes just use baking […]
Two Meat Crockpot Chili
This set-it-and-forget-it crockpot meal is sure to please the guys in particular this fall. But then who doesn’t enjoy a hot steaming bowl of comforting chili on a cool night! In a nutshell all you do here is brown the meat on the stove, add the remaining ingredients and pour into your slow cooker. Then […]
Crockpot Baked Apples
Nothing says fall than the smell of apples and cinnamon. It makes the entire house smell warm and comforting. These ‘baked’ apples are simple, throw it all in the crock pot and have a fresh warm dessert ready at dinnertime. Served with vanilla ice cream, it’s like apple pie with out the crust. This recipe […]
Saving Money Cooking from Scratch
Real Food at Walmart – Fruits and Vegetables
What is the first thing people think of when they decide to start eating healthy? Getting more fruits and vegetables into their daily diet of course! I thought we’d start here for that reason … Also, fruits and veggies at Walmart are pretty easy as long as we are okay with compromise on the issue […]
Real Food at Walmart – The Dairy Section
The Walmart dairy section on first glance looks like it’s got it’s act together, organic wise. After all they have a lot of organic labels here, Horizon being the most prominent one. Horizon’s parent company Dean Foods has a strong partnership with Walmart. Thus they are stocked in a big way. All isn’t peachy-keen though in […]
Real Food at Walmart – The Nature of Compromise
This series has been quite the whirlwind ride for me … I’ve learned a lot from my exploration of Walmart’s grocery shelves and from sharing my findings with all of you. Mostly I’ve confirmed what I had expected from my first post, that real food shopping at Walmart would involve a lot of compromise. Those […]
The Pantry Principle – How to maintain your pantry – Part 5
Now that your pantry is building momentum it’s important to keep it rolling in the right direction. Mainly I’m thinking of problems with: Things going bad before they are used. Running low on things you thought you had a lot of. So let’s consider each problem individually.
Straight Talk
White Country Gravy
This is the simplest gravy ever! Southern kitchens particulary here in Texas serve this white country gravy up with just about everything. Most commonly you’ll see it served with Chicken Fried Steak, Chicken Fried Chicken, oh, er, or just about anything fried ;-). It’s delicious on mashed potatoes or rice. Gives pretty much everything a little added kick.
Whey – Miss Muffet’s Favorite!
When you were a kid, did you ever wonder what Miss Muffet was eating? Little Miss MuffetSat on a tuffet,Eating her curds and whey;Along came a spider,Who sat down beside herAnd frightened Miss Muffet away. I know I did … sure didn’t sound like anything I had ever heard of. So I did a little […]
Chicken Cacciatore Soup
I’ve been on a soup jag lately. Must be the end of winter here in Texas that brought it on. I love soup and make it through the summer months but it is so much more delicious in the wintertime! This soup is one I make once or twice a month for a little variation […]
Crockpot Baked Apples
Nothing says fall than the smell of apples and cinnamon. It makes the entire house smell warm and comforting. These ‘baked’ apples are simple, throw it all in the crock pot and have a fresh warm dessert ready at dinnertime. Served with vanilla ice cream, it’s like apple pie with out the crust. This recipe […]
Real Food Economics 101: Not Stressing a “Not 100% Real Food Diet”
Realizing that we need to change the way we eat is stressful. Realizing that the changes needed look to be very expensive can cause a lot of anxiety! What’s the antidote for this stress? Realizing that a perfect diet isn’t possible and that a mostly good diet can be very affordable!
Which Potato Do You Buy?
Let’s talk potatoes shall we? The lowly dietary staple that everyone and his brother runs down as the unhealthiest thing ever. So simple, so ordinary we use it to describe lazy people ( couch potatoes ) or plain eaters ( meat and potato kinda-guy ). That potato. Let’s just say straight out of the gate […]
Wholesome Ingredients
Grassfed Beef is Best
Practically everyone eats beef, except vegetarians :-). Most of us have very little idea of how that beef was raised. What I’ve found researching this post is that there is even more confusion than I expected. Keep clearly in mind though that cows are fed and brought to slaughter very differently now than they were […]
Eat More Eggs – Easy to Make Affordable Nutrition
There is nothing more down-home delicious than a breakfast of eggs. Just picture it: Think of Granny’s house in the fifties. Imagine it’s early in the morning and the kids are not up yet. But Granny is and she’s getting breakfast ready. Is it cold cereal? Is it granola? Is it even yogurt or a […]
Raw Milk Goodness
Grandma most likely got her milk from the local dairyman, or milk man. A couple of days a week she would leave a note on the porch with any special instructions about extra cream, or more eggs. And magically milk, cream and eggs would appear on the porch. This milk most likely came from a […]
Local Honey is the Best Honey
We, all of us have a sweet tooth, don’t we? Nature has fitted us with a strong drive to find the sweet in our food. In nature, sweet flavors are a bit rare and hard to come by. But in our foodscape sweet taste is abundant and cheap. Not only the inexpensive granular sugar which […]