…he just might ask you to marry him. At least that’s how it happened with us. Ok, now a marriage proposal may not come as a result of just any pancakes, but these were oatmeal pancakes. Oatmeal honey pancakes. Alright, so maybe that’s not entirely the reason that I got a ring, but my husband, Ed says he’s pretty sure these flapjacks definitely cinched the deal.
I spent years perfecting my homemade tomato sauce recipe using the “little bit of this, little bit of that” technique. To this day, I don’t know that I could write an actual recipe for it since it was a tad different each time. What was consistent with my sauce was the incessant tasting, tweaking, and babysitting it required. Despite how involved it was, it was always better than the jarred stuff.
All of those years spent honing my sauce now seem futile: I have found a new favorite that requires far fewer ingredients, zero babysitting time, and even more flavor than the sauce that I lovingly toiled over.
Let me just start out by saying that I don’t like banana things; by things, I mean “things” made from bananas. I like bananas straight from the peel or in smoothies, but that’s about it. When I eat banana things, there is almost always an artificial banana-y quality about it that my palate immediately rejects. My husband, Ed, doesn’t understand it. In addition to eating a banana every day–yes, EVERY DAY–he loves all things banana. This brings me to my story of the infamous banana bread and the recipe that made me a convert.
Smoothies are pretty popular in my house. Sometimes, it is much easier to drink your nutrition than to eat it. Take kale smoothies, for instance: kale on its own can be bitter and overpowering. On the other hand, mixed up in a blender with some fruits and coconut water, it is downright delicious–and nutritious. When my son, Everett, was young, we purchased our Vitamix blender so that we could maximize his veggie intake: green smoothies were served up daily. Now that my kiddo is in school all day, we have dialed it back to about three times per week.
Tra-di-tion….TRADITION! When pondering the concept of tradition, the first thing that pops into my head is the opening number from Fiddler on the Roof…and now it’s stuck in my head for the rest of the day. But, on a more serious note, tradition is a big part of most families and family gatherings. Ask around and almost everyone will have a story to share about a noteworthy meal made by a special family member that evokes some kind of emotion and/or warm memories.
Many months ago, when I was first hatching the idea of starting a food blog, I sat with my friend in her kitchen. While our boys played together, we chatted and baked chocolate chip cookies for the kids. When I told her about my plan, we started talking at length about food. Typically, I could talk about food all day, but then she asked me a question that made me pause: “What is your go-to meal?”
