By Lauren Garaventa From the Editors: It’s the season when many of us cook at home more often, and a great time to learn more about new ingredients and kitchen staples. With this in mind, The Loop’s Caitlin Rothermel interviewed Lauren Garaventa (proprietor of The Ruby Brink) to find out more about the dos and…
By Marjorie Watkins with Suzanna Leigh While I was writing this column for The Loop, my son Steve, daughter Suzanna, and I got to talking about breakfasts we’ve eaten in other countries. Steve and I remembered a Japanese breakfast of hot rice with egg. The raw egg was put into a depression in the rice…
By Eva Deloach We love the foods of the fall time and want to highlight from time to time some of the not so-widely used ingredients to add to your own fall food home-cooked creations. This time around, it’s Black Buffalo barley. We brought this very ancient, naturally hull-less barley in to Minglement a long…
By Marj Watkins, as told to Suzanna Leigh “Oh Mom, venison again?!” When I was growing up during the depression, eating all of my meals at home, breakfast was usually oatmeal mush with sugar and milk. We didn’t look forward to it, but when you are hungry, you eat whatever is presented. If we didn’t…
By Claudia Hernandez Not much is better on a leisurely weekend afternoon than a snack of sharp cheese, good bread, and a homemade preserve. At once spicy, sweet, and tangy, this plays well not only on a cheese board, but also spread on roasted winter squash or a sandwich. This recipe for Autumn Plum Chutney…
By Marjorie Watkins When I was a little girl, almost 6 years old, I heard the grown-ups talking about the stocks falling, and I imagined the cows tripping and falling down. On Gramma Brunson’s farm, they had seven cows. All those cows fell down? Oh, that is sad! I hope someone helped them get up….
By Cynthia Sadurni Having lived most of my adult life in Mexico, I miss the tastes from home. Luckily, many of the ingredients have become more readily available in the United States. It has taken a bit of imagination, but it is not that hard to adapt well-loved recipes to come up with flavors that…
By Nichole Banducci In honor of Strawberry Festival, I wanted to share my favorite strawberry-filled baked treat. Rolled oats, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, strawberries, chia seeds, and lemon juice are the main heroes that make these bars delectable. The cool part is you can substitute your preferred flour, sugar, butter, or fruit filling to…
By Marjorie Watkins When we lived in Crete, there were little white churches scattered over the hills. Their doors were always unlocked and you could go in any time to say your prayers, although you might not find chairs to sit in. The priests were always tall. Greeks are not noted for being tall, but…
By Sandra Thylin I live in Montana. At the beginning of June, I drove to Spokane for my niece’s graduation. I was excited to hit up the Trader Joe’s because there isn’t one in Montana. My old roommate and I went on a snack run to stock up the mini-fridge, and one of the items…