Romantic Homemade Pasta Sauce
Posted by Ari in Budget Gourmet, Featured Articles, Life, Main Dishes, My Recipes, Quick & Easy, Savory Recipes on May 5th, 2009 | 37 Comments
Few things can turn a simple pasta dinner into something spectacular like homemade pasta sauce. Saute diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil, add tomatoes, red wine vinegar and herbs, then toss it with your favorite noodles and dig in. With freshly grated Parmesan cheese you can’t ask for...
Spiced Quinoa Timbales with Avocado-Orange Spinach Salad
Posted by Ari in Balanced Eating, Food History, Main Dishes, Quick & Easy, Side Dishes, Work Lunches on Apr 13th, 2009 | 49 Comments
Passover is in full swing and if you’re anything like me you’re getting mighty creative with your menu this week. Anything derived from the five major grains, plus rice and beans, are still off limits… which is problematic when your favorite pastime is baking and you love eating pasta....
Cholula Cheese Bread
Easy Three Cheese Broccoli Calzones (Plus: My First How-To Video!)
Posted by Ari in Breads Made With Yeast, How To, Main Dishes, My Recipes, Work Lunches on Feb 18th, 2009 | 100 Comments
I always thought calzones were one of those sacred things that only professional bakers could make. Every time we ordered from our favorite brick oven pizzeria I always made sure to get one - plain cheese, spinach and cheese, or broccoli and cheese. Mmm mmm. I love dipping a warm calzone in marinara...
Homemade Tomato Soup & Open Faced Vegetable Melts (Plus: How to Bake with Yeast)
Posted by Ari in Balanced Eating, Breads Made With Yeast, How To, Main Dishes, My Recipes, Quick & Easy, Soups and Stews, Work Lunches on Feb 5th, 2009 | 111 Comments
Those of you who live in areas that see a lot of snow will understand when I say that sometimes a 10 minute drive to the market for a loaf of bread is so not worth it. Like last week, when Connecticut was being covered in sheets of snow and freezing rain, and I realized I’d forgotten to buy a...
How I Ate My Cake, and Lost Weight Too - Part 2
Posted by Ari in Balanced Eating, How To, Main Dishes, My Recipes, Quick & Easy on Jan 16th, 2009 | 81 Comments
When I said I was thinking of writing about how I’ve lost weight without giving up the cakes, cookies or other treats I share on this site, I received many emails asking if working out was part of my secret. I got the impression that folks were hoping exercise was not required, and on that front,...
How I Ate My Cake, and Lost Weight Too - Part 1
Posted by Ari in Balanced Eating, Budget Gourmet, How To, Life, Main Dishes, Work Lunches on Jan 5th, 2009 | 121 Comments
Sometimes there are questions that people ask you over and over… and over. For me, that question has been: How do you stay so skinny when you’re baking so many breads and other sweets in your kitchen? Usually this question comes up after I’ve taken a batch of muffins or cookies to...
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The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride By Daniel James Brown
It's not often that a history book will compel me to set all my novels aside, but "The Indifferent Stars Above" certainly did. Within the first few pages I was spellbound. I had to know how Sarah, a young woman newly married to her childhood sweetheart, would end up on top of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the dead of winter, starving and forced to do unspeakable things in order to survive.
"The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride" tells the story of the Donner Party from the perspective of newlyweds Sarah Graves and Jay Fosdick. In April of 1846 the couple joined Sarah's family as they journeyed west from Illinois to the promised land of California. (Read the rest of this review...)
