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Food, Home & Garden

Recipes in celebration of Mother's Day (05/12/13)
Mother's Day is always a very special day for women all across America. Children pamper and honor their mothers on this day set aside to pay special recognition. My mother, Marilyn Kinsey cooked for the six of us children easily with no effort at all. She could make anything out of nothing and stretch food like no other person I knew. We worked hard, ate well, and enjoyed meals together...

Knives: A chef's essential tools (05/12/13)
As British food historian Bee Wilson observes in her recent book, "Technology in the kitchen has remained a matter of life and death." As she points out, the two basic processes of cooking--slicing and heating--are inherently dangerous. "Kitchens are places of violence," Wilson explains. ...

FDA will investigate added caffeine in foods (05/05/13)
WASHINGTON -- For people seeking an energy boost, companies are increasing their offerings of foods with added caffeine. A new caffeinated gum may have gone too far. The Food and Drug Administration said Monday it will investigate the safety of added caffeine and its effects on children and adolescents. ...

Recipes in honor of grandmother (05/05/13)
My grandmother, Connie Hoyt Kinsey was born on this date in 1891. I have so many memories of her and her house, but most of my memories involve food. She made these out-of-this-world noodles which were a favorite of all the grandchildren. She used the egg yolks in the noodles, so with the egg whites, there was always a tall, fresh-baked angel food cake with maraschino cherry icing. It was absolutely wonderful...

Whole-wheat pasta redeemed by adding chard and cheese (05/05/13)
Editor's note: Sara Moulton was executive chef at Gourmet magazine for nearly 25 years, and spent a decade hosting several Food Network shows. She currently stars in public television's "Sara's Weeknight Meals" and has written three cookbooks, including "Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners."...

Recipes to fulfill your poke cake craving (04/28/13)
At the Senior Center we served an old favorite for our St. Patrick's Day dessert: Poke Cake. We did lime poke cake and it was so pretty on the tray sprinkled with green sugar on top. That dessert started a conversation about poke cakes and desserts we have not made in a long time. ...

Protecting your lawn from pesky weeds (04/28/13)
If you have been traveling through neighborhoods this spring, I am sure you have noticed all the bright purple flowers and light green matted weeds in most of the lawns. These weeds have been the bane of many a lawn owner this spring. The purple flower weed is henbit, and the green matted weed, which has a small white flower, is chickweed. If left unchecked, they can grow vigorously and choke out wanted grass...

Sunday school reveals delicious recipe (04/21/13)
Jackie Otto and I are in the same Sunday school class, and recently she made Crème Brulee French toast for a Sunday school brunch our class hosted. After the brunch, several people wanted the recipe, so I talked her into giving me the recipe to include into this column so everyone could have it. I hope you enjoy it as much as our class did...

Southern chefs looking north for inspiration (04/21/13)
The South's love affair with fried chicken, collard greens, gumbo and biscuits is being challenged -- and changed -- by an unlikely influence. The North. This may seem strange -- or even heretical -- until you consider Southern food always has been a confluence of cultures, an amalgamation of its African, European and Native American locals. It just happens this time around it's the North that is infusing its ideas into the culinary mix...

A few recipes shared the old-fashioned way (04/14/13)
By now you know how much I enjoy getting mail from you, the readers of this column. During the past several months, I have been asking for you to send in mail and share recipes with other readers. While the whole time, there were four pieces of mail sitting in my small mailbox at the Southeast Missourian...

A wine deserving of the Pope's title (04/14/13)
The world has a new pope, as announced recently by white smoke emanating from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. [As they say at the Vatican--loosely translated--"white means pope; black means nope."] Since the announcement, speculation has run rampant regarding every attribute of the new pontiff, except one. ...

Recipes sent in from readers like you everywhere (04/07/13)
I love it when I have pieces of reader mail, and this week I have several pieces. It is always fun to see where mail comes from and what readers are wanting to pass along. Enjoy all of today's recipes and maybe they will find their way into your "favorite recipe" file...

Pork tenderloin with rhubarb sauce (04/07/13)
When I informed The Husband that I was going to make pork with a rhubarb sauce, he dismissed the idea out of hand. He does not like sweet in his savory. I tried to explain [as I have a thousand times before] that there's a good reason why any number of classic dishes team up meat and fruit, including duck a l'orange, foie gras with apples, and pork with prunes. Fruit contains acid as well as sugar, and acid has a winning way of cutting through the fatty richness of duck, pork and brisket...

An Easter recipe that tells Christ's story (03/31/13)
I have been asked several times this week about the resurrection cookie recipe, and wish I would have shared it with you last week. But maybe you can clip it out of this paper and plan to make it tonight, and then again next year. These two recipes were always a tradition as our children were growing up and they loved making them. The best thing is, while they are learning kitchen skills, they are also learning about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ...

Cool spring allows slower plant growth (03/31/13)
I am thinking spring. Of course, I have been thinking that thought for a month now, but Mother Nature has had other ideas. Hopefully by the time this column publishes, she will have changed her mind and started warming up our spring. Gardeners have been quizzing me about how this cold "spring" will affect what has already been planted, and how will it affect the normal progression of events for the remainder of the spring, so here is my take on what will be the effects of our recent weather on normal spring activities.. ...

A fun do-it-yourself Easter mint (03/24/13)
A little retro and a whole lot of fun, cream cheese mints are the perfect way to keep little hands busy during Easter dinner preparations. Make up the dough, then let the kids play around with different flavors and colors (or not, if you're trying to avoid pink and green hands). They also can form the mints in a variety of shapes. Consider making lemon mints, classic peppermints, or orange cream mints. You even could do mocha mints with coffee and chocolate extracts...

Start your Easter with a great breakfast (03/24/13)
Every family has their own traditions for Easter Resurrection Sunday. Some families attend sunrise services at church and others do a late morning service then brunch afterwards. This year is going to be very different for us, as we usually do our big meal in the later afternoon, but our son has to leave to go back to school. Our plans may be a little different for the meal, but getting to worship together will be the best part of he day...

Decorate for Easter with faux chocolate eggs (03/24/13)
Easter and April Fool's Day may be far apart in spirit, but they're jammed together on the calendar this year. Here's a quick and inexpensive craft project that can carry over from one to the other: faux chocolate eggs. Given my weakness for chocolate, I know I could never put out a bowl of pretty foil-wrapped chocolate eggs a week before Easter and expect them to last until the holiday. ...