healthy cooking from scratch

Old-Fashioned Oven Baked Apples Recipe (Easy & Healthy)

Old-Fashioned Baked Apples Recipe: Perfect Prep-Ahead Holiday Dessert, Easy and Delicious There’s nothing like the scent of oven baked apples cooking to make your home smell warm and cozy at the holidays. “Baked” apples are a ten-minute everyday breakfast treat in our home, thanks to the microwave. But when I’m making a lot of baked

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Healthy Microwave Baked Apples Recipe (Ready in 10 Minutes!)

Want a tummy-warming, healthy start to your day? These weekday-friendly microwave baked apples are ready in just ten minutes!

When I was growing up, each day began with a good breakfast. And breakfast always began with a serving of fruit. On chilly mornings, my favorite breakfast fruit was my mother’s delicious homemade baked apples. Originally published Oct. 5, 2017; last updated October 2020. My mama baked apples the old-fashioned way, in the oven. Usually

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How To Make Steamed Vegetables In The Microwave (Fast & Easy Side Dish!)

Ready to try microwave-steaming vegetables? Broccoli, carrots, zucchini,or green beans are all great places to start.

How To Steam Veggies In The Microwave: Steaming vegetables in the microwave is about as easy as cooking gets. If you haven’t done this before – or if you wish your kids would eat more veggies – then microwave-steamed vegetables is a technique worth trying. Originally published May 10, 2016; last updated July 2020. Microwave-steamed

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Best Morning Oatmeal Recipes, Quick & Healthy

If you think oatmeal is too fussy for a quick weekday breakfast, think again. Read on for some of our best morning oatmeal recipes and fave oatmeal hacks.

Fall has finally come to our neck of the woods. Which means that Essie and I are back to eating oatmeal most mornings for breakfast. If you think oatmeal is too fussy for a quick weekday breakfast, think again. Not only is oatmeal extremely filling and satisfying, but it’s also super-healthy when you make it

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Easy Kitchen Organization Hacks You’ll Love

Does your kitchen work for you as well as it could? These budget-friendly kitchen organization hacks have revolutionized our kitchen; give them a try!

This past weekend my Junior Girl Scout completed her Simple Meals badge. One of the requirements for this 21st-century version of the Cooking badge was to tour a kitchen with a knowledgeable adult. Since she’s already spent a lot of time helping out in the kitchen, I had HER give ME a tour. She correctly

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The Ultimate Homemade Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

Have you ever had a homemade strawberry shortcake? If not, you’re in for a real treat when you try my dad's Ultimate Homemade Strawberry Shortcake recipe.

Have you ever had a homemade strawberry shortcake? If not, you’re in for a real treat when you try this recipe. Homemade strawberry shortcake is a quintessential summer treat throughout New England, where I grew up. So much so that many churches hold “strawberry suppers” at least once during the summer, as one of their

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Our Favorite Leftover Easter Ham Casserole

My family LOVES eating this one-dish meal for dinner the day after Easter. Give our leftover Easter ham casserole a try, and you'll see why.

The BEST thing to do with leftover Easter ham: Does your family eat ham for Easter dinner? Mine ALWAYS does. That’s because my favorite part of Easter dinner ham is all the yummy things you can do with the leftovers – yummy fried rice, the hash we all love, and especially Ham Casserole. When I

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Must-Have Kitchen Gadgets for Busy Parents

At under $25 each, these must-have kitchen gadgets will save you time AND money, while helping you prep healthy home-cooked meals for your family.

Mamas (and daddies) who spend time in the kitchen, have you put together your holiday gift lists yet? These ten must-have kitchen gadgets should be on your list. They are game-changers, saving you time AND money while making food prep with little helpers more efficient. I’ve raved about several items on this list in other

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Yummy Summer Breakfast Parfait

Essie is the one who put the "yummy" in my Yummy Summer Breakfast Parfait recipe. With fresh berries at their peak, you've got to give this recipe a try.

I’ll admit it. The name Yummy Summer Breakfast Parfait is a blatant attempt to follow my long-standing rule of giving foods appealing names. A recent scientific study at Stanford confirmed my practice: People are more likely to try strange foods with appealing names. But like other recipe names I’ve bestowed, it’s also based in reality.

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Comfort Food to Warm Your Winter

It’s winter in the northern hemisphere, which is where most of you live, dear readers. Are you hibernating? Or are you out hunting for some comfort food? I recently stumbled across a collection of super-simple slow cooker recipes gathered for the New Year. As I scanned the pictures and titles, I could feel myself getting

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Need Comfort Food Fast? Try Kitchen-Sink Soup

Need a quick dinner, want something healthy, and craving comfort food? Kitchen-sink soup is a fast, easy, and yummy answer to all three of these.

This Quick and Easy Dinner Recipe is the Ultimate in Easy Soup Recipes: As in, “everything but the kitchen sink soup.” In other words, this is another super-flexible recipe that can help clear out your fridge and eat up your leftovers. Throw together a round of these on the side, and you’ve got dinner on

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Winter Squash Made Easy: How To Cook Winter Squash in Less Time

Need a quick, healthy side dish? Want something that Baby can easily eat with the rest of the family? Then learn this hack for microwaving winter squash!

Most of the time, when I think of “hacks,” I think of the make-your-life-easier tips and tricks to which this website is devoted. But when I see all the winter squash and fresh pumpkins that are now front-and-center in the produce displays at supermarkets and farmer’s markets, the last thing I want to think about

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