Whether you or your kids knock these back for breakfast, eat them to prevent a mid-afternoon crash or indulge as easy evening snacks during an after-dinner walk or before bedtime, this crunchy granola bar recipe (that’s chewy on the inside) is a healthy, protein-packed snack. I don’t have kids with peanut allergies, so I can’t…
Making bread without yeast or a scale: sourdough Dutch oven bread
Everyone’s food decisions during what will someday be known as The Pandemic of 2020 are wildly different. While some are doing takeout and delivery, others are trying to make as much from scratch as possible. We fall into the latter camp. Partly because it’s cheaper and we’re currently a one-income family and partly because the…
How to feed sourdough starter (without a scale)
As I write this (on May 12, 2020), it’s been 60 days since we started sheltering in place, practising physical distancing and pivoting our entire life as a family to do our best to keep everyone sane, happy, educated and fed. Make that well-fed. Despite saying I would “NEVER” try making sourdough bread, I’ve proven…
Sourdough discard recipes: a dupe for “Morning Rounds”
When my Quarantine Cooking adventures began in mid-March, we wanted to try to make as much as possible from scratch. This was in part because things like bread were cleared from shelves in those early days when supply wasn’t meeting demand as well as it is now, but also because it meant fewer hands in…
Lemon buttermilk cake with lemon whipped cream
Here’s what I’m not going to do here: weave some magical story about how this lemon buttermilk cake is a piece of my soul and why its lemon whipped cream topping will transform your life, taking 17 swipes to get to the recipe. No. The only part of this recipe that has any personal significance…
Fun things to do at home for kids
Here we are in our new normal. And it’s no less weird than it was three weeks ago. Hopefully, self-isolation is temporary and we only have to endure 24/7 family time for a couple more months. Like my cousin recently said to me during a Messenger chat: “Families are not meant to spend this much…
Quarantine cooking: easy family meals
I feel like it’s important to preface this post with the following: I get that spending extra time cooking and baking right now may not be possible for your quarantine situation. You might be working full-time from home while trying to watch your kids; you might be an essential worker on the front lines of…
How to layer a lasagna: an easy, no-nonsense, step-by-step guide & recipe
It didn’t take a pandemic to turn us into pasta lovers — we’ve almost always had Pasta Mondays in our house. But I have played with new ingredients while we’ve been living the quarantine life, and as part of my commitment to provide you with easy-to-make recipes while we’re in this new normal, I wanted…
How to make brown sugar
Are you doing some “quarantine cooking” too? And realize you need to figure out how to make brown sugar? You’ve come to the right place. This brown sugar recipe will take you no time at all. Promise. ********** Look, I know I’m not really known for sharing recipes here — though I have shared a…
Free homeschooling resources & a kid-friendly schedule during COVID-19
I don’t know about you, but I never signed up for homeschooling. In fact, I proactively explored a teaching career by test-driving it for a year in South Korea as an ESL teacher. A year was enough and I went home knowing it wasn’t for me. But here we are. Like many of you, I’m…