When the weather turns warm, I love to eat outside as often as possible. By preparing a main dish salad you can accomplish both of these goals. Any cooking that needs to be done can be done well ahead of time. Prepare the salad, refrigerate it and then it’s ready when you are. Cooking on the grill is another good way to move things outdoors.  Local caterer Gail Clarke enjoys making main dish salads and pasta dishes and finds they are a fit for many occasions. From tennis match luncheons to bridal showers they are versatile, easy to plan around and always a hit. She says that the sauce is most…

Spinach served in a salad gives lots of bang for the buck. It’s full of B vitamins and pairs well with so many toppings from meat to fruits and cheeses to nuts. To top that off it is good served with both savory and sweet dressings. Since folks like spinach raw and cooked it can be topped with either a warm or cold dressing.  This versatile vegetable brings many options to the table. Make almost any spinach salad, top it with chicken or salmon and you have a delightful main dish. I love meals like this because you can get in and out of the kitchen quickly and without even turning on the stove…

  Since she was a girl, Donna Cosola remembers being with extended family to enjoy Easter dinner. They often gathered at her grandparents house. Cosola recalls it as a special place with a weathervane on top of the garage and rhubarb and strawberries growing along the fence.  More special than the place were the occupants, her grandparents. Her grandfather, who had grown up in Germany and been a professional soccer player, loved spending time with Cosola and her sister. Her grandmother, a first grade school teacher, always had lots of arts and crafts for the girls to enjoy when they came over…

  I didn’t mean to shove that woman as I reached for the bag of chocolates. I really didn’t. It’s just that I was focused and it was the last bag of Dove dark chocolate with almonds that I saw on the shelf. They were on sale. What can I say. I apologized as I helped her up, but she still seemed a little cranky. If she understood that chocolate works as a wonder drug for some, including me, she might have been more forgiving.  Everyone would be diving for chocolate if they realized how important it is for good health. Chocolate is full of flavonoids which help protect against cardiovascular …

  Some things bear repeating; like these recipes that we ran last New Year and we’re running again now. The South is steeped in tradition and many of those traditions revolve around food. Two of the dishes that have been prepared through the years as we ring in the new year are Hoppin’ John and greens.  Hoppin' John is a black-eyed pea dish. The peas symbolize coins. A shiny dime, thrown into this black-eyed pea and rice dish, is said to bring good luck to the person who finds the dime in his serving. Of course, if the recipient bites down on the dime, then the good luck only comes to his …

  What’s better to make for your family and share with others than delicious holiday cookies? Jackie Peel enjoys being in the kitchen and brings her cooking talents to life during the holidays. She says she especially likes the tastes and scents of holiday spices and molasses coming from her kitchen.  There are many cookies she’s made through the years but her molasses cookies are some of her favorites. She says “They bring back memories of her dad having his tea with some good ole’ molasses,” as he called them. Try her recipe for these soft, chewy cookies to bring the scents and tastes of …

  Pumpkins are here and ready to enjoy. They are fun to decorate with during the autumn months but they’re also good to eat. You can use fresh cooking pumpkins, bake them and scoop out the pulp or, like I do, take the easy way out and use canned pumpkins for my baking needs.  Here are some new pumpkin ideas for this year. The next time you bake a pumpkin pie try using a gingersnap crust for it instead of the traditional flour crust. If you have an ice cream maker, enjoy some pumpkin ice cream.  Two of my favorite ways to serve pumpkin are a pumpkin dip that is served with gingersnaps and in …

Now that the kids are back in school, it’s time to figure out what they should eat while they’re there. Of course, there’s lunch every day but what about a snack? I like to have a snack during the course of my busy day and our children do as well. Why not have them be part of the act by having them help prepare the snack they’re going to take? They may be more interested in eating what you send when they’ve had a hand in making it.  You can’t beat peanut butter (unless you’re allergic to it!) Let your child make half a PB or PB&J sandwich. OR, have them cut the sandwich into shapes with a …

Carol Rogers and her husband Clint have made their home here in Peachtree Corners for the last 29 years. They are the original owners of their home and can think of no place else they’d rather live. Rogers loves her many friends and her neighborhood. She remarked that “I love all of the woods and the wildlife we get to see.” She says her son CJ loved playing in the woods behind their house when he was a boy. Not only does Carol love the neighborhood, she loves to cook and one of her recipes that is most frequently requested is this carrot cake. Rogers commented that, “Whenever we get together…

Who doesn’t like brownies? Exactly...nobody. What’s not to like? They’re very quick and easy to make and they’re chocolate. End of story. Well, not completely the end of the story. You may be thinking brownies aren’t that quick to make but (true confessions here) I’m talking about making them from a mix.  I have made brownies from scratch and even though I’m a cookbook author, I don’t like to waste time doing something that someone else has made easy and tastes as good as my homemade variety. Hence, I use a brownie mix. If you prefer to make them from scratch, go for it. But I’m going with …

Eat your vegetables. We all know that’s important but it’s not always top on our list of priorities. This casserole, containing a variety of vegetables, is a great way to bring veggies to the table for everyone to enjoy. It’s also good because you can prepare it ahead of time, then add the topping and bake it when it’s time to get dinner going. Jean Martin and her husband John have lived in Peachtree Corners for the past 30 years. Martin says, “Since the day I moved here I’ve enjoyed the people I met. I love my neighborhood, which is large but doesn’t seem that way.” During those years she’s …

As we all know, there is no better recipe than one which is shared and passed down through family and friends. This recipe from Joan Van Laeke was shared with her by her sister who in turn received it from an Italian family friend whose family has been making it for a long time. Sounds like a winner to me. Van Laeke and her husband Mark have lived here in Peachtree Corners with their daughters Katie and Jenny for the past 12 years. They are a very active and sport loving family. The girls are involved in tennis, volleyball and soccer. With these and other activities you can imagine the …

MaryJo Howell and her husband, Ben, have lived here in Peachtree Corners since they married two years ago. Ben chose this area three years earlier because he loves the proximity to downtown Atlanta. MaryJo enjoys the frequent activities such as the farmers market and concerts held at nearby Thrasher Park.  One thing that they both enjoy are good, nutritious home cooked meals. As a busy 4th and 5th grade math teacher in Brookhaven, Howell has to plan her time well in order make cooking a priority. That’s one of the reasons this stuffed chicken dish is a frequent choice. Howell says that it …

There’s nothing better than the ripe, sweet summertime tomatoes available right now at roadside stands or your very own garden. I try to keep bacon and lettuce on hand just in case one of these tomatoes makes it’s way into my kitchen. That poor tomato will never make it ‘til dinnertime because it will be long gone into a BLT for lunch. If there’s no B available then it will be a LT (I’m not picky.) Add a little S&P, toast your bread, a little swipe of mayo and yum; life is good.   If you’d like to help your tomatoes possibly make it to the dinner table, try to control your solanum …

If you live here in the South or are just passing through and decide to add one, just one, recipe to your repertoire, I think it should be iced tea; aka-tea. In the South, tea means iced. It also usually means, sweet.  There are two keys to making great iced tea. Well, make that three. First, you must use boiling water to steep your tea. Nothing less will do.  Second, don’t steep you tea too long. You want to get the good flavor from your tea bags without sucking the life out of them. Technically what happens is that if you steep it too long, too many tannins are released from the tea, making…

Wendy Williams and her husband Lee, along with their three daughters have lived here in Peachtree Corners for almost 15 years. Their youngest daughter Elizabeth was 9 months old when they moved here and is now at the age that she enjoys having friends over, as do her older sisters, Alicia and Carol Ann. There are several things that they like for their mom to serve when friends come and one of those is her cheese grits.  Wendy grew up “Up North” as some folks say and her mother Joanne Franck did as well. William’s mom, spent most of her days in the North but for a short window of time lived …

Desserts come in plain or fancy. Often when planning a get together, we think we have to come up with something new and different. But wait. What about an ‘ole standby that is ever-faithful and sure to please? Ice cream. If the saying is true, we’re all screaming for it.  Of course, you can serve it plain and it’s good, but why not add a new twist to make your ice cream an even bigger hit. We’re going for star quality here.  Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches Ingredients: cookies, 2 per sandwichice cream, in rectangle cartons, if possibletoasted nutstoasted coconutsprinkles Ahead of time, bake …

Charlotte Mann is one of the few people you meet that grew up in and has stayed right here in the Atlanta area. Born and raised in Sandy Springs, she and her husband Frank have lived in Peachtree Corners for 20 years. Their children Beau and Avery, now both college graduates, grew up right here.  One thing Mann remembers about her life in Sandy Springs are the long summer days, her mom frequently having friends over to play bridge and her mom’s Patio Chicken Salad that usually came along with that event. Mann remembers thinking, “Good, mom’s having bridge club and making chicken salad. …

Suzanne Nelson and her husband Brad raised their family of five children right here in Peachtree Corners. As you can imagine, there was much time spent cooking lots of good food for the family and many friends. I remember fondly enjoying a loaf of Nelson’s homemade sour dough bread. Yum! The children have grown and gone, many of them now having children of their own. One of the things that they took along with them was the love of cooking. Nelson’s oldest daughter Emily shared the following recipe with her and it quickly became a new family favorite.  Quick and easy to prepare, this is a …

I’m not sure, but I think it’s against the law to go through an entire summer without eating watermelon. Keep that in mind as you do your grocery shopping.  Selecting Melons: The first step in getting a great melon is knowing how to pick it out. For cantaloupe, sniff  (yes, sniff) the stem end of melon. If it smells slightly of cantaloupe then it’s ripe. If there’s no sent then it’s not ripe, if there’s a strong sent then it’s over ripe. Watermelon: You can thump it of you want to, but the best method is to look at the flower end of the melon. There is a dot/spot on the end of every melon. …