Wordless Wednesday: Green Tomatoes

We had our first frost the other day and had to pick every last tomato from the vines before it hit. Thankfully there were a few red ones (and red peppers), but lots of green ones as well. Anyone have a good recipe that uses up a lot of tomatoes?

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Make Your Own Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Homemade pumpkin spice latte Fall’s here, and pumpkins seem to have found their way not only onto our porch but into the kitchen as well. I’ve baked the requisite pumpkin bread (I will post about that soon!) and now it’s time for a true fall treat: pumpkin spice lattes. I don’t even buy pumpkin spice…

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Homemade Granola

  So I make my own crackers. What’s next, make my own granola? Why, yes. I have actually been making granola for a few years now, and find it much tastier, fresher, cheaper and just plain better than what I’ve found in the store. I’m working on a way to reduce the amount of oil in…

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Easy Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Easy pumpkin spice muffins It’s cold and damp outside, but not cold enough for the furnace to kick on. What’s an always-cold girl to do? Bake cupcakes! These are super easy and include one of my favorite fall flavors — pumpkin! They go great with pumpkin spice lattes, too. Pumpkin Spice Cupcake Recipe 1 box spice…

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Constructing a Birthday Cake

It’s birthday season here at Chez Mom. From November through February we celebrate a batch of birthdays, with another series of births in the spring. While I’m constantly trying to find the balance between work and being a mom, one thing I’ve decided that’s important to me is to make my kids’ (and sometimes husband’s) birthday cakes….

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Roast Chicken? It’s in the Bag.

It’s funny how when the entire family gets sick, your standards suddenly plummet. Showers and baths are way too labor intensive to manage, and cooking? Forget it. But as soon as I start feeling better, I get this overwhelming need to cook for my family again. But instead of our usual semi-vegetarian, mostly organic, clean…

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Easy Flour Tortilla Recipe

Easy homemade flour tortillas for a quick weeknight dinner. Full-time job, two kids, half marathon training…. I’m as busy as the next lady. So I often don’t know what’s for dinner on any given night –  but need to figure out something quick. When this happens, I often make tortillas and let the kids decide what…

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Visiting Michigan Railroad History in Tecumseh

Look! A train! Kids love trains. It’s no secret that mine do — whether it’s a Day out with Thomas the Tank Engine, catching a train ride at an amusement park, or admiring a painted sign (above), they’ve never met a train they didn’t want to ride. So when I saw that the Southern Michigan Railroad Society was having a…

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Easy Weeknight Chicken Fajitas

Top fajitas with sour cream, guacamole or fresh cilantro. Chicken fajitas can be a surprisingly easy weeknight meal — and I don’t mean by trekking out to your local Mexican restaurant. In about 20 minutes, you can be filling tortillas (a little longer if you make your own tortillas) with sizzling hot chicken and peppers and…

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An Evening at the Southside Works Pittsburgh

When was the last time you spent an evening with just one kid? I’ve spent time with my daughter, having tea with Hello Kitty and even traveling to LEGOLAND Florida, but time with my son has been sparse. We recently had a chance to change that, by way of a media tour of Pittshburgh. The tour included an evening…

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