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Janet's Notebook

Tea Is For Terrific!

We love getting mail about what you all are cooking (and eating!) There are perennial favorites - casseroles, chili, homemade cookies - but occasionally we'll get notes about recipes that are delightfully unusual. Such was the case recently with Deanne...

Janet's Notebook

Start The Year Right with Hearty, Healthy Chili

Out with the old and in with the new? Not so fast! Instead, why not resolve to honor the old in new ways? Growing up, January was known as "Soup Month" in my family. Easy on the wallet AND on...

Janet's Notebook

Recipes For A Lucky New Year

Well hello there, 2013... I didn't expect to see you so soon! The new year is almost here and there's no better time to gather together and share a few moments of good food and fellowship. We need it. We...

Janet's Notebook

Season’s Eatings: Celebrating Holiday Food Traditions

It all started with a simple question: What dish do you most look forward to over the holidays? We asked our Facebook friends and boy did you answer! From cornbread dressing and pigs in a blanket, to molasses cookies and...

Janet's Notebook

Cookie Traditions Old and New Shine for Holidays

It's cookie swap time again! And along with all of our family's holiday standards - peanut butter blossoms, sugar cookies, chocolate Christmas wreaths - I simply love tossing in new recipes each year for an extra pinch of holiday flare.Color...

Janet's Notebook

Impressive Desserts Make For Picture Perfect Holidays

The main course may make a meal, but let's be honest... isn't it the dessert that you're really waiting for? Well, you're not alone. Sweet tooths of the world unite, and enjoy this sweetest of all seasons. And while you're...

Janet's Notebook

Home Cooks Win BIG At World Food Championships

There's little in life more thrilling than watching a loved one succeed. My grandson is an aspiring taekwondo champ, and I swear I'm more nervous than he is when he competes! Well, following the recent World Food Championships in Las...

Janet's Notebook

Spreading the Joy: Fun Ways to Reinvent Thanksgiving Leftovers

Is everyone ready with your holiday eats? We have been stirring and simmering and roasting our way to what we hope is a most memorable of Thanksgiving meals! In fact, we love this time of year so much that we...

Janet's Notebook

Bake In A Little Time For Creativity This Holiday Season

The baking bonanza has begun! We're heating things up in the Test Kitchen and are nearing full-on bakery status. Cakes, pies, cookies... you name it! In fact, we're so consumed by the power of flour this time of year that...

Janet's Notebook

Cranberries Play Starring Role In Creative Holiday Eats

It's cranberry time again! And despite their cheerful color and bold flavor, they remain to many of us a once a year fruit. Well, who's ready to break the (cranberry) mould and start mixing things up? Have we ever got...

Janet's Notebook

Homemade Bread Warms Hearth and Soul

Occasionally I'll get asked if the Kitchen Crew gals have favorite types of food to prepare for our own families. Well, I know I'm supposed to be impartial - all cuisine, all ethnicities - but I'll admit I do have...

Janet's Notebook

Dip Into Fall Flavor With Gooey Caramel

It's food season all year 'round for us Kitchen Crew gals, but oh how we love when this time of year rolls around and EVERYONE seems to be whipping up new recipes and talking foodie finds! Comfort food is once...

Janet's Notebook

Perk Up Dinnertime with Coffee-Infused Desserts

On a chilly fall morning it's often the promise of a steamy cup of coffee alone that can pry me from under the warm covers. There's just something so fulfilling about the ritual - and the dark, rich flavor -...

Janet's Notebook

Back to Baking: Hot Meal Ideas for Cool Weather

Dear oven, how I've missed you! All summer we've been apart. I've been keeping things cool by tossing salads, grilling out and loading up the slow cooker, but you've never been far from my thoughts. There's really no substitute for...

Janet's Notebook

How Do We Love Pork? Let Us Count the Ways…

"I've got my menu planned for the next two weeks," smiles home cook Nikki Smith, "PORK on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! Boy that was easy." Nikki is one of the thousands of devoted pork lovers who...

Janet's Notebook

Falling for Satisfying Soups

There are so many reasons to love this time of year: cooler temperatures, chunky sweaters and trees ablaze in color. Perhaps most thrilling of all - at least to us comfort foodies - is the arrival of soup season!And if...

Janet's Notebook

Rise and Shine With Blue Ribbon Breakfast Recipes

Good morning, Just A Pinch-ers! Today is going to be great day. How do I know? Because a good breakfast leads to good times... and to cheery outlooks all around.Starting the day off right is as easy as pie. Well,...

Janet's Notebook

Strawberries, Brown Sugar Create Winning Dessert Combination

So much of what I love cooking today can be tied right back those early days spent in my mom's kitchen. She passed on to me her deep love for home cooking and an unfailing desire to make the world...

Janet's Notebook

Small Food, Big Flavor… Decadent Desserts Without All the Guilt!

Cupcakes are all the rage these days, but they surely aren't the only mini eats making waves. We have flipped for some truly sweet small bites lately, and the possibilities are only as limited as your imagination!Linda Dalton of Stoughton,...

Janet's Notebook

For the Love of Tomatoes: Creative, Garden-Fresh Recipes

You know how you sometimes hear folks say you can never have too much of a good thing? Well, my bet is they're talking about tomatoes! No matter how many plants we have each year, the Kitchen Crew and I...