This 15-minute macaroni and cheese is one of the school lunches I fall back on easily. I only make it once in a while, but it’s a kid favorite, the creamy cheese sauce keeping the pasta hot until lunchtime. Our day starts as the sun rises. Alarms blare. (To my neighbors, I apologize for Ole’s alarm. He leaves the windows open and then takes a good 20 minutes for the blaring to awaken him from his comatose state. It’s obnoxious, I know.) The smallest member of our household usually... more

This orzo pasta salad is loaded full of spring asparagus and artichokes. A bit of white wine vinegar and lemon juice make this the perfect salad for an early season picnic or a a springy Easter dinner. Easter is less than two weeks away. It seems like it’s been coming forever, though, as it is so late this year. I’m not complaining, though. Too often there is still snow on the ground when Easter rolls around here in Minnesota, and a snow-covered yard does not make for good Easter... more

A creamy macaroni and cheese recipe that will satisfy both young and old made with Kerrygold cheese and butter from grass-fed cows. This mac and cheese reheats beautifully the next day with just a bit of milk or cream stirred in. Ole pointed out a few weeks ago that our children were growing up with a different food experience than either one of us had. Things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, mac and cheese lunches and daily desserts are not the norm over here. Rather than growing up... more

I have been craving pasta lately. While doing one of our menus I suddenly realized I’d added three pasta dishes to a five-day span. Carb overload. I adjusted the menu to just one pasta meal, albeit begrudgingly, and left this gem on the menu, and I was not disappointed. It may have had something to do with the giant tub of blue cheese I had purchased to make a tomato salad for a potluck, to top my maple-glazed steak salad and for this pasta. Orecchiette means “little ear,” which... more

While this lemon chicken pasta salad could function as a side dish or a potluck item, we eat it on top of a bed of organic spring mix greens as a meal. It’s fantastic paired with garlic bread or pesto cheese bread as well or even just a few raw vegetables for dipping. It’s easy to make ahead, and it stores well in the fridge. As with any creamy pasta salad, it absorbs the moisture the longer it sits. If this bothers you, simple stir in a tablespoon of milk or two tablespoons of ranch... more

Our initial reason for gardening, before we even owned our own home, was to make pesto. We had always enjoyed pesto, and at the time with Ole in graduate school, buying the often expensive jar of it at the supermarket wasn’t something we were willing to do. And the “pesto pot” was born. The pesto pot is nothing more than a pot planted with Genovese basil and flat-leaf parsley. If you don’t have basil and parsley already growing in your garden, fear not. Parsley is cheap... more

It’s here. The last week of the summer is in full swing, and I am over my head in work and events and activities and last-minute to-do lists that just may very well not get done. Throw in a couple phone calls about the school book fair (remind me again why I am the chairperson for that) and three open houses for the kids, I’m starting to feel like summer is already gone. Still, determined to stretch those warm summer nights and days as long as possible, this pasta’s fresh taste... more