In which we turn our homemade ricotta into a spinach-and-ricotta-filled lasagna with ground beef and a homemade tomato sauce. The recipe and method of which was created and carried out by the four kids in our family with some help from their mom. “A light exists in spring Not present on the year At any other period.” -Emily Dickinson The beginning of spring marked more than just the vernal equinox in our house. New schedules are passed out during homeroom, and a new trimester calls for... more

It’s not a secret that I love avocados. I buy 4 or so a week on a regular basis, and then I add chunks of them to salads, I spread them on burgers and sandwiches, and I love them as guacamole and chips. It’s no surprise then that when looking for a twist on chicken salad, I naturally just used all the ingredients I’d put in guacamole into the chicken and topped it with the avocado slices. Start with a roasted chicken. You could make your own, or if you have a good deli near... more

We try to maintain active social lives, and even though the O6 are a busy family, we usually are able to cram all of our family commitments in and still have time for the occasional show at First Ave. , movie with the gang, or random gathering at a local dining establishment.  This was not the case last week.  We were invited to a happy hour at The Lyndale Tap House, a bar in Uptown Minneapolis which specializes in a classic Baltimore cuisine (yeah, I know, that sounds like an oxymoron) – pit... 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

Followers of this blog know that when it comes to fish, salmon is the family favorite.  It is readily available, affordable when purchased in bulk, and quite versatile as evidenced here, here and here.  We do salmon many different ways and they’re all quite tasty, but in my opinion, this method takes the cake. Smoked salmon.  The words get the kids running towards the table no matter what time it is.  We like it with bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, mixed with mayo for a lunchtime... more

A Philly cheesesteak isn’t something to mess with, so we didn’t. Instead, we created our own variety of steak sandwich, topped off with a mound of fresh grilled vegetables and a simple chipotle mayo for a bit of kick. It is the combination we keep coming back to. The vegetables balance the steak and cheese and serve to lighten things up a bit. I even topped mine with some iceberg we had sitting around taking up space to give a little crunch. For these we’re using leftover bacon-wrapped... more

Seeing as how my prior post about bacon wrapped tenderloin medallions glazed over a few steps, I will attempt to fill in these gaps for you.    Tenderloin went on sale again and this time for $4.99/lb – what a steal!  So, even though I had some of these goodies already prepared and waiting in the freezer, I decided to make some more.  The deal was just too good to pass up.  So this time around I was able to take more pictures to better illustrate the process of preparing these carnivorous... more