Category: Featured

Tasty Tuesday: Pasta Please

Anita Stafford: Broccoli, Grape and Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is crunchy and full of healthy goodness. Not everyone loves broccoli, but I think this salad could change minds. Even a skeptic might be converted when the broccoli is tossed with all the red grapes, pasta, toasted pecans, bacon, and tangy dressing. READ MORE

Debbie Arnold: Grilled Vegetable Pasta Salad with Edamame

This salad is an adaptation of one I read about in Better Homes and Gardens. Since the garden is beginning to flourish with fresh summer vegetables, I decided to make use of those and create this salad to have for lunch recently. It’s great to make ahead and have on hand for a light lunch or dinner. I think you could easily add chicken or shrimp if you’d like although there’s plenty of protein already with the addition of edamame. READ MORE

Pat Downs: Pasta Primavera with Grilled Chicken

I do my Primavera a little differently. My husband loves corn so I use corn often in lieu of green peas. I also love the Pasta & Roni Angel Hair Pasta with Herbs. It contains just the right amount for the two of us. It will yield 4 servings after you mix all the other ingredients in. READ MORE

Amy Gramlich: Tallerine – Southern Family Favorite

If you love a good Southern dish ooing and gooing with cheese, you must try our tallerine – a longtime family favorite of my Arkansas family.

One of my fondest recurring activities while growing up was going over to my aunt and uncle’s house on Sunday evenings for tallerine. My Aunt Rosie made the best (and only) tallerine I had ever eaten. If you don’t care for processed cheeses like Velveeta, you may want to stay clear. But if you do like Velveeta, hold your appetite because you will want seconds. My whole family in Arkansas is about as southern as it gets. We know what’s good! READ MORE

Ricci Alexis: Creamy Chicken Spinach Mushroom Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes

For this recipe I was originally going to lighten it up and make it with zoodles but I forgot to grab some zucchini from the store and had half of a box of bow tie pasta in my pantry so that was that, regular pasta it was! I also love that the “sauce” you can eat alone, which I did when I ran out of noodles, HA!

The original recipe didn’t call for spinach but I love to throw spinach in pasta to kick up the nutritional value and make my food look prettier. Plus, just like in smoothies, you can’t really taste it. I tried throwing substituting kale for spinach but it just tastes a little too bitter for me. Do you like kale?? READ MORE

Riceland | Ricci Ellis

For those who don’t know, Riceland is a farmer-owned cooperative and is the world’s largest miller and marketer of rice! You can literally find Riceland products all over the world. Riceland was founded in 1921 and is still headquartered in Stuttgart Arkansas. Who knew?

Arkansas is the nations leading producer of rice and Riceland is a big part of that.

Check out Ricci’s trip to the Riceland headquarters. READ MORE…

EUREKA! A WEEKEND IN EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS | Gina Knuppenburg

by Gina Knuppenburg

For the last few years, Thom and I have been vacationing separately. For one reason or another it’s just been smarter and more convenient for us to head to Michigan either alone or together but on separate sides of the state; with him visiting his kids over on the east side and myself in western Michigan.

We did that again this year for ten days and while the time away from our normal routines was nice, it was time for us to spend some quality time together away from home and free of everyday stresses.

It wasn’t hard to choose a destination that met both our requirements for a romantic weekend getaway; a one-tank trip; romantic, quiet setting but with plenty of sight-seeing opportunities; affordable lodging; historical significance (yep, I am the nerd who loves to learn-even on vacay); and in the Natural State as there is still SO much to explore here in our adopted home state.

Eureka! Or, Eureka Springs to be more exact.

Click HERE to READ MORE about Thom and Gina’s sponsored getaway weekend in Eureka!

Preserving Summer, Part 2

RACHEL HOUGH: SQUASH JAM

This time of year is when the garden typically starts to explode. I am feverishly trying to get all of the harvest frozen, canned, or dehydrated. But this is also the time where I tend to make memories. If you’ve been following me for any amount of time you have heard me mention Grandma Polly (my husband’s grandmother). I credit her, and her mother for teaching me just about all I know about homesteading. Grandma is getting older, and doesn’t do as much in the kitchen, as a result I am blessed to be able to do her canning and preserving for her. Last year for her birthday I gifted her with her favorite Squash Jam. She eats it almost every morning with biscuits or toast. Last week she mentioned that she was almost out and hinted that she would like me to make some more. READ MORE

BRENDA EMBRY: WILD PLUM JELLY

This is the first year my dad was able beat the deer and birds to his wild plums and what a treat they were! After eating my fill, I decided that some wild plum jelly would be a good way to use up the rest of the fruit. READ MORE

RACHEL HOUGH: SLOW COOKER APPLESAUCE

If you are thinking to yourself, “I’m not ‘Susie Homemaker’ or ‘June Cleaver’, I don’t have time to make my own damn applesauce!”. You are wrong! It is literally apples, water, and a few hours in the crockpot. You can either put the applesauce in the refrigerator, or do like I do and hot water bath can it. I know where the it came from and what’s inside it and I am happy and proud to feed it to my family and friends. READ MORE

DEBBIE ARNOLD: SLOW COOKER TOMATO SAUCE

One way I like to preserve this fresh taste of summer is to make this very versatile tomato sauce. I keep the flavors simple so I can use it in multiple ways. It’s good as it is for a simple pasta, as a pizza sauce, or made into a more loaded bolognese.

While you can make this in a large soup pot on the stovetop, I think the flavor improves when it’s made in the slow cooker. Plus, it’s just so simple to do. I use whatever tomatoes I have on hand, but I do try to include some San Marzanos since they are true paste tomatoes. It’s not absolutely necessary, though. You’ll just have to take more time to reduce the liquid in the sauce. READ MORE

Potty Training Boot Camp | Jennifer Maune

by Jennifer Maune

I just finished Potty Training Boot Camp with my fourth child, this little super toddler. As we were going through the process, I was thinking back to when I potty trained my first child. Wow, we learned a lot during the process so I thought I would share the method we have found to be successful, along with a Free Printable Potty Training Sticker Chart.

I believe half of the learning is overcoming the fear of the unknown and half is learning the functionality of going to the potty. Also, if they go into this thinking it’s going to be fun, you can dissipate some of their fear. We use positive reinforcement and rewards to help instill good potty habits and to celebrate successes as well. As we are getting ready to get started with our 3 days of boot camp, I purchase their favorite things to use as a reward.

For Jennifer’s Potty Training Bootcamp and Printable Sticker Chart, click here.

Preserving Summer

KATHARINE TRAUGER: Get All You Can: Can All You Get

You put beans, salt, and boiling water into a jar, cap with a hot lid, set it in a pressure pan that has a couple of quarts of water in it, apply the lid and the pressure gauge, turn on the heat, wait a while, turn it off, take the jar out, and you are done. What could be easier? People do this all the time!

Yet it took us about 4000 years or so to figure it out. The idea of canning, itself, did not come about until the early 1800’s. Tin cans were first used in the U.S. in 1839. Mr. John Mason invented the canning jar in 1858. READ MORE

KATHARINE TRAUGER: Get All You Can – Can All You Get, Part 2

Now let’s consider the canning containers.

It’s not just the food; the jars must also be clean. Some mothers employ children for this chore because they think their own hands will not fit through the mouth of the jar. Actually, a wet, soapy, adult female hand will usually fit into a very warm jar. It is not a bad chore for a careful child, though. READ MORE

KATHARINE TRAUGER: Canning Failure and the Moral of the Story

Let’s talk a moment about canning failure. Although any canned food that fails to seal is acceptable if refrigerated and eaten within 3 days, undetected failure gives you food that is spoiled. It is unusable, offensive, and poison. READ MORE

For even more of Katharine’s canning tips visit her blog: Katharine Trauger

Drowning Out Insecurities

by Keisha McKinney

For most of our lives, we’ve shared some form of insecurity. Most of it was related to body image. Even as little girls, we were opinionated about what colors we would wear, when we were too old for ruffles, how big our purses were and what kinds of shoes we had on. When we got to middle school, our judgments began to wear names..name brands and we knew whether we were part of the haves or the have-nots based on the letters on our purse or the boots on our feet. Once we got to high school, cliques really began to form and the kids who “had it together” were divided by whether they were in athletics, cheered for the athletes or just sat in the stands. We got to our sophomore year and wheels began to define us, name brands resurfaced and which neighborhood you gathered in on a Friday night said whether you were a good kid or a bad one. Our self-image began to waffle and we never balanced that with the fact that we were “enough”.

For more of Keisha’s thoughts on drowning out insecurities, click here.

The Live Maine Lobsters that Almost Got Away | Delta Moxie

by Kellee Mayfield

Have you ever sent live lobsters to anyone as a gift?

Well, before you do, I recommend checking with your lobster-loving friend or loved one to consider how they feel about preparing the lobsters to the point where they are on the plate waiting for its pieces to be dipped into drawn butter.

The Lobster Guy’s website recommends alerting the recipient that a perishable package will be arriving on their delivery day. I discovered this is a great idea because I didn’t get the reaction I was expecting when I notified my aunt that lobsters were headed her way.

Find out what happened next in this hilarious story from Delta Moxie!

Red, White and Blue for Independence Day!

KEISHA McKINNEY: Oatmeal Blueberry Bread

I noticed last night that the bag of blueberries were getting a little mushy so when I woke up this morning with a sweet tooth, I went on the hunt for something that included blueberries and ingredients I might already have on hand. A quick Pinterest search got me several possibilities and I narrowed it down to the Oatmeal Blueberry Loaf from Betty Crocker. READ MORE

JENNIFER MAUNE: Casual Cookout Ideas

As we get into the summer months, I’m thinking about how to celebrate my husband for Father’s Day and what we are going to do for the Fourth of July. If you’ve been around here for long, you know we love festive parties and any reason to celebrate! We love spending time with family and friends and that typically involves sharing a meal together. I shared an elegant backyard barbecue with you a few weeks ago, and I’m excited to share these casual cookout ideas with you now…just in time for Father’s Day or your Independence Day celebrations. READ MORE

AMY GRAMLICH: Upside-Down Cupcakes

I had in mind to make something with berries for Fourth of July. There have been so many cute holiday ideas floating around on the link parties and on Pinterest that I was overwhelmed with what to make. While roaming around at the grocery store yesterday morning, I still wasn’t sure what I would make. Suddenly, a vision of that gorgeous iced-side down cupcake from Belly Rumbles popped in my head. Although I did not use the cake and icing recipe from the Belly Rumbles post, I was excited to use the upside down idea as my inspiration. READ MORE

DEBBIE ANROLD: Red White and Blue Blueberry and Beet Salad

This salad can easily sub in as a side dish for your picnics or barbecues. There’s no mayo or other dairy product that needs to be kept under refrigeration. You can wait until just before serving to garnish with the goat cheese crumbles if it’s a particularly hot day simply because they might “melt” into the salad.

Who am I kidding? It’s summer. In Arkansas. Of course, it’s hot! READ MORE

Hospitality Alive in Little Rock | Pat Downs

by Pat Downs of Sweet Yellow Cornbread

Hospitality is a generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. I tend to frequent places that go that extra mile on hospitality or just plain common courtesy. It takes less energy to be polite than it does to be harsh.

I have been stopping by the Walgreens Pharmacy located at Cantrell & Mississippi for many years. This store opens at 7:00 a.m. Often times I am at the door awaiting to be the first in. I love smaller scale stores because it is faster to grab morning snacks, cosmetics, etc. After my leg injury, it is worth for me to pay a little extra than to try and tackle a large department store.

My favorite part of stopping at this particular Walgreens is to visit with Callie Epperson. Callie is the definition of hospitality. READ MORE…