In a recent post I got you all revved up for your first trip to the grocery store to stock your kitchen…and then pulled the rug out from under you and told you to sit down and make a budget to go along with your list. The point was, taking a huge list to the store for your first shopping trip will lead to trouble. Imagine getting to the checkout lane and realizing that you have … [Read more...]

There are four possible reasons you’re reading this post. In the first case, you’re my Mom (Hi Mom!) and you’ve been a faithful reader of everything I’ve put on my blogs. But that only covers one reader, so if the “blog read” count stays at one I’ll know who was visiting… In the other three cases you’re either: Newly out on your own and need to stock a brand new … [Read more...]

As a kid growing up in Illinois, my Mom had a very limited spice rack. In fact, I remember salt, pepper, garlic salt, and onion salt. There must’ve been some spices she used for making pies because we made hundreds of apple pies over a couple weekends every year…but I don’t ever remember seeing them. I’ll save the stories of pie baking for another day, because today I wanted to … [Read more...]