Pork has figured heavily in our recent Ben’s Day Wednesday meals, and this week was no exception. Though Phil and I were in Miami a few months ago, and we really wanted to try a Cuban sandwich while there, it somehow didn’t happen. This weekend, we tried a highly recommended place in Sunbury, but they…
Category: Chef Ben Cooks!
Spaghetti Tacos
If you or your children were pre-teens circa 2009, you will know iCarly. If you really know iCarly, you know the iCook episode where the gang whips up some spaghetti tacos. Due to this episode, Ben has been pushing hard for spaghetti tacos for years, to no avail. Well, this was Ben’s lucky day. I…
Don’t You Carrot All For Cake?
For Easter, Ben and I planned to make carrot cake. To be more specific, I’ve been craving carrot cake for about 20 years, and Ben agreed to assist me. For some reason, I just couldn’t face making it Saturday, so I got up early Sunday morning and took on the task alone. Ben conveniently woke…
PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Phil was away, visiting his parents, when we cooked up this week’s Ben’s Day Wednesday meal, so we decided to dedicate this post to Ben’s grandparents’ culinary specialties, and how our parents have influenced our cooking. If you were expecting mildly inappropriate content from our title, you’ll likely be disappointed. Ben’s grandparents raised us in…
When I Vont Cheese I Vont Cheese!
When my mom was young, she worked in the kitchen of a Mennonite retirement home, where the head cook was an older Conservative (plainer than Mennonite) woman. “Vernie” hailed from Holmes County, Ohio, and had the accent to prove it. One of my mom’s duties was cutting the cheese (which, I guess, explains Ben’s affinity…
Happy as a Clam (for not a lot of clams)
This week’s main dish was not only tasty, but also easy on the pocketbook. We used Katie Lee’s recipe for spaghetti with canned clams: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/katie-lee/spaghetti-with-canned-clams-9629262 and we found it to be pretty good, and definitely satisfying. Canned clams weighed in at $1.89 a can, so if you are looking for a quick, easy, economical pantry…
It’s a Long Way to Tipperary
…but my carbs are right there. To celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, Ben and I concocted an “Irish Breakfast Pizza” that took its inspiration from a delicious breakfast pizza served at Basil Wood Fired Kitchen and Lounge, and from a whole wheat vegan potato pizza recipe that we make sometimes when we are feeling virtuous. Of…
Condimentia – When your kid’s love of condiments drives you crazy
If it were up to Ben, we would frequently serve BBQ sauce as a main dish, with a side of ranch dressing. This week’s cooking adventure (like everything in life) was a compromise, but it did capitalize on our current condiment holdings. I wanted to try replicating a splendid chickpea dish we sampled at a…
Clark Mast, Wide Open!!!
My mother grew up as the youngest of ten children in an Old Order Amish household. Though my maternal grandparents lived well into their nineties, I, being nearly the youngest of my zillion first cousins, and living a distance away, never developed a very close relationship with my grandparents, and mostly know them through my…
Pair and Ink
Wait. What? That makes no sense! If you don’t speak Benglish, you will need this quick tutorial. Hand washing before eating is a basic principle that we still have to monitor and enforce. Once, when Ben had been doing an artject (art project) at school, and I was making him scrub up before dinner, I…