I love mushrooms. Love them. But when it comes to portabella mushrooms—especially those that top out at 6 inches across—I find eating them a bit daunting. I’ve eaten too many portabella sandwiches at restaurants where the mushroom released so much liquid that it diluted the taste of all of the other ingredients and left the bread mushy and falling apart in my hand. It actually got to the point that if I went out to eat and the only vegetarian option was a portabella sandw

Of course, sweet potatoes are delicious with butter and brown sugar but other than Thanksgiving (and the leftovers for breakfast the next day), I rarely eat them that way. I prefer my sweet potatoes on the savory side. With a little kick. These twice-baked sweet potatoes get their kick from pepper jack cheese and caramelized onions. They’re filling but not heavy and I eat them as a vegetarian main dish. These potatoes also do well with a bit of added smokiness, so by all

For the first eight months of our marriage, T. Rex and I were separated. He was stationed in Kansas and I remained behind in Michigan working full-time and finishing my degree. When I did move to Kansas, the joy of finally being together was quickly overshadowed by one thing: poverty. While I can’t speak for now, in the late 1990s, low-ranking enlisted military members earned poverty-level wages. I didn’t have a job waiting for me and I had a degree that most companies fou

Turkey on the left & Veggie on the right...This also shows the size difference between bell peppers. You can get two servings from one very large pepper if you cut it lengthwise. Give me a stuffed pepper when I was a kid and my first instinct was to throw it across the room. This is not a condemnation of my mom’s cooking skills (she made them rarely) but there was just something about the combination of ground beef and tomato sauce shoved into a bitter green bell pepper th

The nightcap in question is Hot Buttered Rum. Sweet, warm, buttery, spicy...can you think of anything better to soothe the tired soul? I make this by the mug. Make as much or as little as you want. Just remember: it goes down smoothly so pace yourself. 1 heaping TBS (not packed) brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar) 1 TBS half-and-half 1 healthy shot of spiced rum 1 cup of boiling water 1 TBS butter (unsalted or salted--your choice--both would work) Grated nutmeg, cinnamon,