Did Somebody Say Meatball Subs?

Salad and Fish: Light Summer Fare

A filet of snapper and simple salad made with tomatoes, cucumber, olives, onion, and feta cheese make for a tasty dinner low in calories and high in flavor.

Ladling Out the Fun

The Food Pope found a refurbished 1950's kitchen and started ladling out the fun!

Cabbage as Side Dish

Cabbage is tasty, contains minimal calories, and makes an inexpensive side dish to enjoy with any meal.  Here, I'm sauteing Dan's home grown purple cabbage in olive oil.  Drizzled with balsamic or red wine vinegar enhances the flavor and health benefits!

Guest Blog: Brownies are a Girl's Best Friend!

My lovely wife Lindsay's guest blog shows how you can personalize an ordinary box brownie recipe and make it extraordinary!

When I was a teenager and would start to whine about wanting a snack, my Mom would often suggest that I go make a pan of brownies. Because of this, I learned to think of brownies as a quick, easy snack that was always available as long as you had the key ingredients on hand: a brownie mix, water, oil, and eggs.

I really enjoy baking, and lately have gotten caught up in the fancy, from-scratch recipes that are so abundant on Pinterest. But I still maintain these two truths about brownies:

1. There's nothing wrong with baked goods from a boxed mix

2. Brownie are easy to spruce up by mixing in whatever goodies appeal to you

I love to take a regular brownie mix, prepare it as directed, and add in peanut butter chips at the end, just before baking. I just bake for the same time suggested on the box and they come out wonderfully. I'm sure the mix-in options are endless - a few that come to mind are:

Chocolate chips

White chocolate chips

Toffee chips (Heath® bar pieces)

Chopped nuts

Pretzel pieces

Mini Reese's® Peanut Butter Cups

Chopped Andes® mint candies

Broken Oreo® pieces

Chopped up pieces of almost any type of candy bar

Have fun experimenting and please post a comment if you have any mix-in ideas to add!

-Lindsay