My Top 5 Modern Cookbooks
I have a rather large cookbook collection, especially if you include all the digital cookbooks I have amassed for pennies in the last few years. While I have many that…
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Holiday Cookie Swap
I survived hosting my first holiday cookie swap! Whew … it was a whirlwind of getting the house cleaned up, decorations put up, and cookies baked. Oh, who am I…
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13 Kitchen Tools to Make Cooking Easier
Over the years, I’ve tried many kitchen gadgets and tools looking for ways to make dinner prep easier or quicker. Some have been awesome while others fell short. Here is…
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Why Family Meals are Important to Me
When I first launched Rooted in Foods in 2013, it was my way of combining my passions for genealogy and food history. Over the years I’ve shared family stories, details…
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To Be or Not to Be … Married!
This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. The week 5 challenge is “In the Census”. When I was a kid, it was hard…
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Food connects our generations, according to Rachael Ray!
I have been off work for a couple weeks recovering from carpal tunnel surgery, and have had more time than usual to watch my favorite morning TV shows. This week…
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Don’t split your chores, share them!
Good Morning America is a morning ritual for me. Sometimes I watch 15 minutes, sometimes I watch all two hours (if I’m home for the day!) This morning, they aired…
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4 Mouthwatering Food Blogs I Read Every Week
Food and history are my passions … and I love reading food blogs from around the world. The following four blogs are ones I go to over and over. Each,…
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5 Kitchen Gadgets that Will Make Cooking Easier
My friends ask me all the time what my favorite kitchen gadgets are. Gadgets have to really make sense and make my life easier for me to buy them. Sometimes,…
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Why I Love Paprika Recipe Manager
Ever since I started using a computer, I started using recipe management software. That was a long time ago … and that first software is long gone! When I began blogging,…
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Table Manners: The Napkin
I’ve been teaching dinner and business etiquette for nearly two decades to high school and college students, and one of the things that surprises them them most is what you…
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5 Savory Oatmeal Recipes that will make you rethink Oats
I love oatmeal. I eat oatmeal nearly every morning … with butter, brown sugar and raisins. Sweet. But, just like we don’t all eat grits the same ways … we…
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The First Christmas Day
On December 20, 1815, the Kings Mountain Herald newspaper in Kings Mountain, North Carolina published the following story from the New York Press about the first Christmas day. It is…
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Christmas Granola Recipe
Every year at Christmas time, I try to give something homemade to my “mirror”, Steph. Steph and I exchange yummy goodies all year long, so it’s becoming a tad difficult to find…
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Cinnamon Roll Christmas Tree
Christmas morning is a madhouse … it certainly was when I was a kid and it still is now that I have a kid … and dogs! The last thing…
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The Story of Family
Between 2006 and 2011, we lost my mom’s parents and my dad. It seemed just as we were moving forward from the loss of one, we would lose another. I…
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Rene Carpenter, Mercury Seven Astronaut Wife
One of my character flaws as a hobby genealogists is my desire to learn everything I can about certain eras in history and the people who lived during them. I’m…
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Why all kids should create a family tree
When I was a junior in high school, my French teacher had us create a family tree. It was a fun assignment for someone like me … I was already…
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Memorial Day 2015
I wanted to share a few photos from the Memorial Day ceremony at Woodlawn Cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois. Woodlawn is our oldest cemetery and is where all of the founding…
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The Old Black Goat
Week 20 of the 52 ancestors challenge is themed “black sheep”. I come from a family of doctors, politicians, preachers, and a lot of farmers. I’ve not found a black…
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Kiss Me, I’m almost Irish
The week 11 theme for the 2015 52 Ancestors Challenge is “Luck of the Irish”. I don’t really have an ancestor that fits the theme … we’re of Scottish and…
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Walker Dog and Stormy Judy
Stormy Weather is an apropos theme for the Week 10 52 Ancestors Challenge. It’s March and, in southern Illinois, we would normally be headed into spring and well on our…
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Plowing Through Life
Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small gave us a new 52 Ancestors challenge for 2015. Each week, we have a different theme about which to write. It’s quite the challenge,…
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Fresh Start for a New Year
Yikes! I just noticed the new 52 Ancestors challenge that Amy Johnson Crow gave us on her blog No Story Too Small … and I’m behind already! I love how she…
