I am married to the World's Greatest Mom. I know this because she has a coffee mug that says so. Her daughters continue to reaffirm this fact every year at Mother's Day by presenting her with more awards that proclaim her World's Greatest Mom. Therefore, it must be so. I know that most ......

  OK, show of hands. How many of you are taking my advice from last year and are growing your own herbs? For those of you who are, aren't you happy you do this? What could be better than the feeling you get when you read a recipe and it says, "Add 1 tablespoon fresh oregano," an......

  I was cruising the Internet the other day, looking for ideas and inspirations for this week's column, and I stumbled upon a website that touts "American Food Holidays." I don't know who decides these things, but I doubt the Web master made up the information. He gets it from somewh......

  The spinach is up! If you find yourself in Central Market anytime this week, stop by one of the fresh vegetable stands and see if it has early spinach. Because of the warm weather, a lot of the farms got a head start on their spinach crops, and now it is available from many of......

  Phyllis Pellman Good has created an empire out of The Old Country Store in Intercourse. She has gained a worldwide following, thanks to her excellent cookbooks, her website, Facebook, a very creative blog, tremendous word of mouth, and even an appearance on QVC. She and her hu......

The pasture, bleached and cold two weeks ago,
Begins to grow in the spring light and rain;
The new grass trembles under the wind's flow.
The flock, barn-weary, comes to it again,
New to the lambs, a place their mothers know,...

I have an all-time favorite Italian-style casserole dish, osso bucco. For me, this is comfort food. It is a rich, flavorful dish made with meaty veal shanks and traditional aromatics, and punched up with a wonderful chopped herb condiment called gremolata, made up of parsley, garlic and lemon ......

Pitchers and catchers report. These are my favorite four words in the English language, when strung together in February. These words mean "SPRING!" There are other indicators that spring is just around the corner. This weekend, I saw crocuses popping up all over town; the daffodil, tulip an......

  How do you use fresh vegetables this deep into winter without buying them shipped in from South America or China? Simple: Use root vegetables. Butternut and acorn squash, white and sweet potatoes, yams, turnips, carrots, beets and lots more. So many possibilities. Most ro......

  Let's think for a moment about guilty pleasures. You know what I'm talking about: extra-dark chocolate, Swedish fish, peanut-butter-filled pretzel nuggets, super-premium ice cream. Those are some of mine; I know you have yours. Oddly enough, one of my very favorite guilty......

One of the day-to-day dilemmas I face is choosing between making meals that are tasty, healthy, easy to prepare and interesting, or simply dashing off some run-of-the-mill baked chicken breasts and green beans. That's where the slow cooker comes in. This is a lifesaver for families on the go......

  I've written quite a bit lately about holiday traditions and the menus and foods we share with our family. I have one more, the one my wife and I have shared on past New Year's Eves. This is a simple supper, and it's one of my favorites. We make classic Maryland-style crab cak......

Monday, the day after Christmas, is Boxing Day. I had never heard of this. Growing up in an Orthodox Jewish home, I thought boxing was a sport, and that it happened on Friday nights. So when my wife tried to explain Boxing Day, I was more than a little perplexed. A holiday the day after......

  In the wonderful Broadway play, "Fiddler on the Roof," Tevye sings robustly about tradition. It resonates with me because the story line of "Fiddler" retells the story my grandparents lived, driven out of their village in Ukraine by Cossacks on horses in the middle of the nigh......

  Are you tired of turkey yet? Do you have a mostly picked-clean carcass in a plastic container or wrapped up in too much aluminum foil? Do you ever just get the last of the meat off the bird cage and then throw the rest away? What about the drumstick, thigh, wing or wishbo......

This week I'm thinking about Thanksgiving. Potatoes or stuffing? I'm pretty sure that the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags didn't have that debate. Potatoes weren't known in the Plymouth Colony, having only been discovered growing in the high mountains of South America, where the Incas ha......

Sage. It's the most beautiful plant in our herb garden. Its long, narrow, silvery-green leaves glisten like no other after a morning rain, as it stands up taller than the rest of the garden herbs. And its purpley-pink flowers are a focal point of the garden when they come out in late spri......

  It's Sunday afternoon. There's a chill in the air. The chores are done, football games are on TV and the wife and kids are out shopping. What to do? I think I'll make a big pot of soup. I'll use up whatever is left over in the vegetable garden, which we mostly pulled up y......

If there is one event in Lancaster County that is absolutely not to be missed, it is the Harvest Days Festival at Landis Valley Museum, going on next Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8 and 9. The museum, at Kissel Hill and Landis Valley roads, just west of Oregon Pike, will feature more than 80 volun......

  Recently a friend handed me a small brown paper bag. He said that he had just dug these up in his garden, and wanted to know what to do with them. Filled with the dread of a challenge I couldn't live up to, I peeked into the bag expecting I don't know what — maybe morels......

  The foundation of a great kitchen is the tools and supplies on hand. This includes knives, pots and pans, and condiments — salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise — the basic ingredients you use regularly. This includes, of course, herbs and spic......

  I just didn't think I could be surprised by a bowl of pasta and tomato sauce. I've been cooking for more than 50 years, and I was pretty sure I had seen about every variation on pasta and tomatoes that was worth tasting, and especially simple dishes that could be prepared quic......

  Sometimes — like right now — it's simply too hot to cook. What we're hoping for is a break in the heat, perhaps a day of soaking rain, a couple of pleasant hours to get outside and do the yardwork, then a big salad and a tall, cool drink for supper, and a terrific ......

  Have you ever had a meal that stayed with you? And stayed and stayed and stayed? I had one of those, and I want to share the experience as best I can. To do this, close your eyes and travel with me to The 1829 House, a wonderful old inn — it's as old as its name, and was......

Saturday mornings in downtown Lancaster are magical. The sun is up, but the heat of the day hasn't yet assumed its place in our consciousness. The streets and sidewalks are alive but not yet crowded. There is a gentle breeze rolling down Prince Street. At 7, I step into the alley in front of......

 
"There's 104 days of summer vacation,
And school comes along just to end it.
So the annual problem for our generation,
Is finding a good way to spend it!"
—"Phineas and Ferb," The Disney Channel If......

  Out in the backyard garden, the sugar peas are as tall as I am, and we're picking like crazy. They are the result of a grand experiment of three or four years ago, when the girls indicated that they wanted some investment in the family garden. They chose peas for several reaso......

  John wore a suit to work every day. Right after high school, he had gotten a job as an office boy and went to college at night. He ended up in sales, working in buildings full of offices five days a week for the next 40 years. He married at 22, was a father at 24 and had ......

I have a weakness for cold pasta salads. The really cool thing about cold pasta salads is that there are so many different pastas, veggies and salad dressings that one can literally invent a delicious cold pasta salad on the spur of the moment. Simply throw together your favorites, or boil u......

Strolling through Central Market the other day, I noticed a common thing in almost every fruit and vegetable stand —the fresh, locally grown vegetables are arriving. Rhubarb, spinach, scallions and spring onions, watercress and other herbs are beginning to appear at most of the farm stands,......

Spring means something different to each of us. It means warmer days (allegedly). It means lawns are beginning to come back. It means crocuses and daffodils and tulips and hyacinth. And azaleas and rhododendrons and lilacs. It means the return of hummingbirds. It means digging and turning, weedin......

Spring has either arrived or is (reportedly) just around the corner, and with it comes outdoor activities. The vegetable garden is insistently calling my name, the kids' springtime activities are kicking into high gear, it's the busiest time of the year for me at work, and my wife has just t......

  There is a legend out west that the outlaw William Bonney — Billy the Kid —was so enamored of steamy bowls of spicy, hot chili that he always ate a bowl before he went out to do his evil deeds. In fact, there are so many legends about the origins and the history of......

  One of the funny, ironic things about cooking and gardening is that some of the best stuff you can grow in the summer and early autumn makes for wonderful eating, even though the produce you want is out of season. Soups and stews are staples in our home from January to spring.......

One of my favorite comfort foods, one I've loved since I was young, is rice pudding. Thick and creamy, the flavors of vanilla, cinnamon and a hint of lemon come rushing into my mind whenever someone even mentions the sweet dessert. But rice pudding is not the healthiest dessert you can make, c......

Selina Man, owner of Café Chocolate of Lititz, calls it "the seduction meal." Your signature dish. The one you make when you want to impress that special someone. The one you serve the first time you meet your future in-laws. The one you bring out for the dinner party with your best fri......

  My daughters and I are gazing out the windows at 12 inches of snow burying the perennial garden, an inverted snow cone atop the birdbath and the sad, droopy carcasses of rose bushes weighed down by the snowstorm's leftovers. And there's more on the way. (Sigh.) Stuck inside on......

  Even though there's 3 inches of snow on the ground as I write this, it's still important to do whatever we can to cook with fresh and healthy ingredients. Today I'm making a salad. Not a traditional one, but rather a cold, main-dish pasta salad that's loaded with nutrition and......

  It's just a little tin box. You probably have one in your kitchen. But oh, the treasures inside. The box, adorned with homey images from a simpler time, is stuffed full of 3x5 index cards that Ellen got from her mother. On these cards — faded with age, occasionally ......

  Sunday is Boxing Day — the day after Christmas. Over the past month, starting from Thanksgiving, we've cooked and cooked; eaten and eaten; visited friends and family; taken casseroles to work, school, church and holiday parties; we've baked enough cookies, cakes and pies to l......

  Comfort food. Doesn't that phrase have a nice ring to it? We all know what it is, and for each of us it's different. What does comfort food mean to you? Meatloaf and mashed potatoes? Macaroni and cheese? Apple pie with vanilla ice cream? Mmm. Some foods can take us back t......

Something that has always been important to my family is that holiday traditions be continued and passed on from generation to generation. Coming right on the heels of Thanksgiving this year is Hannukah, a holiday we celebrate with braised chicken and vegetables-in-the-pot, applesauce and potato ......

  "Dad, when are you going to write about something kid-friendly?" my 11-year-old daughter asked, tired of what she calls "weird food." "Daddy, will you bake me a cake?" my 9-year-old requested, knowing her birthday is only a week away. "Honey, don't you think it's time to ......

  Pity the poor pumpkin. Unappreciated, disrespected, ignored, except at Halloween and Thanksgiving. They've been growing all summer, not looking much like pumpkins, but now they're in season and adorning fields all over Lancaster County, reminding us that fall is upon us. Ridin......

  Friday afternoon. I just arrived home from work. Today, I'm the chauffeur — one daughter to swim practice, the other to her voice lesson, I've got to make dinner and we won't shop for groceries until Sunday. A quick look and I discover some unfinished broccoli in the vegetabl......

  I've got to own up to a soft spot for Lancaster County's incredible bounty of fall fruits. The autumn season presents one of nature's greatest gifts, one of literally biblical proportions, the apple. I just love biting into a big, fresh, crisp and juicy apple picked at the mom......

  We're beginning to feel the chill of fall in the air. So does that mean the end of our wonderful bounty of fresh-picked produce? Of course not! There are crops that are coming into season now, like hard squashes and pumpkins, and fall spinach and chard, but let's not give up o......

Labor Day marks summer's last hurrah, which means celebrating with friends and family around the grill. So how about a chicken barbecue made entirely at home? For this special holiday feast — although I recommend doing this all the time — stick to Lancaster County's wonderful fre......

We are now deep into the dog days — the hottest, most sultry days of summer. These are the days when all we want to do is sit in the shade of the back porch, put our feet up, and relax with a cold something. So, what to do? A beer in a frosted mug, or a Mojito? OK, but not so good for ......

It's payoff time! Back in May, we turned and composted, planted and mulched; then we watered, fertilized, weeded, staked, pinched and watered some more. And now, the wait is over. Out in our gardens, peeking out amidst the towering green vines, are bountiful bunches of Beefsteaks; g......

I don't know about you, but summer is my favorite time of the year. I love the beach, the sun, the heat, the flowers, hummingbirds in my garden, the joyful noise of kids playing on the water slide in my neighbor's back yard. But one of the things I love best about summer is the abundance ......

If blueberries aren't the best tasting of the early-summer fruits, I don't know which are. They are an excellent source of vitamin C, dietary fiber and antioxidants, all at a mere 80 calories per cup. What other superfood can give you so much return for so few calories and at the same tim......

I went out to our backyard garden the other day to discover that my first zucchini of the season was ready for picking, and in this house, that means it's time for...comfort food, summer style. When I mention comfort food to the kids, they immediately think of macaroni and cheese. I like......

Rhubarb, red and tough. But cooked with sugar and spice, It will make you smile.Rhubarb. It's one of the most maligned and misunderstood vegetables in the garden. A showy, broad-leafed, and colorful addition to a home garden, it remains, nevertheless, a vegetab......

Your kids won't eat their vegetables? Mine wouldn't, either. What to do? The answer came to me in the form of a challenge. When I worked at the Epicure Market on South Beach, the cooks were challenged to come up with totally new dishes. I created a spinach dish with lots of garlic, a......

Welcome to Talking Fresh. Inspired by friends who have sampled my cooking and by my years working at a gourmet shop on South Beach, I started a blog, and now I've been invited to bring it to this space. I thought I'd begin by turning to one of my all-time favorite foods: strawberries. I d......