Author: Tammy Litke

Looking for an ethnic German flavor for your Sunday Dinners without having to board an airplane? Try these 15 traditional German recipes that I found and picked for my Foodie collection.  All of them are similar to recipes I grew up on.  The flavor pallet curated among them is delicious and I feel like I’m kind of an expert on the subject , because when both your parents emigrate from Germany, you eat a whole lot of German food for Sunday dinner!

If you’re looking for an indoor activity to do with the kids in the DFW area of Texas, then SEA LIFE Aquarium at Grapevine Mills Mall is a place to check out.  It’s a venue that everyone in the family will enjoy and it’s educational too!  With more than 5,000 sea creatures to view it’s an underwater adventure…where you don’t have to get wet!

I spent many a weekend pouring over the comic strips when I was younger, and PEANUTS was always a favorite one to read.  The kids were fun, but my favorites were always the ones that featured Woodstock and Snoopy. 

Likewise every fall we couldn’t wait for the evening that “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” was on TV.  It was a big deal and without a VCR (oy, I’m dating myself!) to tape it, you had to watch it while it was on or you’d miss it!

And now I’m so excited that Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang are back!

I just had the chance to read an advanced copy of beloved food writer Leah Eskin‘s forthcoming book SLICES OF LIFE: A Food Writer Cooks Through Many a Conundrum (Running Press, April 2014).

For a decade now Leah has contributed her everyday chronicles with accompanying recipes to her syndicated column, “Home on the Range” in the Chicago Tribune, and now readers can enjoy a collection of those columns covering everything from her early married days to parenting adolescents—and all the challenges and surprises in between.

My family is crazy about pasta and we eat it a lot.  A lot, a lot.  So I’m always trying to find new ways to switch it up besides the regular red or white sauce.  After making this Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta the other day, it is now one of our favorites.  The grown up flavor profile of the cordon bleu has adults appreciating it, but it’s kid friendly too.

Oh yes, I do have summer on the brain!  I’m perfecting my cool, refreshing recipes for the hot Texas summer.  After getting 2 lbs. of fresh strawberries on sale at the grocery store the other day, I was in full on experimental mode in the kitchen.  I wanted to create a dessert that would finish off a grill out that would be light but still pack a flavor punch.  I think I achieved that, I even made a ‘kid’ version by freezing it in plastic cups for ice pops.

I’m so ready for winter to be over and the warmer days of spring and the hot days of summer to arrive.  Fresh veggies call my name and cucumbers scream the loudest. 

This cool, light, refreshing spring/summer salad takes little work to prepare so you can make it in no time at all.  It’s easy to throw together for a potluck or grill out.

Over the past year and a half our daughter had been having digestion issues which we tried to treat with Dr. Google.  When we couldn’t pin point the problem of her queasy stomach we did the good parental thing and took her to the doctor.  After some poking, prodding and testing it was concluded that she had issues with certain foods and stress, and her doctor thought she should do some diet changes as well as take probiotics to help her digestive system balance.

Most frequent travelers have a list of items that they never leave home without. I always have a full charge on my iPad and a number of books to read, but really if I can, I take the chance to sleep on the plane.  So you can bet that a travel pillow is on the top of my list of things to take with me when I leave home.

I actually have quite a few travel pillows already—but I’m not adverse to trying a new one.  Especially if it’s named Airline Retail Conference’s Best Inflight Product.