Winter in Wisconsin is the time of year for comfort food. When it is cold outside, bring me all the savory soups, rich casseroles, hearty sauces, and cheesy pasta dishes. Oooooohh, is your mouth watering yet? If only these homemade meals didn’t require spending hours in the kitchen! Enter my “cook once, eat twice” meal prep solution.

The great thing with this recipe is that you can leave it simple with the 3 ingredients (which are typically kitchen staples anyhow!), or you can customize it to your preferences by adding chocolate chips, vanilla extract, quick oats, etc.

Whether you make cookies from scratch, buy pre-made dough, go for Pillsbury, or just plain buy them ready-made, Christmas cookies are a memorable tradition for this time of year. Here’s a from-scratch recipe that I use, from Alton Brown. Now, to mentally prepare myself for this day of memory-making.

In some households, “leftovers” is a dirty word, but not mine. In fact, my people prefer some of my dishes on the second or even third day. That’s because I’ve mastered the art of second-day suppers.

Our family LOVES soup, especially in the Fall and Winter; however, my stepdaughters always want chicken noodle soup. I jazz it up a little bit differently each time, but it is still a boring soup to me unless you need the comfort when you are sick, so I am always looking for soup inspiration.

These days, you can order almost any type of product through a subscription service. From food subscriptions, touting claims that they will save money in wasted groceries and precious time shopping, to beauty and lifestyle subscriptions promising a few moments of self-care, there’s almost nothing you can’t get delivered. But are they really worth it?

My husband is a competitive triathlete, and keeping him fed is important. My two step-daughters also love to eat; one is pickier than the other, which is always a challenge, but they like most of the tasty meals that we prepare at home.

The extent of my food allergy knowledge used to be that my brother couldn’t have strawberries as we were growing up. I’d never really run into any other food allergy situations that would affect my immediate life.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned since moving to Northeast Wisconsin, it’s that the regional flavor goes far beyond the Packers, beer, and cheese. In fact, there’s a whole host of regionalisms that I’m still learning about after coming up on 3 years.

Whether you enjoy cooking or not, making cooking easier and more efficient is always a plus! Here’s where the ice cube trays come in…