All in Columns

Cooking with Tammy Kelly: Wake Up Your Taste Buds with the Fresh Bounty of Spring

Spring is here and it’s time to revitalize your taste buds with the fresh bounty of the season!  Use fresh seasonal produce for dinners are also low in calories and high in fiber, which is a key combination if you’re looking to maintain a healthy weight. Sheet pan recipes, pastas and veggies, and fruit and chicken salads, are always a favorite.  Hope you will find these recipes bright and delicious!! 

Cooking with Tammy Kelly: It’s Strawberry Picking Time

We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the fresh juicy local strawberries and they are finally here!!  Strawberries are a super fruit; they are packed with antioxidants and essential nutrients that can reduce inflammation.  They also support heart health, boost cognitive function, aid digestion and help regulate blood sugar. Strawberries are also super versatile for adding some sweetness to snacks, desserts, and even main dishes.  

Cooking with Tammy Kelly: Why Add Asparagus

Asparagus is popping up, and I do mean popping up, this interesting vegetable grows straight up, and can pop up to almost a foot.  Most asparagus you will see is green, but there are other varieties you may sometimes see, white, which is more delicate and difficult to harvest, and purple, which is smaller and fruitier in flavor. No matter the type you choose, asparagus is a tasty, versatile vegetable that can be cooked in lots of ways or enjoyed raw in salads.

Kristy Kelly: Jolene is the devil, but not for the way you think

I listened to Beyonce’s version of “Jolene”. While I liked it better than the original, I couldn’t figure out what it is that bothered me about it. I’ve secretly judged Dolly Parton for the song “Jolene”. Born in 1979, I barely made the cut to call myself Gen X, so I’m young enough to accept throughout history women believed themselves to be powerless, and old enough to realize how little collective power women had. It’s because of songs like Jolene. 

Cooking with Tammy Kelly: Easter Brunches

Celebrate Easter with a brunch this year.  If you ever wanted an excuse to eat all of the yummy breakfast foods, this is the Holiday!  Whether you dine before or after the egg hunt, or even all day, here are some great recipes!!  Most of these you can make ahead and that makes the day ever more fun and relaxed.  

Theresa Parker Pierce: In your Easter bonnet

At Teacher’s Memorial Elementary School in Kinston, NC, Mrs. Skinner taught us all the seasonal songs. I must have loved music class because I memorized every word she taught us.  “In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it…On the avenue, fifth avenue, the photographers will snap us, and you’ll find that you’re in the rotogravure.”