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Meet Niki
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About Niki
Hi, I’m Niki. I was born and raised in the South, where learning to cook seems to be mandated from birth. I currently live in a suburb of Atlanta, GA, where I am completely outnumbered by the men in my life – my husband, two young boys and our dog, Charlie. If left to their own devices they would live off of Ramen, Hamburger Helper(R) and other assorted processed foods. It is my goal to make sure t…
Heading back to work…
…is looming over my head. I’ve been out on maternity leave for the past three months, and while I’m looking forward to the adult interaction and intellectual stimulation that comes with doing my job, I’m not looking forward to leaving my three-month-old baby behind. He’s just now starting to get really interesting. Having been home for the last few months has meant ge…
Overnight roast pork: cook while you sleep!
This is a recipe I rely on a LOT. It is so easy and versatile and it requires little or no attention once you’ve got it prepped. I mean, it cooks while you SLEEP – who can’t work that into their schedule? The inspiration for this recipe comes straight from my Granddaddy Gene. He was a fabulous cook, and a gracious host. He threw parties multiple times throughout the year, and invited hun…
You say pray-leen, I say praw-leen
While my children are napping and a big pot of gumbo is simmering away on the stove, I’m daydreaming about the creamy dreamy pecan pralines I made earlier today. Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, and I thought we’d go ahead and celebrate a day early since my husband has to work tomorrow. In honor of the Saints winning the Super Bowl (I don’t follow football at all, but that’s wha…
Jambalaya, Crawfish Pie and File Gumbo
Okay, well maybe just the gumbo, but it’s better than nothing, right? To be fair, I make gumbo all the time – it’s a staple in our house during the cooler months. I love to make a big batch and freeze part of it to have at a later date. When I was pregnant with my youngest, this was one of the things I made and froze to have during the first few months when cooking was the last thing on my mind. So, r…
Whole-grain carrot and cheese crackers
This was an experiment loosely based on a recipe I saw over on foodtale.com. She drew me in with her beautiful photographs and intrigued me with her carrot and cheese snack crackers. I wanted to do something similar, but use whole wheat flour and flax-seed meal to increase the nutritional benefits. I was afraid a straight substitution would result in a dry, dense batter. “What would whipped egg w…
How to make candied orange peel
I used to love those candy orange slices you could get in the Brach’s candy section of most grocery stores (what ever happened to the Brach’s candy section?). You know the ones I’m talking about – the neon orange, sticky sweet, rolled in sugar, orange-segment shaped, jelly-like candies? Well, this is like the grown-up version of that – huge orange flavor, sweet and stick…
Our monthly grocery budget is blown – now what?
We have a new (rapidly growing) baby in our house, which means we’re still adjusting to how much to budget for groceries each month now that we’ve added formula and diapers to the mix. It seems we always get to the last week of the month having already maxed out our monthly budget. We try to stay pretty disciplined about these things, so I find myself getting creative with our meals when this happe…
Dinner in 15 minutes: Broccoli and Cheese Frittata
So, my husband works a second job two nights a week. On these nights, when it’s just me and the little boys, I like to do quick and easy dinners that don’t take my attention away from the children for too long. It would be super simple to open a box of something and dump it on a plate, or run through the drive-through on the way home, but I really try to avoid doing either of those things as much as possibl…
Making homemade pasta
Although dried pasta is quite inexpensive and extremely convenient, there is something to be said for knowing exactly what is going into the food that you’re consuming. There is also something to be said for de-stressing while enjoying a nice glass of wine and vigorously kneading an elastic ball of pasta dough. Not to mention the satisfaction and wonder that comes from knowing you took three sim…
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