"...and they ate with gladness and simplicity of heart"
Hi friends, pardon my briefness. It has come to my attention that there are folks who are not aware of the magical delightfulness of freshly roasted pecans. We need to get the word out. Yes, a raw pecan has chewy goodness. But tasting a raw pecan that is quickly pan-roasted in a cast iron skillet with butter and sea salt? Magical delightfulness. The raw chewy texture goes away and becomes a mixture of crunch, pop, and enhanced nuttiness bathed in buttery ...
Have you ever heard about the mindset “power of positive thinking?” I pretty much live by it. Not in an official standpoint, in case it is a real movement or something. There is something about setting your mind to see the positive and dreaming the possible. And yes. Yes, I have been called Pollyanna before. Thank you for asking. Four-ish years ago we moved to our home in Bella Vista, Arkansas. It was a blank slate of plain beige enamel vinyl siding and a driveway with a massive cement ...
How’s your healthy lifestyle focus coming along? I applaud your efforts and join you in the never-ending quest for whole health. No doubt you are experimenting with new recipes, food prep, meal planning, and making sure you are drinking enough water to keep things moving along. High five, you! Last June the interwebs exploded with a new food sensation. No, no, no. Not kale. Bite your tongue. It exploded over sweet potato toast. After that first initial “whaaaat, what is that?” retweeted around ...
Hi there. You know I love a tidy space. Do you love a tidy space? I get a rush when I open the fridge and everything is neat, orderly, and there is plenty of white space. Now that I think about it, the only thing that gets me more inside-out happier is when my pantry is KonMari’ed. I’m not exaggerating. Remember that time I picked my pantry as my favorite personal space for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette? Lately my pantry is getting out of hand and out of control. In other words, ...
Raise your hand if you are tea-obsessed. Oh yeahhhh, we’re on the same page. If you’ve been thinking about venturing out and trying something new in the tea aisle, these three teas are my all-time favs right now and a pantry staple. You can find them locally at The Fresh Market in Rogers, Atkins, and Whole Foods. The Turmeric Ginger is my go-to while the Clipper Teas are new favs. Organic and smooth. Guarantee to up your tea game. Oh, those first two items? Those go on the wish ...
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times... simplicity rocks. So, when we are feeling a little under the weather, what do we do? Get more sleep, drink plenty of water, and eat more antioxidant-rich foods. Simple. Simple. Simple. Here’s another simple tip: Grab your water bottle and infuse it with cold-n-flu buster ingredients. I created a simple cold-n-flu buster infused concoction using crisp and pure Arkansas Mountain Valley Spring Water (sponsored) by ...
The daffodils are pushing through. I find it odd that the crocus didn’t come back. Where’d they go? Were they as confused about this winter as I am? Did they get the winter blues? Maybe something scientific and botany-ish happened and something in their growth cycle just decided to check out. So far this winter has been warm, hot, cold, chilly, warm, hot, cold, chilly, and warm. Which doesn’t mean a thing because we still have over a month until the official start of spring. And, for those of ...
Right now you might be knee-deep in potato chips, pretzels, and a cute cheese ball in the shape of a football. Don't you just love Superbowl Sunday? Seriously though, pace yourself so that you will make it through half-time without a bloated belly. Thankfully your host remembered to purchase a vegetable tray from the supermarket for anyone interested in something healthy to balance things out. Or, did they forget? Or, what if you’re the host… and you forgot? Or – worse yet - what if ...
Yeah, now we’re talking. Hot, steamy, ooey, gooey, cheesy ground beef with flaky rice as the comfort starch centerpiece… wait… make that rice and puff pastry as the blended comfort centerpiece all rolled up as a delicious rice empanada. Those two were meant to be. If you shy away from empanadas because they sound complicated are deep fried, stick around. This recipe is neither one of those things. I created this stunningly delicious beef and rice empanada recipe for Riceland Foods ...
Well now. I took a stroll through these past twelve months of blog posts and found a very interesting trend that took place… an over-emphasis on priorities. Not that it was any surprise since my “word of the year” last year was PRIORITIES. Which meant two major priorities on this space… (1) a focus on the big picture and (2) a focus on eating well and exploring our own backyards. Here is a mash-up of 2016 blog posts that fit under those two over-arching priorities. 1. The joy of ...
Who's ready for a road trip? More importantly, who's ready to start packing food for a hotel stay? I am a big believer in packing food when traveling, not only because you’ll save money. The biggest benefit is knowing that you won't be eating tons of sodium, fats, and unpronounceable ingredients. Unless you have access to fancy farm-to-table establishments that boast pure ingredients… but then I will have to refer you back to the "save money" benefit. This isn’t the first time this subject ...
“And roots, if they are to bear fruits, must be kept well in the soil of the land.” So are the wise words of Pearl S. Buck, author of The Good Earth. If I remember correctly, this is one of my sisters’ favorite Pearl S. Buck novels. While I wasn’t really into fictional stories, if they leaned on the side of history I was interested. It wasn’t until we checked out that old reel projector from the library and watched the black and white movie with Yul Brynnr that I was hooked. We ...
Organic first cold press extra virgin olive oil, grass-fed butter, and high quality vinegars are my three mainstays in the kitchen. These items always have extra stock tucked away just in case I go on an exuberant cooking frenzy and therefore they never run out. In fact, I shudder at the thought. While I am not brand-loyal to any particular EVOO (Braggs is moving up as a contender)... Kerrygold butters and De Nigris vinegars are my besties. I feel very blessed to create sponsored recipes for ...
I am sitting here in the darkness of my home office, perfectly still and shaking my head in slow mo. How did seven years go by so fast? Okay, I’m not – technically – sitting perfectly still since my fingers are flying on the keyboard… trying desperately to keep up with my racing thoughts. Seven years of hitting ‘publish’ and hoping that someone will read, enjoy, and learn a thing or two as I learn a thing or two. As I scrolled through thousands and thousands of my iPhotos pictures, trying ...
This is my sixth annual post that highlights the top 10 Northwest Arkansas food blogs. It seems as soon as I hit "publish", immediately someone says, “hey Lyndi, why isn’t nwafoodie listed in the top 10?” The answer is pretty simple… you’re already reading nwafoodie! I love you for coming back again and again and cozying up on the virtual couch with me. This year we have some oldies-but-goodies on the list and some newbies sprinkled in. Have a blogger that you’d like to share? Share in a ...
You can’t make kids pretend to like something just for the camera… especially if that photo shoot is for more than fifteen minutes… in the heat… and what you are making them pretend to like is a plain ol’ water popsicle. The six-to-eighteen year old kid in me also loved these plain ol’ water popsicles too. But that’s another story… one that I wrote about over on the Mountain Valley Spring Water’s blog (sponsored post). It’s a good story, I promise. To whet your appetite and squelch your ...
In 2009, I attended a Minds of Mom (MOM) conference presented by Walmart and the entire day’s focus was all about bloggers. Mine was a last minute invite, one of those “hey, Lyndi, we’ve got an extra seat at this conference-thingy, you wanna’ come?” Always the one to jump on any conference-thingys, I jumped in my coworker’s car and arrived at a destination that would change my life. I had entered the world of influencers. “What is the magical world?” I remembered uttering those ...
