FROM SCRATCH CLUB

Memorial Day Weekend is upon us, marking the official start to grilling and backyard parties.  What better way is there to celebrate the festivities than with a meal hot off the BBQ or campfire? As soon as my children see that a fire has been lit in our fire pit they instantly cheer {and beg} [...]

I’ve been mulling over creating a great gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free baking mix in my brain for almost a year now. Finally a moment of inspiration came to me and I made a bee line for my kitchen to put together this gem of a recipe. I say gem because it is the most versatile mix [...]

Schenectady. There I said it. Its a thing. Its happening. You’ve asked, we’ve answered with a THIRD food swap location: Schenectady, NY. Our fabulous host: The First Unitarian Church of Schenectady. What makes this such a sweet announcement is that the organization came to us! Longtime reader Melissa, the Church’s Education Director, approached me via [...]

Mother’s Day is around the corner, and now is a good time to start thinking about what to make for the “moms” in your life. Whether this person is your own mother or grandmother, or a neighbor, friend or coworker…..there are ladies in our lives that need to be celebrated! For those with food restrictions [...]

As I said around this time last year, Passover is my favorite holiday. It is like Thanksgiving on steroids;  Thanksgiving with four thousand years worth of family recipes and stories and traditions and ritual mandates.  It also has challenging food restrictions thrown in. The basic idea behind the food restrictions associated with Passover is that [...]

In 2009 I was a complete newbie to gluten-free baking. My husband had been following a gluten-free diet for over a year when, out of desperation, we started a gluten-free diet for my toddler. I was completely lost when it came to gluten-free baking so a friend invited me out to a gluten-free baking demo [...]

Maybe it’s being trapped inside at home with a new baby, but I’m prematurely feeling that mid-winter desperation about what to make for dinner every night.  This feeling worsens when we’ve skipped a week at the farmers market and have no fresh, local produce.  Local green vegetables are already becoming less prevalent and I can [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Well, we’ve done it again…we’ve sucked another dynamic woman into the From Scratch Club vortex. Ha! We all met Heather at the very first {public} Saratoga Food Swap back in June and since then we’ve all been smitten. Heather is a quiet force, one that walks & talks with intention. (I wish to [...]

Hi, I’m Becky. I am a lover of baking who has recently discovered the wonder of preserving. I love reading cookbooks, and if you came to my house you would see a pile of cooking magazines and books on every end table and flat surface. Seriously. A good day for me involves picking fruit or [...]

For all of my adult life, I’ve been a big fan of Asian rolls. I didn’t grow up in the most food-savvy town and it’s nice to look back and see how my experiences and my taste buds changed as I traveled and moved farther away from home. At first I only knew about egg [...]

Editor’s Note: {How You Do It} is back! In general, the blog has been in a state of transformation and this recurring series is no different. When we first brought you this series, fellow local moms were writing guest posts about their kitchens, their traditions, their food. Since then we’ve made all guests regular contributors, [...]

Editor’s Note: This is the second of two posts highlighting additional recipes from our current cookbook giveaway, The Meal Makeover Moms’ No Whine With Dinner. We are trying not to push blog etiquette by posting ALL the successful recipes we tested, so these posts will be in “recap” format with links to the recipes on [...]

Last Spring I stopped eating wheat for a few months.  During that time, to cope with the absence of ever-familiar wheat, I started broadening my grain repertoire.  I’ve tried to keep it up since then and this week I challenged myself to figure out roasted buckwheat, also known as kasha.  I was pleased to see [...]

There is something about the thought of Valentine’s Day which inspires me to whip up brownies for a little treat one night. Oh yeah…it isn’t Valentine’s Day yet, but with the holiday around the corner it was still a good excuse for a little chocolate after dinner!  There is always an excuse in my book for [...]

Editor’s Note: This is the eighth week of a 4 1/2 month challenge, Dark Days, a pledge taken by 88 blogs spanning the country, to eat one meal a week as sustainable, organic, local and ethical possible.  – Christina The more I have thought about possible meals for the Dark Days Challenge, the more I [...]