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1 week ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
Well, here we are again. I want to share some favorite (and sort of simple recipes). I am trying to get a start on helping you use some of the garden produce that will, as you know, “come in” or be ready all at the same time, regardless of how you think you are sensibly spacing out the planting. I believe that zucchini squash and cucumbers have some sort of DNA that makes them grow from “not quite ready to pick” to “oops, too large for most recipes,” from early one morning until that afternoon.
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2 weeks ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
A few months ago, I wrote a column that included no recipes. A few days ago, one of you readers reminded me of that — a column about recipes with no recipes. Well, today I am making up for that column (which I think was about the fact that I had decided to quit writing, but didn’t/could shut down forever because several of you mentioned how much you enjoy these musings with recipes.)So here goes — some of my favorites through the years and those of friends and family.
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3 weeks ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
Editor's note: This column was originally published in May 2021. “Have you ever been to Texas in the spring?” This song was in an old music textbook that was in my classroom the first year I taught. Yes, little children, schools used to have textbooks in every classroom, plus every student was issued a book to take home for something called homework. Losing a textbook was the promise of a fate worse than death.
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1 month ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
Maybe you can help me with this quandary, dilemma or pickle of a predicament. Though this situation does not affect me anymore, I know that many of you have this Mother’s Day thing with which to deal. Here it is: If you are a mother, a mother-figure, a mother-in-law or an “other mother, then you’re involved.
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1 month ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
Are you surprised that I haven’t mentioned it lately? I bring this topic up on a regular basis, and it’s already past time. I should have jumped on this before now. If you have been “reading me” for any amount of time, you know that I am determined to get you to grow your own herbs. I have rhapsodized, sermonized and glorified the advantage of planting seeds or small plants of culinary herbs.
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1 month ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
Did you make deviled eggs with all the leftover Easter eggs? Oh, no — wait. This year, due to the cost of eggs, people were dying potatoes. Actually, I believe the new way does not involve dye, eggs, or potatoes but plastic, various colored eggs that must be filled with candy with no nuts, no chocolate, no gluten, no artificial coloring and no milk products. How in the world did we survive the lifestyles with which we grew up?
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1 month ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
All right — the time has come. We need to talk cooking (haven’t we been doing this for a while?)Spring brings so many opportunities for entertaining, all of which involve planning, preparation, shopping, cooking, decorating and serving. Think of everything that this week brings — primarily Easter for many groups. If you are the “plan far ahead in every aspect” kind, you are the smart ones.
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2 months ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
A bargain? A bargain, you say? Let’s look at several options for spending our food dollars wisely. First, I realize we are talking about different situations, age groups, family sizes and a vast difference in economic needs when discussing food dollars. I am not sure of the demographics of you readers, whom I consider friends, but I sort of think that many of you are not in the early stages of building your families. Those are/were the days when three meals a day were required to keep all nourished.
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2 months ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
It’s your fault! I was finally reconciled to the fact that I really need to put an end to this foolishness called “From My Kitchen." After all, I have pounded this column out longer than most of you have been alive — since Feb. 11, 1970. Fifteen different presidents have served in my lifetime (some have had two terms, and one, Franklin D. Roosevelt, four terms), but for the most part, one term each. I had to find my ruler with all the presidents listed up to George W. Bush.
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2 months ago | 
news-journal.com | Barbara Richardson McClellan
So you think spring is here? Check the calendar — yes, the date is correct. Check the gorgeous spring trees, bushes, flowers, bursting forth — more than ever. Now, here’s the true proof: Is your vehicle, though it could have been any color in the rainbow, totally covered in yellow pine pollen? There’s the proof!Spring in East Texas is here! I hope you have visited your local pharmacy for the necessary supplies of antihistamine, tissues, nose spray and various other medications.
