Using the appropriate time, temperature and equipment is key to safe home canning.

Ovens are for baking, not canning

Prairie Fare: To avoid foodborne illnesses, use research-tested recipes and follow them carefully

In the past few weeks, I fielded questions for some of our extension agents while they took well-earned annual leave. I learned a lot about what people do as they harvest their bountiful garden produce. As the questions reached my office, I also began exploring the internet to see what was being shared by some

Don't skip all the health benefits eating breakfast can bring you.

Does timing of meals affect health?

It turns out breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, according to a recent study

They’re cagey. I fed them at 3 a.m.,” he noted. “You already fed them? Jake was barking, so I got up and fed them at 4:30 so you could sleep,” I responded. Yes, our three dachshunds are like infants who demand early-morning feedings. I got up with our three human kids when they were babies,


Be inspired by zucchini

Be inspired by zucchini

Prairie Fare: Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

I remember bringing home a zucchini in my purse. Someone had handed it to me at a gathering, and my purse became a makeshift grocery bag. When I pulled the zucchini out of my purse, my daughter, who was preschool age at the time, looked at me in amazement. I think she wondered if I

Trick-or-treat season calls for moderation

Trick-or-treat season calls for moderation

Prairie Fare: Cranberry-Oatmeal Cookie Mix, Cranberry-Oatmeal Cookies and Chewy Caramel Squares

Mom, they’re not noticing me!” my 12-year-old daughter said with a loud sigh as she looked into her nearly empty pumpkin pail. We were watching a parade, and some of the people on the parade floats were tossing out items such as footballs, stickers and candy. “Let’s straighten your bison hat. Be sure to smile,


4-H foods projects teach lifelong lessons

4-H foods projects teach lifelong lessons

Prairie Fare: Bread Pudding

I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and my world.” If you recognize this pledge, chances are you have been in 4-H, or perhaps your child and/or other relative has been in

Recipe Box

Where do you get your recipes?

Prairie Fare: Reduced-Fat Morning Glory Muffins

Let’s starting cooking!” I said with enthusiasm to my daughter. “Mom, what’s the difference between cooking and baking?” my 11-year-old daughter asked. We were about to bake some bread, so I think she was associating cookies and breads with baking. My husband chuckled when he saw me wrinkling my brow and pondering her question. Is


Traditional Bread and Butter pudding

Save some bread with these tips

Prairie Fare: Chocolate Bread Pudding

Does the bread have seeds in it?” my 11-year-old daughter asked. “The bread has no seeds,” I responded as I flipped the slices of french toast on the griddle. I am well aware that my youngest child does not like bread with added ingredients such as seeds and nuts. Usually she picks out all the

breads on a counter

It’s time for baking bread: Buns, rolls, pull-aparts

Recipe Swap: Apple Cinnamon Rolls, Sour Cream Rolls, and English Bath Buns

On cold late-fall days, I remember coming home from school to a kitchen warm and fragrant with fresh-baked buns. Usually the scent of floor cleaner lingered with it; Mom always washed the floor after baking. Like many housekeepers of the mid-1960s, she’d ceased making bread, partly because of the chore it was, but more likely


Recipe Swap: Savour the flavour

Bread-making demo delights visitors in Dauphin I’ve checked my calendar more than once this spring for when Easter arrives. It’s earlier this year — March 31 — but outside there’s no indication that green grass, daffodils and the other delights of spring will be arriving any time soon. Nevertheless, preparation of the foods of Easter

That’s a good idea

We all do things we don’t consider particularly profound until someone says, “That’s a good idea.” Here’s one of those things. In fall I take about two gallons of ordinary gravel, pick out and discard any chunks larger than about half an inch and then run the balance through an ordinary pasta sieve to remove