Ashley Meyer

I’ve always been a morning person. As a child, this meant that I was left to my own devices on weekends until about 9:30, when the rest of the house would finally begin to stir. I grew up learning to cook at my mother’s elbow, but it was in these quiet early mornings that I […]

’Tis the season for braising! This hands-off cooking method, in which foods are covered and slow-cooked at a lower temperature with a small amount of liquid, transforms tough, cheaper cuts of meat and hard, fiber-rich vegetables into sumptuous one-pot meals. Not only do these dishes pair well with a blustery December night, they can be […]

Many of us dream of hosting a Rockwell-esque Thanksgiving. Happy children playing board games as they patiently await dinner, contented guests allowing the host to calmly finish up the meal, glass of wine in hand. In reality though, putting on the Thanksgiving meal can be an incredibly stressful experience. Having multiple dishes ready at the […]

There is a certain type of satisfaction that comes from cooking a pot of beans from scratch. I always catch myself meditatively stirring at some point in the process, once again amazed that a $1.39 bag of beans and some veggies could turn into a huge pot of utter deliciousness. We grew up eating variations […]

 America has been a bit obsessed with all things pumpkin since Starbucks debuted their Pumpkin Spice latte in 2003. Since then pumpkin spice flavor has found its way into everything from beer to Cheerios to flavored oatmeal. I too find myself getting swept up in the moment. This past weekend nothing was going to stand […]

It’s fundraising season again. Kids are returning home from school with cookie dough and popcorn order forms, and churches and community groups are gearing up for their annual holiday bake sales. It’s hard to say no to the bright-eyed kid selling candy bars to raise money to buy new baseball uniforms, and why should we? […]

Gardener Garrick Veenstra showing off some of the seed varieties that were planted for the Oct. 1 Ark of Taste dinner. PHOTOS COURTESY SLOW FOOD SPRINGFIELD Consumers today seem to have more choices at the grocery store than ever before. My great-grandmother would have marveled at the red strawberries available in grocery stores in the […]

PHOTOS BY ASHLEY MEYER Just because summer is drawing to an end and the kids are back to school does not mean that farmers market season is over. The Old State Capitol Farmers Market continues to run Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. through Oct. 31. True, corn and peaches will be done […]

Monterey chicken PHOTO BY ASHLEY MEYER Again it’s Labor Day, when, without a hint of irony, we celebrate our country’s workers by taking a day off from work. For most professionals, a day off is assumed to entail doing pretty much anything other than their job. To be sure, as much as we chefs love […]

It seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in our family. My daughter has loved olives since she was a baby. The only time I ever had to simply abandon my shopping cart and remove my wailing child from the grocery store was over olives at the olive bar. I have to monitor […]

There are few things that one can do to have an immediate and positive impact on one’s health. Increasing physical activity and changing one’s diet are critical steps in improving overall health and vitality, but persistence, organization and dedication are required to get results. Thankfully, there is something everyone can do to instantly improve their […]