Gravy, real gravy, has to be one of the best foods on earth. It makes everything taste better (rice and gravy, potatoes and gravy, stuffing and gravy, bread and gravy, gravy and gravy…yum!). Gourmet machinations just mess it up. It’s got to be simple, pure, heavenly gravy. I know some people make it in a […]
By Maria
Cheesy Cowgirl Cornbread
Well, I was going to write about making pumpkin pie today, but a few of my Facebook friends have asked that I share the recipe for Cowgirl Cornbread. (You can find pumpkin pie tips, and other easy pie recipes, on Rodale.com.) Lucia found the basis of this recipe in Highlights magazine and asked if she […]
Stuffing Wars: Mrs. Cinquino’s Recipe Wins Them All!
I grew up with my mother’s favorite stuffing, which is really “potato filling.” I never really liked it, and much preferred my grandmother’s Pepperidge Farm stuffing—even though she would put dried apricots in it. But I never liked either stuffing enough to bother getting the recipe. Then I met my husband, and tasted his mother’s […]
The Cranberry Sauce Controversy (with Poll and Recipe!)
Generally, there are three types of people: Those who won’t eat cranberry sauce at all. Those who like it cooked and gelatinous. And those who prefer their sauce raw. I fall firmly into the raw camp. It is simply not a Thanksgiving meal without that tart, sweet, fresh, palate-cleansing, and gorgeously magenta blob of cranberry […]
How to Find and Cook an Organic Turkey
As Barbra Kingsolver writes so charmingly in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, turkey farming is a brutal business—unless you can find an organic, preferably small-farm, source. My mother raises turkeys every year on her farm, and the birds are surprisingly sociable, friendly, and enjoyable to watch. It almost makes me feel bad about eating them. But then […]
The Great Thanksgiving Countdown: 5 Holiday Hosting Tips
If you are not hosting everyone at your house, consider yourself lucky. You don’t have to clean up the whole house, manage all the expectations, or think about whether or not everything can fit in your stove at the same time. I feel lucky this year because I’m going to my brother- and sister-in-laws’ house […]
‘Tis the Season for Hot Apple Cider
Actually, the season is almost over. That’s why we have to enjoy every second left of apple season, and with it, apple cider both cold and hot. Here in Pennsylvania the leaves have already fallen, and the frost has killed off everything in the garden except for the kale, garlic, and celery (which, honestly, I […]
The End of Farmer’s Market Season…Waaaaaaah!
November is here, and the last farmer’s market of the season in Emmaus is on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. This week things are already winding down. The vendors are thinning out, and the crowds are filled with hard-core regulars rather than the summertime occasional shoppers. In the few short years that this market has been […]
Scratch
Raised on America’s first organic farm, Scratch author Maria Rodale learned how to make everyday favorites from, yes, scratch — the way you remember them; the way they turn out best.
Order NowOrganic Manifesto
Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment.
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