Janice Denham

HOME PLATE: 'Gypsies' love 40-year hunt for treasures at Caravan

Linda and Larry Owen of Ellisville are marking their 50th wedding anniversary in August.

May 23, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Hint o' fresh mint sweetens Milhaven's summer 'ice tea

Families grow up with summer traditions.

May 16, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

Moms share muffins, smiles, kids for the future

From inside or outside my kitchen window, you read MOM. Three wooden letters, a long-ago gift from a son, stack atop each other for a continual memory of this role, honor and responsibility.

May 09, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Homey comfort mixes with Mexican mainstay

Our dinner discussion centered on comfort food — specifically pleasurable food after a new baby is born.

May 03, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

Groups set thymes to sell with herbs of many flavors

A pot of "pizza herbs" on my favorite hardware store's patio was the imaginative choice, but the round pot didn't fit the square tin planter I chose for a birthday present.

Apr 25, 2012 | 1:30 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Titanic Week cruises to first-class meal finale

Passengers on the Titanic were ready for dinner, not for the tragic end of the new luxury liner on April 15, 1912. Of course, not everyone sat down to the same meal — nor the eventual outcome.

Apr 11, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Holidays spring up with sweet nesting appeal

The warm, early spring catapulted seasonal holidays into their expected lighter flavor modes.

Apr 04, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Potatoes spring up for later harvests

The traditional date for planting potatoes on St. Patrick's Day is past, but it's still not late to start growing an all-American favorite.

Mar 21, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: American-Irish stew stands up for St. Pat’s tradition

My son is groomsman in a wedding this weekend. Both the bride and groom are Irish. It's in Boston, where all three live. The couple will be married on St. Patrick's Day.

Mar 15, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Wake up to 'go for gold' with morning energy

This week marks National School Breakfast Week, a celebration named by the National School Nutrition Association, to emphasize the meal of the day that revs up the body.

Mar 07, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Feb. 29 is no extra day to waste

Something very special and original should begin on Feb. 29.

Feb 29, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Mercy health fair assesses heart-felt strengths

Often people talk about a "broken" heart. Mercy Hospital St. Louis wants to avoid that. Its annual free Heart to Heart Fair this weekend connects and strengthens hearts with health screenings, stage demonstrations, one-on-one consultations and buckets of information and fun.

Feb 22, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Blue is red-hot color on the wall, in food

Blue is among today's trendy colors, a hue from the American landscape, the Paint Quality Institute asserts. Clothing store windows hail "happy" blues. In stories I write for St. Louis' Best Bridal, it translates into gowns, vests, shoes and accessories from that segment of the wedding rainbow.

Feb 15, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Valentines grow up, still love sweet favor

In my pantry is a flat, heart-shaped pan with two mini versions of the same pan, each slightly dented but perfectly kept, at the edge of its thin, aluminum outline. Somehow two more small pans from my mother's kitchen have strayed along the trail to my own.

Feb 08, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Tasty Super Bowl foods ready to score on Sunday

The coin toss begins the quest for the best foods along Super Bowl sidelines. It coincides with the serious game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants on TV.

Feb 01, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Listen to dragon roar as it enters mighty year

Dragons are independent, powerful, elegant, ambitious and magnificently strong.

Jan 25, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Flavorful cuisine winners brighten taste buds

Flexibility is a great asset for taste buds. It adds fun and variety to life and meals.

Jan 11, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Leftover trash talk meets yummy creativity

A new year is upon us. It's time to become an artistic culinarian. Some kitchen things I can do.

Jan 04, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Line up black-eyed peas, eat lucky grapes for 2012

On New Year's Eve or Jan. 1, I won't go out of my way to run into a black cat, because I'd rather spend my time eating lucky foods.

Dec 28, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Wrap up the holiday and ham it up, too

The date on our end-of-year letter that goes into the family Christmas cards is later, I'm sure, than ever before — unless I fibbed in previous years.

Dec 21, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Cookie cut-up stores kitchen time as holiday memory

Julia M. Usher connects her love for creative baking to her mother's kitchen. Her latest book, "Ultimate Cookies" (Gibbs Smith, $24.99) provides cookie projects that put a sweet face on any season, but appropriately tugs heartstrings when cookies fill a traditional role this time of year.

Dec 07, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Tangy cranberries have come a long way, baby

Taste preferences change over time.

Nov 30, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Foods favor tradition for family holiday

My path home took a different turn last week and I passed a church sign that said, "Thanksgiving is a verb."

Nov 23, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Peanut butter gets spread around holiday winners

It took an hour last week for the howling wind to get me out of bed. Finally I dragged myself to the window. Newly sparse trees provided a prime view of the blustery, gray-turning-blue sky. Leaves, raked and awaiting pickup in brown bags, circled my car faster than ranch hands hungry for the cook…

Nov 16, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Guys learn to cook and share their book

Even before they left home in University City to attend Yeshiva University in New York, Jon Harris and Ari Axelbaum put ingredients together for "WiseJack Man's Cookbook" (Dynamic Creations, $25).

Nov 09, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Winning apple desserts don't fall far from home

Apples typify autumn at its best. At our Third Annual Apple Dessert Contest, the inviting flavors and aromas of pies, dumplings and cakes meshed tradition with newer presentations for dishes that make the season a winner.

Nov 03, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Haunting ideas pop up in Halloween treats

Joke of the week: Why didn't two worms go aboard Noah's ark in an apple? Because they were supposed to enter in pairs (pears).

Oct 26, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Almanac wisely sets starry goals in 2012

Grandma and Grandpa would be proud of "The Old Farmer's Almanac 2012" ($5.99). Ever since the initial 48-page version was printed and sold for about nine cents in 1792, the book still circles back to interpreting astronomical predictions for the earth today.

Oct 19, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Pumpkin pairs perfectly with muffins, pancakes

When I began to think about recipes for the class on brunch foods I'll present Saturday afternoon, Oct. 22, at Eckert's Cooking School in Belleville, I knew exactly where to start: pumpkin muffins.

Oct 12, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Bees sweeten garden, table, bath and beyond

Jane and John Timmons like to share their sweet hobby. They host five beehives on their 1-1/2-acre home site in suburban St. Charles.

Oct 05, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Apple pie, popcorn, pasties meet soups at Market

The Best of Missouri Market marks fall on the calendar. Held the first weekend of October for 20 years, the event with handcrafted, custom and eclectic — not to mention homegrown — items brings a bit of nostalgia, but sets off chimes that a new home-centered season has arrived.

Sep 28, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Fruits hit the jackpot with winning appeal

The elevator at the hotel led quick as a wink to what it hoped would be my next destination: the casino.

Sep 21, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Gardens grow delights, in spite of the heat

The answer to the question, "Mara, Mara, how does your garden grow?" keeps growing for the program director of Gateway Greening.

Sep 14, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Apple dessert contest breaks out autumn fruit

Luckily, the fresh peach season lasted long enough for a holiday weekend party to celebrate the June wedding of our editorial director, Monika Kleban, to Nikos Tsekos in Greece.

Sep 07, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Chicken lovers will flock to Midwest WingFest

Anyone who thinks chicken wings are heavenly may think the next world is in Fairview Heights on Saturday. The Midwest WingFest hosts out 25 wings-makers to benefit the USO at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

Aug 31, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Keep pork juicy, safe with lighter cooking

Each person who puts meat on a grill has a favorite way to turn pork steaks or chops into what is probably a family specialty. Much as I love it falling off the bone, sometimes meat gets a little chewy with long simmering in sauce.

Aug 24, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: East Coast trip gleans fish and history

Luckily, I escaped Summer Skewer weather here for two weeks with an East Coast vacation.

Aug 17, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Juicy, red tomatoes are irresistible

A lighter summer lifestyle helps a person concentrate on simpler things that feel and taste good - like food grown where you happen to be.

Aug 09, 2011 | 12:02 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Water leads fluids that swish through body

During the recent heat wave, it was nice to know people cared. A trip to the Shop ‘n Save Pharmacy to pick up refills merited my husband a bottle of chilled water pulled from under the counter. One good turn deserves another, so he passed it along to a man working outdoors next door.

Aug 09, 2011 | 11:53 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Homegrown peaches plead for summer action

The family speculated last week about preserves made with white peaches growing on a tree in my brother and sister-in-law's backyard in Southern California. Relatively new to the neighborhood, they were harvesting their first crop snared from enough varmints and insects to be judgmental.

Jul 20, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Dairy and berry refresh as summer twofer

Everyone loves a bargain. A full moon is better than a sliver. A Cardinals win is best when you sit use reduced-rate tickets to watch it. Picnic foods taste best when humidity is unusually low.

Jul 13, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Fontbonne summer camp stays F.R.E.S.H., tasty

By the third week of camp F.R.E.S.H. at Fontbonne University, Ellis Green, fifth-grader at Flynn Park Elementary School in University City, promised that he would not miss a single day of the remaining sessions. By that time, he will have tasted his way and learned unique eating patterns of peopl…

Jul 06, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Watermelon juices up dessert round-the-world

Dessert differs by culture. Gooey butter cake satisfies St. Louis taste buds raised around German bakery traditions. Italians order cannoli. Baklava completes a Greek meal.

Jun 29, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Top trophy is icing on Schnucks decorator's 30 cakes

For Jodi Schweiss, it was an Oscar and the Stanley Cup rolled into one. She brought home the first-place trophy in the Cake Decorating Challenge at the International Dairy, Deli and Bakery Association's Dairy-Deli-Bake in Anaheim, Calif.

Jun 22, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Dads savor favorite flavor on their special day

Coconut reminds me of my dad on Father's Day. A slip of a fellow with working-man shoulders and broad, solid hands, he never met anything with coconut he didn't like and never passed up dessert of any sort. A baker could be complimented when he dunked an edge of a cookie or dessert into a hot cup…

Jun 15, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

HOME PLATE: Table wizardry comes home on Movie Night

Janice Denham

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