Food Loves Writing

The House Salad with Cucumbers and Tomatoes

Shanna Mallon — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:00:15 +0000

I’d eaten at Tim’s approximately two times when I started to sense a theme. When that guy makes a salad, he makes it a particular way. Maybe everybody does this? Over the following years and months, I’ve eaten this same basic salad with him alongside grilled cheese sandwiches, at fancy dinners we’ve thrown for friends, during Sunday night barbecues, on lazy weeknights and in many spaces in between. I’ve eaten it so many times with him that it’s truly become our salad, the one we always make, the fallback, the standby, the one we’re calling The House Salad, with Cucumbers and Tomatoes.

... Finish reading this post The House Salad with Cucumbers and Tomatoes at FoodLovesWriting.com!

Not Your Momma’s Chocolate Pudding (Three Ways)

Shanna Mallon — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:00:32 +0000

Chocolate pudding has always been my comfort food—and, contrary to what the title of this post might suggest, my momma makes a great one. That hot, creamy Cook N’Serve of my childhood was pure heaven to the both of us more nights than I can count. We’d pull out the tiny cardboard box, rip open a paper envelope, combine the contents with milk on the stove and whisk and heat that mixture until it grew into a thick, creamy, throat-coating dessert. I liked it best when it was hot, almost steaming. But we’d both also eat it cold, having been covered with wrap in the fridge. It was milky. It was rich. It was the first thing I’d reach for when I’d had a rough day. But lately, I’ve been learning there’s more than one kind of creamy, chocolate comfort.

... Finish reading this post Not Your Momma’s Chocolate Pudding (Three Ways) at FoodLovesWriting.com!

Writer Chats, Part I: Keep Writing Instead

Shanna Mallon — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:00:08 +0000

The following Sunday post is part of what we would love to turn into an ongoing series here at the blog, in which writers conversationally share about the ways they write. If reading this post gets your wheels turning about your own stories, let us know. Submissions are being accepted at WritingSeries [at] FoodLovesWriting [dot] com.

From time to time, people email me to ask for advice from a writer.
... Finish reading this post Writer Chats, Part I: Keep Writing Instead at FoodLovesWriting.com!

Creamy and Colorful Raw Kale Salad

Shanna Mallon — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:40 +0000

The other night, when Tim and I ate this salad, we’d just come back from a few hours of driving through neighborhoods. Tim and I do a lot of driving through neighborhoods. You could say driving through neighborhoods is our thing. I guess that’s good—that there’s a thing we have, you know, together. When my friend Julie got married in 2006, I remember the pastor saying something in his homily about how every couple ought to share a hobby of some kind. “Tennis or cooking or sports,” he’d suggested, right there at the front of the church filled with people and flowers and music. I hadn’t yet met Tim that day, standing up there with three other girls in blue dresses with cap sleeves, but I still like to think about the hobbies we were already sharing, even so.

In 2006, for example, I was baking batch after batch of biscotti for favors at that friend’s sit-down wedding reception. Meanwhile, the Ohio man I would someday marry was rolling out and topping homemade pizza crusts to keep in the freezer on hand. “Like frozen pizzas, but better!” he still says to me, describing that long-ago process in step-by-step detail.

Indeed, since we’ve met, Tim and I have had plenty of things, from loving the kitchen to loving quiet nights on the sofa to getting excited about properties we could dream to call home. And so, the night we ate this creamy kale salad, we’d just returned from spotting one particular 1920s treasure of a foreclosure, with cedar shake details and original stained glass. (Too bad it’s already sold!) And when we came back home, to the work we’d abandoned and a house growing dark, big plates of this salad were the kind of thing both of us had in mind.
... Finish reading this post Creamy and Colorful Raw Kale Salad at FoodLovesWriting.com!

Guest Post at Deliciously Organic: Basil Creamsicles from “Written Together”

Shanna Mallon — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:16:19 +0000

From where I sit in Nashville, it’s is a balmy 80+ degrees right now. Neighbors are sitting on porches, people are biking down our street and the sun is turning everything this gorgeous golden hue. It’s so easy to love this time of year—and not just because of the warmth and daylight. I mean, you guys, one word: popsicles. On that note, today, I’m thrilled to be over at Carrie Vitt’s killer site, Deliciously Organic, sharing the basil creamsicle recipe from our ebook and the one that, every time we make it, we can’t stop eating.

Go on over to Carrie’s site to read the post and see the recipe—and then stick around to find scores of grain-free recipes you can count on to work. Thanks so much for letting us share on your site, Carrie. We are your always fans.

The Moments That Make Up Our Days | A Photo Essay

Shanna Mallon — Sat, 11 May 2013 02:10:14 +0000

We interrupt this regularly quiet Friday night to share ten moments from the day today. (If you’re looking for a recipe, might I direct you to this morning’s Brussels sprouts salad post?) My friend Sarah participated in this photo project two months ago, and, since I’m a sucker for documentation exercises of any kind (365 Photos? A Day in the Life? A Line-a-Day Journal [doing it now]?), I promptly set up a phone reminder to join in. Launched by blogger Rebekah Gough, this project involves taking photos of ten moments, one an hour, on the tenth day of each month. Other than some short descriptions, I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. You guys. There are so many moments that make up our days.

... Finish reading this post The Moments That Make Up Our Days | A Photo Essay at FoodLovesWriting.com!