Renee Chodkowski's blog

Okay – back off already – of course I want to save the whales too! But please, don’t toss the ham bone.

Now – daily exercise. Raise your hand if you have leftover ham or a finely whittled spiral ham still in the fridge? Me too! Well – the other day I did. Today I have split pea soup. I wanted to get this on asap – and I know that some people have spiral hams on New Year’s too so keep this in mind.

I had you at Sanders, didn’t I?

For those of us who grew up in Detroit or the ’burbs, was there anything better than a Sanders hot fudge cream puff? So good. My grandma always made me eat my tuna salad sandwich first – which wasn’t too hard to do since the tuna was so wonderful. Do you remember the paper cones for water? So cool, even before retro was retro!

Is a bagel just a donut with the sin removed? Is a bagel just an unsweetened donut with rigor mortis?

No, and No! A bagel is the basis for a really awesome appetizer!

It is soooooo cold here this morning!!! How cold is it???? Well - it's so cold that all I can think about is soups and stews!!! When I get cold I try to think of a time when I was so hot I couldn't stand it - which was actually our scuba trip to Mexico this year in July - I remember thinking..."I'm so hot I am never going to complain about being cold again...!"  Then of course, when I get cold...."I'm so cold I'm never going to complain about being hot again....!!"  A vicious cycle?  Let's make it a delicious cycle! Time to think comfort food...

"Of all the grub joints in all the kitchens in all the world, it had to be leftover in mine."

I know - cheeeeeeesy!!! And maybe sacrilegious for
Casablanca fans…..but I have a question for you! Especially those of you who pack lunches and make sandwiches week after week - how many of you get to Friday and have just a few slices of ham or lunchmeat left over? I know, I KNOW — me too – not quite as often as I did when the kids were home but often enough.

For those of us in Michigan – there’s been frost on the pumpkins for awhile now. If you had the radio or television on yesterday I'm sure you heard that the ‘S’ word is coming too. I’ve had enough time to get the herb pots pulled closer to the house but not enough time to clean out the garage so I fully anticipated having to 'credit card' my car this morning. Know what that means??? It's what you do for the first few frosty mornings until you can remember to ask your husband where the scrapers are!! Hmmmmmm, I think my Discover may be seeing a little action this morning!

Hello, Livingston County and beyond! Let me introduce myself!

My name is Renee Chodkowski and I am a foodie – no, I am a Foodie! I love planning to cook, preparing to cook, cooking and even cleaning up but most of all I love eating, especially when I can share that with the loves of my life, my family and friends.