With busy school schedules and after-school activities, family life often becomes an even bigger balancing act. As a frazzled parent now faced with less time to get dinner on the table, the same meals easily become routine, and before you know it you're stuck in a cooking rut.

If you cook with canned pumpkin, you might want to buy it now.

There has been talk of a canned pumpkin shortage this year because of less-than-ideal weather conditions around Morton, Ill., where a high percentage of the canning pumpkins sold nationwide are grown.

It’s fall, and our thoughts turn to — beef stew. There’s nothing like a kitchen filled with stew aroma to get the appetites roaring.

Stew need not be a whole chapter in a cookbook. I’ve found the simpler the design, the faster and the better.

Candy is the central focus of Halloween, the spookiest holiday of the year. The average American consumes 24 pounds of candy in a year, most of which is eaten right after Halloween, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Packing a lunch, for yourself or your kids, is a good way to ensure a nutritious meal while saving money.

It’s time for the annual Ardmore Village Spaghetti Luncheon at 1550 Knox Road.

With the cool fall weather and the abundance of pumpkins beginning to appear, I find myself thinking about buying pumpkins.  I can always decorate the table or my front porch with the variety of colors and sizes that can be found but a quick research on the subject yielded some surprising results on the culinary and carving side.  

The Market is open! Rain or shine, we’re open. Early fall produce is starting to show up — tender greens, radish, turnips, collard greens, fresh onions, sweet potatoes, fall squashes, lettuces, lots of pumpkins and gourds. Late-summer produce is still available also —  tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, lots of okra, watermelons and squash.

The Cliff at Cedarvale will open Thursday and features a new style in dining.
 

At Market Place On Broadway, you will find a large variety of produce that all share a common characteristic-they’re all locally grown, locally produced.