Imagine It! The convenience of blender pancakes made with just wholesome oats and banana and egg. No pancake mix. No refined flour. No added sugar. No gotta-get-to-Whole-Foods weird ingredients. But It's For Real! For some, it will matter that these light and tender pancakes are gluten-free and dairy-free. But for real pancake lovers? What matters most is that these taste and feel like honest-to-goodness real pancakes. And for people who mark the Christian calendar's Shrove Tuesday with pancakes for supper? This is your recipe! ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~ FIRST. Just so you know, this family is downright religious about pancakes. We believe in pancakes, not just for breakfast but for supper. After-church pancake breakfasts are a given but when my sister and I were growing up, our mom also made pancakes (or waffles, yum!) for Sunday night supper, usually topped with soft scoops of vanilla ice cream and maple syrup. (Just think of that, melting ice cream pooled w

The Recipe: Homey comfort food, it's the favorite for kids and grown-ups alike. This is my recipe for homemade meat sauce for spaghetti with all the flavor for a fraction of the calories. I make it ahead of time in the slow cooker for convenience and with a pantry's worth of spices for a low-fat and low-calorie healthy supper. Kid friendly! The Conversation: Remembering Italian suppers hosted by my parents, such exotic world cuisine through my child's eyes! ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~ Parent Parties in the 1960s When I was a girl, my parents hosted a dinner party for friends, fussing over the food and the table. The theme must have been "Italy" because the menu was classic Italian aka "Eye-talian" as interpreted by Prairie Canadians and Midwesterners who’d no more seen Naples than New York. (Side note: After this story first went live back in 2010, a note arrived from my 80-something father, a gentle reminder that during World War II, C