The Red Kitchen Project

And I thought they smelled good...on the outside!

(Disclaimer: Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford did not actually climb inside my spaghetti squash. I was able to find two tiny-but-realistic body doubles who agreed to do it on the cheaps. Take that, Lucasfilms.)

Okay, folks. Today’s post is about one of my favorite things to eat when dieting, and least favorite to prepare. While it’s incredibly useful as a pasta stand-in for many otherwise calorie-heavy dishes, one fact remains: spaghetti squash is a real pain in the tauntaun to mess with when you’re in need of quick dinner options.

Luckily, however, it freezes beautifully both in a dish or on its own, so whenever I buy one at the store, I’m likely to buy a couple of its friends next to it as well, and do some batch-style cooking. Read more

(When 4-year-old Jamie got home from trick-or-treating, he actually asked me if he could just have a piece of this INSTEAD of candy that night. The heart wants what the heart wants!)

See this cake in the photo? I decided to bake that at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. By a quarter till three, it was baked, cooled, frosted, and sitting in the fridge awaiting dinnertime. Do I have your attention yet?

I’d forgotten all about this easy recipe until last month, when my dear “sort-of-cousin,” Salina, sent me a Facebook message about it. Ever since that day, I’d been yearning for an opportunity to revisit the recipe and make some small recipe experiments. Read more

Because anything involving these potato chips is going to be good...

This is a recipe I’ve been meaning to post for a while now, but thanks to my strict Weight Watchers regime lately, I’ve been afraid to post it for fear I’d want to make it again, and it’s definitely not low-point. But it’s most certainly worth it if you have the calorie allowance to spare!!

This is a variation on my regular meatloaf recipe, which is quite lovely by itself, but this version offers a slightly firmer texture and a yummy hint of Cheddar Sour Cream & Onion Ruffles, which are, IMHO, the greatest invention to ever come out of the potato chip industry. Just sayin’. Read more

This may be my only contribution to humanity, but at least it involves cheesecake. I'm okay with that.

A month or two ago, I had the opportunity to meet up with some of my old girlfriends, Rheannon and Melissa, whom I never get to see anymore. We’ve all become mothers in the last few years, so we decided to have a playdate among the little ones and enjoy a chance to catch up with one another over some delicious food.

As per usual, everyone else's babies played happily while mine threw an enormous tantrum. On the other hand, I still like this photo of Ollie because even his clothes have a sort of Neopolitan look to them that supports the dessert we brought. We Ritters are nothing if not coordinated.

Because both of my friends are also clever kitchen bloggers, I wanted to bring something they hadn’t encountered before. Inspired by all of the Mason jar cheesecakes cropping up everywhere — but looking to avoid the overabundance of “no-bakes” out there in InternetLand — I settled on this design, which takes elements from this blogger’s baked version but incorporates three different flavor tiers, reminiscent of childhood days spent eating Neapolitan-flavored ice cream. (This was, after all, a play date for two generations.) Read more

This is the best thing there is. Period. End of discussion.

Grace’s hippie sister here, popping in with a quick, kid-friendly recipe.

Remember when you were little, and you hated spaghetti sauce, so you’d bug the crap out of your mom to get her to let you eat noodles with butter and Parmesan cheese instead? Yeah, our mom wouldn’t let us do that very often, either. Most of my adult life has revolved around doing crap Mom wouldn’t let me do when I was little. Read more

Much easier than it looks. And fun, too!

Today’s post is a tutorial by my friend, Rheannon, whose darling son Jackson makes a terrific poster boy for this homemade baby food method. Could he *be* any cuter?

Thanks again, Rhee, for providing this thorough explanation and for all of the great pointers for retaining the most nutrients when making soft foods for little ones. Read more

Grace’s hippie sister here, surfacing for the first time in months to share a recipe that should come in handy for anybody who has a vegetable garden (or a neighbor with a garden).

That’s right, kids: It’s salsa time. Read more

Hello again, friends!

Boy, have I missed this place. For those of you who don’t know, I have spent the summer as a re-enrolled college student. I’ve been struggling with my first math class in a decade, and am currently pulling a 92% with 2.5 weeks to go. (Hoorah!)

Because the Red Kitchen has the greatest blog community ever, you’ll soon be enjoying some wonderful guest recipe posts sent in by loyal RKP readers. Also thanks to the terrific support of Red Kitchen followers, I’m pleased to report that RKP has been featured on the local broadcast (WSIL-TV3) morning news as one of the best blogs in Southern Illinois. I didn’t even know they *had* a feature like that going on, and awoke one morning a couple of weeks ago to congratulatory messages in my inbox. What a fantastic morning that was!

I really do love you guys. And now I’m off to publish some of these terrific guest posts! Watch your inboxes for them!

Hugs and cheap groceries for all,

–Gracie

You make bath time lots of fun...

Hi folks. Sorry I’ve been so sporadic with posts lately — it’s shower & wedding season, which means I’m busy with custom cake orders. Which is a good problem to have, especially if you like cake decorating as much as I do.

I thought I’d share some photos of a recent order to keep in touch until I have time to write up the recipe posts I’ve been sitting on lately. This is a Rubber Duckie bath tub cake I created last weekend for a baby shower. Everything on the whole cake is edible. If it’s not frosted, it’s made out of marshmallow fondant. (You can find my recipe and tutorial on using marshmallow creme fondant by clicking here.)

Thanks for hanging in there until I get back in the blogging swing again! You know I miss it. And without further ado, here are some more pics of the rubber duckies. If you have any questions on how I made something (or want to order a cake!), please leave me a comment and I’ll get right back to you. Read more

Look at that big pool of glaze down there. Yep. I'm refreshed.

Today’s post is from my friend, Nellie, who knew me all the way back when I couldn’t tell the difference between a poured fondant and a rolled one. Read more