Must be my eastern European ancestry, but I like beets any way you fix them. This recipe is a bit different from what you may be used to. Try it on that cold winter day when you are feeling adventurous. It could be a keeper at your house, too.

When I was working as a caregiver, one of my clients ate ramen noodles almost every day for lunch. I was to make it with half the water, all the seasoning packet, then fish out the noodles and toss the rest. Not me. I rather gussy up the mixture and make a real meal out of it.

Have you noticed the canned luncheon meat on the grocery shelf, next to the Spam? It resides there because it really is the same as Spam, just in a plain wrapper and cheaper. Use whichever one you like. I personally think the Spam tastes better. This simple recipe is delicious. It doesn't look like much as you stir it together, but you are in for a surprise. It tastes great.

It’s that time of year when children are out of school and need something productive to do that will keep themselves, and their parents, sane. Flying to the rescue comes a summer reading program which will motivate children to not only fill time productively, but expand their knowledge by reading. Entering a different world where imagination is key, time is no longer, and nothing else exists is often the highlight of a summer break for many children.

About 80 percent of adults experience lower back pain in their lifetime; it is the most common cause of job-related disability. Many argue that prescribing opioids for lower back pain contributed to the opioid crisis; thus, determining the quality of lower back pain in clinical practice could provide an effective tool not only to improve the management of lower back pain but also to curb unnecessary opioid prescriptions. Several studies have documented increases in medication prescriptions and visits to physicians, physical therapists, and chiropractors for lower back pain episodes.

In the spirit of “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” a hit game show that challenges adults to answer grade-school questions, I find myself wondering if the average adult remembers important lessons learned about the historical figures who helped shape our great nation. Recently, I was pondering Abraham Lincoln. Hopefully, we all remember that Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president, delivered the Gettysburg Address, and signed, by Executive Order, the Emancipation Proclamation. Today, however, my thoughts flow beyond historical events and more toward who he was as a person.

This very day I received the following statement in my email:

Every Southerner knows that tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; that scrambled eggs just ain’t right without Tabasco, and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.

There has been since the beginning of American history a distinct difference between the northern and southern parts of our country. Many of these differences are God ordained, such as the geographical features. Allow me to provide a very simplistic view.

Most people wouldn’t consider this to be a fond childhood memory, but I do.

As a child, I was such a tomboy. Actually, I still am, or so I like to think. Anyway, if it was a warm and sunny day, I was running and playing outside. As my Mamaw Jo used to say about me, “I swannie, she goes wide open.” I think that meant I was running with everything I had. If so, she was right, I was.

With social distancing a very real thing these days, I have been extremely impressed with how my husband, Brent, and I have handled the forced togetherness. For many months now, it has been just the two of us. We were already isolated on our 30 acres where we can’t see any neighbors and no neighbors can see us; but C-19 has taken self-isolation to a whole other level.

Now I'm wondering if maybe I’ve been a bit too smug in thinking we had this covered.

I really like learning about our local mountain culture and am blessed to have grown up in a family that has held onto that culture for generations. One example of an old cultural belief that has been around ever since it was brought over from Europe is charming warts off.