As I prepared for my women’s group Christmas cookie exchange, I realized how tough this season might be for someone with celiac disease. This condition can cause immense damage to the intestines when susceptible individuals consume gluten—a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.

And holiday or not, a lot of foods contain gluten. Besides ...Read more

When my son-in-law hinted that he was out of my granola and it “was the only thing that tasted good” when he was sick, I knew it was time to make another batch. Then I received this letter: “I sure enjoy your columns on food and nutrition that appear in The Dallas Morning News. I would like for you to write sometime about the nutritional ...Read more

OK, Thanksgiving is officially behind us. Let the Christmas carols begin!

But can you celebrate joy to the world if you have diabetes? Here’s some good news and some bad news.

Bad news: It’s not just sugar and sweets that affect people with diabetes. An excess of any type of carbohydrate can spike blood sugars into the danger zone. What ...Read more

I texted my daughter, who lives two states away, to ask what she is most looking forward to when she comes home for Thanksgiving.

“Cooking with you and drinking coffee in the kitchen and watching the Thanksgiving day parade,” she said without hestitation. “And not being at work…”

We can do that! I replied.

She wasn’t finished. “...Read more

With so much information at the touch of my phone or computer, I find myself opening a book less often. Shame.

So, in a fit of clean-out-the-old-stuff, I took to my bookshelves. I am pleased to report that age is not always a reason to toss out a text.

I’ll never give up Julia Child’s "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," for example. Its...Read more

Halloween is over and the candy bags are empty. Now begins the season of favorite foods and traditions. And with each passing year, I’m reminded that I want to be around for many more.

I recently listened to a fascinating webinar sponsored by the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. “Keeping Life in Your Years: Dietary ...Read more

It all started with a question from a reader in Missouri: “Can pumpkin seeds minimize an overactive bladder? Is it better to eat ground-up pumpkin seeds or whole seeds? How much is advisable?”

Sure enough, there is evidence that pumpkin seeds — more specifically the oil in pumpkin seeds — may help treat what is known as overactive ...Read more

My 9-year-old grandson recently told me the bits of spinach in my tortellini soup were his “worst nightmare.” A bit over-dramatic, don’t you think?

This same kid has no problem downing any sweet treat that comes his way, however.

Why do kids have such a strong preference for sweets? We are born with it, say experts. It’s this initial ...Read more

The Wisconsin license plate on a car that passed me on the highway said it all: “Say Chzzzz.” I smiled.

More than 180 years ago, Wisconsin farmers began making cheese to preserve excess milk from their cows (wisconsincheese.com). Today, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Wisconsin is the top cheese-producing ...Read more

We’ve had horses most of my life, and I always thought a fat horse was a happy horse. Maybe because the easy keepers didn’t need much extra attention.

Guess I hadn’t thought it through. At a recent conference for women involved in agriculture, I learned how to evaluate a horse’s general health with a body condition score, a method ...Read more

Responding to a recent column about fresh corn, reader Al W. from Dallas writes: “Having grown up on a farm, I take exception with some of your cob/ear terminology. You wrote, ‘What a treat to walk up and down rows of green cornstalks, searching for just the right cob to pick.’ You should have used ear instead of cob. One picks an ear of ...Read more

This time of year, the sight always takes my breath away: acres and acres of sunflowers in full bloom, smiling at the sun as we drive through rural areas of our state.

The cultivated beauties are related to the smaller and more prolific sunflowers (they’re too pretty to call weeds) that pop up along roadsides and hills throughout much of ...Read more