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Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 2:55 AM

What’s Cooking in Kelli’s Kitchen - Making it Easy

What’s Cooking in Kelli’s Kitchen - Making it Easy

I had a conversation this last week with my partner about cooking. The fact that this was noteworthy might be surprising. We talk all the time about what we are going to eat for dinner and what we are going to do with leftovers as I am not good at eating leftovers. The thing that made this conversation different and interesting was that he told me that he is not confident in his ability to prepare food. I think he was telling me that he appreciates that I cook dinner regularly and that he appreciates that I choose to cook tasty dinners that he enjoys eating. At the same time, I was a little frustrated because I spend time every week trying to help members of our community understand that cooking isn’t hard and doesn’t have to be frustrating and with a couple of pretty basic skills, cooking can be fun and exciting.
Most of the time that I cook dinner, I don’t use recipes and I don’t make extravagant dishes. Nine times out of ten, our conversations about dinner via text messages look like this: 
- What u want 4 dindinz?
- Fish w a topping OR
-  Pasta sauce n meatz OR
- Fancy sausage with a nice topping (toppings are a recurring theme)
Like most of you, I don’t regularly have a ton of energy when I get home from work every night. For those of us who get home after 5 p.m., there is often not a whole lot of time to cook before everyone is hungry and needs to eat.
Here are two easy-to-prepare recipes for weeknights when time is limited, and hunger is rampant.
Classic Shrimp Scampi
By Melissa Clark

INGREDIENTS:
2 T butter
2 T EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
4 garlic cloves, minced
½ c dry white wine (or broth)
¾ t salt
1 t red pepper flakes
Black pepper to taste
1 ¾ lb large or extra-large shrimp, shelled and deveined
½ c parsley, chopped
Half a lemon, juiced
Cooked pasta or crusty bread

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large skillet, melt butter with olive oil. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add wine or broth, salt, red pepper, and plenty of black pepper. Bring to a simmer, reducing wine by half, about 2 minutes
2. Add shrimp and sauté until they just turn pink, 2 to 4 minutes depending on size. Stir in parsley and lemon juice and serve over pasta or accompanied by crusty bread.
Cheesy White Bean-Tomato Bake
By Ali Slagle

INGREDIENTS:
¼ c EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 T tomato paste
2 (15-ounce) cans white beans
½ c boiling water
Salt and black pepper, to taste
⅓ lb grated mozzarella

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In a 10” ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Fry the garlic until it is lightly golden, about 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds, reducing the heat as needed to prevent garlic from burning.
2. Add the beans, water, and generous pinches of salt and pepper, stir to combine. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top and bake until the cheese is melted and browned in spots, 5 to 10 minutes.
 

 


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Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I knew Sam as a member of our church growing up. He always had a warm smile, a kind word, and a great sense of humor! He will be great missed!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:57 AMComment source: Obituary -- Samuel Bruce WickizerComment author: Mike HinzComment text: Great teacher, great coach, but even a better person!!! Rest in peace Mr. BeachComment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:53 AMComment source: Obituary -- Jack Victor Beach, Jr.Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I had Mrs Hedges for First Grade at Northside Elementary in 1969. I still, to this day, remember her as a wonderful teacher…one of my favorites!!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:29 AMComment source: Obituary - Nancy Marie Hedges C Comment author: Carl C. HagenComment text: What are MFNs and PBMs ?? ............................ From the editor: This is a very good question and we apologize for not catching that wasn't in there. We reached out to the writer/submitter and got this info back...hope it's helpful. PBM: Pharmacy Benefit Managers are pharmacies that are owned by insurance companies. (CVS is one.) They negotiate with drug makers to get reduced pricing for medications, but they historically have not passed along those savings to patients. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/pharmacy-benefit-managers-staff-report.pdf MFN: Most Favored Nation pricing is a policy that means a country agrees to offer the same trade concessions (like tariffs or price reductions) to all member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). When applied to pharmaceuticals, it could disrupt global access, deter innovation, and obscure the deeper systemic issues in American health care. https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2025/05/22/the-global-risks-of-americas-most-favored-nation-drug-pricing-policy/Comment publication date: 6/23/25, 7:47 AMComment source: L E T T E R TO THE EDITOR
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