Food & Drink

It's Too Damn Hot

This summer has been exceptionally hot. I could survive on shredded wheat and Edy's pomegranate popsicles this time of year, but that's not being a proper role model for the 4-year-old. Instead, I've done what southern women have done for years to avoid melting in their kitchens; I've found meals that require little to no cooking.

Sweat Together: The Menu

What you eat after you exercise is vitally important. You've worked so hard to burn calories, now take it easy with a light meal. And remember, small portions are best.

Sweet Thangs

Whitney Maxwell has had a passion for cooking since she was a tot in her mother's kitchen. A native of Jackson, the 27-year-old graduated from Ole Miss in 2007 and attended culinary school in California. Maxwell lives the life of a newlywed in northeast Jackson with her husband, Graves Maxwell.

No-Meat Grilling

This year, it is my turn to host my family's annual Fourth of July cookout, and it will be different. No beef, pork or chicken will sizzle on my grill because my New Year's resolution was to cut meat from my and my kids' diets. That resolution caused me to drop 55 pounds already! So now, I am pleased and motivated to continue my vegetarian lifestyle.

Just Cookin' With Justin Cook

Justin Cook, of Jackson-based rock band Mr. Kid and the Brothers Fox, has a mean bass face on the stage. Off stage, he loves to cook great food.

Cooking With Love

When it comes to soul food, home-style and country cooking, Jackson has a corner on the market. You're never more than a stone's throw from a plate of fresh vegetables and lovingly cooked mains. Nowhere is that more true than on Terry Road. Under a faded, colorful, sign sits Collins Dream Kitchen (1439 Terry Road, 601-353-3845).

Cooking from the Pitiful Garden

I am not a gardener. I do not possess the proverbial green thumbs. Mine lean more towards "brown-and-dried-up" thumbs. I killed an aloe plant that had survived untended in a steaming hot classroom over the summer. When I finally gave it attention, it lasted about a month before it peacefully shriveled away.

Take Dad Out to Eat

Treat dad to a meal at one of the metro area's eateries offering specials this Father's Day.

Community Gardens of Jackson

Community Gardens fresh produce and a sense of neighborhood improvement and togetherness. In recent years, several community gardens have sprung up in the Jackson metro area, teaching residents how to plant and harvest food of substance.

Read the Labels

Checking the expiration date on a meat package is as important as knowing whether the meat is loaded with chemicals and hormones. A constant complaint of buying organic foods is the comparatively higher prices, but the counter-argument is how important the long-term effects are compared to the instant gratification of buying cheaper food. If a consumer is able to purchase a laptop, a smartphone, a television with cable and many more luxuries, then the same consumer is able to buy foods that will not affect the body as badly as corn-fed beef or pesticide-soaked vegetables.

The Seas' Bounty

As a child, one of my fondest memories was at the Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans when I was about 8. After I complained that all the creatures were behind glass, the penguin keeper surprised me with a wobbling baby penguin to touch and marvel over. Studying the bug-eyed rainbow trout and the menacing tiger shark made me squeal with delight.

Eat Your Garden

Want to have a little garden—grow a few herbs and vegetables, and maybe some fruit to get off the grid just a tad— but don't know how to get started? Or worse, tried it already and it didn't work out, so you gave up? Slow gardening to the rescue! The relaxed, all-senses, all-seasons approach to gardening was inspired by the slow food movement, which encourages us to savor locally and sustainably produced foods.

Ellington