food – Ruth E. Hendricks

So I was influenced…

I admit it.

I follow a young woman Katipederson on TikTok who puts together meals for a family of four for $15, shopping at Aldi or Trader Joe’s or Costco.

I’ve not been inspired to actually prepare any of the meals to feed my family but I like her enthusiasm and energy and the taste testing portion with her teenage son. Here’s her link to her dip. She’s got almost 600 thousand followers.

The other day she shared a dip recipe from Trader Joe’s ingredients. Here’s the total cost of this 13×9 dish of hot dip. Using ingredients from Trader Joe’s. The Steelers vs. Browns (rivals) were playing Sunday afternoon. I had a plan. This is not one of the just under $15 total posts.

I can tell you it’s pretty rich with the cheese and heavy cream in the queso. Don’t over consume.!! And I can tell you that everyone who eats chicken in the house, loved it!!!

Just under $28 for the dip ingredients. If I’d purchased a couple of the bags of the organic corn chips it would have been an additional ten dollars.
I already had a bag of Tostitos scoops at home in the pantry

It’s not too spicy but is flavorful with jalapeños in the queso

Here’s what you need. I added a can of black beans, rinsed and drained. Got that idea from the comments. That would add $1.49 to the total.

This pic is from the Tik Tok video. The corn chips aren’t shown. I used this screenshot to find the exact products in the store. I’ve not bought them previously.

November 2, 2026 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: dip, food, photography, Pittsburgh PA, postaday, Trader Joe’s 1 Comment

A Tinned Fish Tasting

Guest blog.

My granddaughter Anna was invited to a Tinned Fish Tasting.

Do you have a favorite tinned fish?

“We had tuna, sardines and smoked salmon”

“**Tried sardines today! Pretty good.”**

And earlier on Sunday my friend Jen brought me a tin of fish by the same brand

Here’s a tin of anchovies I found on my pantry shelf

March 23, 2026 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: anchovies, family, Fishwife, food, photography, postaday, sardines, smoked salmon, tinned fish, Tuna 19 Comments

Birthday Donuts

**Buckeye Donuts** open 365 days a year 24/7

August 1, 2025 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: birthday, Buckeye Donuts, Columbus OH, donuts, family, happy birthday, photography, postaday, tradition, treat 10 Comments

Summer Evening in Aspinwall

AVVA in Aspinwall modern Mediterranean Restaurant

My neighbor Kelly picked me up and we drove across the Allegheny River to meet our former neighbor Nancy who was waiting for us on the front patio of a restaurant I’d never been to before. We had a good visit catching up and enjoyed a delicious meal together. The Katmer dessert was new to us and we shared the lightly fried triangles of phyllo dough with a pistachio filling.

Bronzino Mediterranean fish. Served with extra virgin olive oil and lemon Side salad and rice

Katmer
Thin layer of phyllo dough filled with a mixture of pistachios and mascarpone

July 10, 2025 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: Aspinwall, AVVA, Bronzino, dessert, friendship, Katmer, Mediterranean, neighbors 13 Comments

The Gift of Greens Inspired Simple Salad

My friend and gardener extraordinaire Erin brought us some lettuce and snap peas from her garden. She was worried her lettuce would bolt due to the extreme high temps we’re having.

I washed, drained and wrapped them in towels and put in the fridge.

Remember the post of the tuna balsamic simple sandwich with chopped sweet onion, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese?

No bread this time

Thank you Erin. It was delicious

June 23, 2025 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: food, garden, gardening, greens, lettuce, photography, Pittsburgh PA, postaday, salad, Tuna 16 Comments

Apple Still Life

April 18, 2025 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: apple, food, fruit, kitchen, paring knife, photography, postaday 13 Comments

dc’s Friday Lunch

You may have read the Simple Sandwich post on April 6th with the Tuna balsamic sweet onion, Parmesan, tomato sandwich and “recipe” photos featured.

Several readers were motivated to try the combination and I received good comments. Not everyone a fan of tuna, of course. But-

dc, friend and blog follower, wrote the funniest comment on the day of the post.

Another friend and blog follower wrote a comment “
Vincie says:
When I got home this evening, I couldn’t decide what to make for dinner. Then I looked at today’s blog. Fortunately — unlike dc— I had all of the ingredients for this simple sandwich in the house. And . . . It was deeeelicious! Yum! I can’t wait to make it again! (Note to dc: Buy the ingredients and make. You won’t be sorry.)

Then dc sent this photo to me on Thursday the 10th ready for last Friday’s lunch

All he had to do was procure a good roll

It was so satisfying to know the Simple Sandwich post inspired readers to create their own simple sandwich at home

So from Pittsburgh to Spain to Massachusetts and Maine and Florida. Those are few of the locations I know the simple sandwich was created and eaten. Thank you blog followers for such a satisfying result