Surrounded by groceries is a norm in our test kitchens.  With daily recipe testing and tasting, there is never a shortage of food around here.  It is easy to lose oneself in this bounty and forget that many people in our communities go without this basic human necessity.

To give back to the community, I participated in the 7th Annual Great Vegetable Run as an adult volunteer.  The event was part of the Global Youth Service Day and brought together over a hundred of local high school students and adult volunteers to deliver food to those in need.  We spent close to an hour sorting donated produce (potatoes, onions, carrots, fruit) into 200 individual brown bags, each of the bags to be donated to a family. 

My love affair with sweet potatoes began in my early twenties.  It started innocently enough with a simple, undressed sweet potato that was simmered and only slightly salted.  The sweet potato was an accompaniment to a spicy ceviche and cut perfectly against the heat of the habañero and soothed my mouth.  As my passion for sweet potatoes grew, so did the number of ways I enjoyed this root vegetable.  Baked in the oven and topped with sour cream and chives, mashed with cilantro and lime juice, roasted and mixed with peppers, olives, and feta—there are too many ways to list.  I began enjoying sweet potatoes on a weekly basis, always in their savory application, staying away from marshmallows, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  And then I discovered sweet potato fries!

As the current intern at Southern Living I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with many of you over the phone over the last several months.  I’ve sorted through recipes from the late 1970s to find your favorite chocolate cake, answered questions about menu planning, and guided you through our recipe collection on myrecipes.com.

But one question that keeps coming up more often than others is, “Can I freeze that?”  With our lives getting busier by the minute, preparing food ahead of time, freezing, and using it in the future can be a great time saver.  But do resist the desire to freeze anything and everything—not every dish is meant for the freezer.

Sororities and fraternities have various initiation procedures, otherwise known as hazing.  These procedures and activities are designed to test the new young and hopeful contenders and make them sweat a little (or a lot) as an ultimate proof of their sheer determination to join the group.  Minus the negative hazing association and sweating, my first few weeks as an intern at Southern Living felt exactly like an initiation to the Foods section.