Karissa Fite

Corn Cookies probably don’t sound all that appealing, and I’ll admit that when I first heard that Trader Joe’s created a Corn Cookie mix, I was skeptical. But when I played around with cornmeal in my cookie dough, the outcome was these ridiculously chewy, buttery, delicious cookies that land somewhere between sweet honey cornbread and a chewy sugar cookie. n’t sound all that appealing, and I’ll admit that when I first heard that Trader Joe’s created a Corn Cookie mix, I was skeptical. But when I played around with cornmeal in my cookie dough, the outcome was these ridiculously chewy, buttery, delicious cookies that land somewhere between sweet honey cornbread and a chewy sugar cookie.

Again, this is something I knew I’d one day face as a teacher, and I know there’s a chance that one day I may experience an even more personal loss, but delivering this news to my sweet students was gut-wrenching. Teachers were given a week to plan and prep while students took an extra week for break. ’s struggles under the rug, go back to my classroom (which I haven’t seen since March) in August, clean up, and prepare to start new with new students. I’m still exhausted from last year, and now this year is starting a week early (although I’m extremely grateful for the week of paid training to help us prepare) and I’ve spent the summer riddled with anxiety over the pandemic, mine and Chris’ jobs, and the upcoming school year, when normally I’d be taking time to recharge.

So when my dad visited for Father’s Day a few years ago and said he was cutting back carbs and requested a fruit salad with his Father’s Day brunch, I wanted to find a way to zhuzh it up a little. What I came up with was this sweet, citrusy, minty dressing that took my fruit salad from a sad salad to an exciting side. So when my dad visited for Father’s Day a few years ago and said he was cutting back carbs and requested a fruit salad with his Father’s Day brunch, I wanted to find a way to zhuzh it up a little. He visited for Father’s Day and when I asked what he wanted me to cook for Father’s Day brunch, he told me one of the things he wanted was fruit salad.