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8A Jo Daviess County bar has reopened under new ownership.

OJ and Becky Stapleton are the new owners of Old Jug’s (OJ’s) Main Street Tap at 200 N. Main St. in Elizabeth. The couple recently moved to the area from Kentucky to take over the downtown business.

To cook like a championship pitmaster, try this recipe for smoky chicken wings

The teams that compete at the annual World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest every year in Memphis often have years of experience under their belts before they can earn a trophy as world-class pitmasters.

But you don’t need any fancy equipment to cook like one at home. All you need is some advice from two experts who have spent years as judges for the so-called “Super Bowl of Swine.”

Michelle and Brandon O’Guin, of Lakeland, Tenn., met at the annual cooking contest more than a decade ago. They now have a catering company and regularly compete in multiple contests, as well as serve as certified judges.

3 spice blends you should be making at home

Early summer is a time to celebrate. It’s time for asparagus, snap peas, lettuces and vibrant greens. Time to get to the farmers market and grab rhubarb by the bundle and rush home to make a crisp.

It’s also a time to explore our cupboards — and our spices. Just a pinch of a balanced spice blend will round out and deepen the simplest dish with pops of color and fragrance. That includes our local vegetables, which are crisp and delicious and don’t need much to shine.

Just as with salad dressings, you can find plenty of prepared spice blends in the market, but it’s easy and way more expedient to make your own. Preparing these in small batches makes a lot of sense. Because they are fresher, their flavors are bolder and more intense and there’s far less waste. Keep them close at hand to avoid scrambling when trying to season the dish at the last minute.

The process of getting off ultra-processed foods

If getting off of ultra-processed foods is a complicated process for you, the place to start is by ditching processed meats and ready-to-eat poultry and seafood. That’s the conclusion of a study in BMJ. Researchers looked at data on 100,000 folks in the U.S. from 1986 to 2018 and concluded that people eating the most processed food — around seven servings per day — upped their risk of death, especially from neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s, substantially. Salami and its cohorts pack the biggest whammy, but sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages, dairy-based desserts and ultra-processed breakfast foods (including cereals and pastries) also shortened folks’ lifespan.

5 tips to serve up the best summer yet

Summer is the perfect season for outdoor fun and a great time for families to focus on health and wellness! There are so many ways to enjoy activities that get you and your family moving and grooving in the summer sun, as well as delicious and nutritious foods to fuel those outdoor adventures.

Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner recommends five tips that will allow you to enjoy the sunshine while keeping your mind and body energized.

1. Try different types of movement

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