kitchen adventures
When the weather begins to warm up, it’s time to lean on interesting salads. This year, our farmers at the CSA are delivering truly excellent produce in great variety. For this warm weekend, I wanted to make a bowl of a vegetable-forward salad – but not in a huge quantity. This […]
I know that spring has arrived when the sorrel in my garden bursts forth with a profusion of lance-shaped green leaves. Sorrel is a perennial, and the leaves have an intense lemony tang. People use it raw in salads, but it also makes a fabulous quick classic sorrel sauce. While […]
I love an easy bar cookie, don’t you? These endlessly adaptable marshmallow bars are even better, because I get to use up the remnants of an open jar of jam. These cookies are inspired by and adapted from Joy the Baker – and they remain a favorite in my family. They’re cookielicious! January 2022: I’m […]
What do you make for supper, when you haven’t been to the grocery store in a week? When you’re tired, and you have very little energy, and your spouse is feeling worse? At my house, the answer was this crustless quiche Lorraine for 2, a cheesy, custardy delight. looking in […]
Many years ago, dear hubby and I spent a winter vacation in Austria. We skiied (real mountains!) we sledded (dear Gods, 8 km down a steep mountain road together on a single flimsy sled! ) and we led the genteel life in Vienna (Coffee! Sacher Torte!). We still talk about that vacation […]
Summertime is both a cook’s best friend and a horrible fiendish experience. On the one hand, there’s an abundance of lovely fruit and vegetables at the peak of their season. On the other, it can be hot everywhere but especially in the kitchen, which makes me want to just eat ice […]
Imagine this: it’s summer, and you have peaches. You want to make a nifty dessert, but pie seems a bit daunting (all that pie crust, ugh) and crisp maybe a bit too sweet (and it needs ice cream, which I don’t have on hand) .. what’s a home cook to do? […]
We’re a pickle family – every one of us likes pickles on sandwiches and burgers. I do make traditional pickles, both dill and bread & butter type. It can be a whole big production. Start by finding the right little (Kirby) cucumbers, then cleaning and slice them. Stuff them into […]
In my family, we call it Magic Chocolate Cake, even though this is an old recipe that has gone by many names. Why magic? Well, what would YOU call it? This is a chocolate cake that tastes great, is dead simple to make, and uses NO eggs, NO milk, NO cream, […]
You may already know that garlic scapes are the long stalks and flower bud of the hardneck garlic plant. These are removed in spring, which encourages the plant to make bigger and plumper garlic bulbs underground. I promised to make a post about using garlic scapes. To me, they’re one […]
In my family it is a tradition to make some treat on Tax Day, the 15th of April, to “sweeten the bite”. This year I made a simple yogurt cake with fudge icing: a simple but fabulous cake. Yogurt cakes are, in general, easy to make and quite delicious. The yogurt […]
My family loves roast beef, and we have a preference for rare to medium-rare. But in hot weather, who wants to run the oven? Here’s an Instant Pot rare roast beef recipe that I’ve found to be reliable. After some initial preparation, it’s a fairly hands-off process. I love easy […]