kitchen adventures
There’s a definite shift in my CSA box this week. We’re leaving summer behind! Goodbye, summer tomatoes. Hello, squash, fennel, and cool weather crops. Today’s box contains Butternut squash, fennel, radishes, Italian flat-leafed parsley, dried black beans, red and green spicy peppers, mixed greens, Swiss chard, and a few small tomatoes. I […]
Sweet potatoes and spaghetti squash appear in my basket this week, along with jalapeño peppers, green beans, mint, mustard greens, cherry tomatoes, kohlrabi, and Swiss chard. My basket tells me to get ready for fall eating patterns, and to use up fresh ripe tomatoes while we have them – because […]
When you want to bake fast, use self-rising flour. This is flour that’s already mixed with baking powder and salt, and I like to keep it on hand. These quick tea cakes with jam show you how fast baking can be: it took 57 minutes from the time I turned on the oven and began […]
Thank goodness, a Tuesday without rain! Sunny weather makes the garden pickup much more pleasant. My box was waiting at the farm today, with kale, sweet potato greens, chives, mixed salad greens, new potatoes, garlic, slicing tomatoes, green beans, and green banana peppers. The weather is chilly this week, so I am planning […]
Today’s City Commons box includes wonderful summer produce: red ripe slicing tomatoes, a quart of yellow cherry tomatoes, chard, hot peppers, and basil. I’m seeing cool weather crops again, as well: kohlrabi, beets, kale, and peppery arugula. Altogether, it’s a lovely box. I’m planning to freeze kale for fall and winter soups. […]
I know that many people think that cream and mushroom soup, and fried onions from a can, make a great casserole. And maybe they’re right, but it’s not the right size for a serves two feast! I adapted this from Alton Brown and from Smitten Kitchen, to whom I am […]
I love gingerbread! My grandmother used to make hers with blackstrap molasses, lard, and boiling water; I remember its deep dark taste. This version is simpler, and uses butter instead of lard, but it still tastes absolutely fabulous. It’s lightened with pumpkin puree and spiked with both raisins and crystallized ginger. […]
Challenged to use eggs in a dish that will showcase them, and especially benefit from the use of Davidson’s Safest Choice Eggs, which are pasteurized, I immediately thought of oyako donburi. This is Japanese comfort food in a bowl. Donburi means, quite literally, ‘bowl’ – and in Japanese food, it […]
Having received an unexpected (and wonderful) gift of a box of Texas citrus, I began a flurry of cooking using the grapefruits, lemons, limes, and tangerines. The most amazing and wonderful thing ever, though, was made with the limes: a lime curd Pavlova. If you aren’t familiar with Pavlova, it’s […]
Making a quiche is easy, even if you don’t like to make pastry. Refrigerated pastry from your grocery store makes a perfectly acceptable crust. Quiche is a wonderful way to recycle leftovers. All the meat and vegetables should be cooked and chopped in smallish pieces. Fuss Free Quiche 4 oz […]
I was never much of a ‘pickled beets’ fan. What was the point? Dill cucumbers were way, way better. And then we had a sudden surplus of fresh beets. I had to do something with them, and it was too hot for borchst. Turning to my library of cookbooks (why […]
You’ll never know that the zucchini is in there. It’s chocolate! Very moist and delicious. Yield: one large 10-inch tube pan cake, or Bundt cake. 2 1/2 c flour, unsifted 1/2 c cocoa powder 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon […]