kitchen adventures
The first time I made this beet chocolate cake, my family was skeptical. However, when it came out of the oven, the first loaf disappeared within 20 minutes (I timed it). You can almost persuade yourself that it’s healthy. This may be the original Red Velvet cake; you can still […]
CSA week 19 2020: big green tomatoes this week, due to be ripened on the counter. Our farmer tells us that this year, they’re just not ripening quickly: they’re starting to show cracks, so they’re being harvested now. The weather isn’t on our side, either; we’ve been flirting with freezes […]
CSA week 17 2020: a big basket this week, and full of great stuff. We have our first chard, little baby leaves. There are more tomatoes (yay) but the rest of the basket is green, green, glorious green. Some of these vegetables are destined to become snack material for the long […]
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 […]
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. […]
No rain today – at least, none this afternoon, and I barely got my toes wet fetching the CSA box. We have the first hints of the fall produce: a lovely orange winter squash. There are also basil, broccoli rabe, slender little green beans, slicing and cherry tomatoes, arugula, red onions, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Every summer I preserve the season’s bounty. I’ve just finished a huge weekend of canning, following last weekend’s canning session, and my cupboards are full. The last weekend of August found us with cucumbers and beets in abundance, and the peaches at the farmers market were just too good to pass up. So […]
2 1/4 c sifted flour 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 3/4 c sugar 1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 c vegetable oil 2 large eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 c plain yogurt or buttermilk 2 c grated unpeeled […]
I first found the recipe for this in the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I’ve tweaked the spices, because I like them a bit more assertive. 1 egg, beaten 1/2 c unsalted butter, softened 1/2 c brown sugar (packed) 1/3 c honey 1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract 1 […]