From Sunday to Sunday, last week to this, we’ve gone from 80 degrees and tank tops to killing frost and finding out the heater in the car doesn’t work. Such is New England weather at its most unpredictable. The leaves are shedding fast, and while it has not been the most brilliant colors this year…
Category: Dairy-free
Milking your corn is the secret to more flavor!
Creamed corn is a New England favorite, and here we’ve served it with both haddock or a vegetarian tofu version. Both are delicious, especially with a little extra step – milking! We spent a few days at the shore last week, a little getaway timed for after the summer onslaught of tourists on the Maine…
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Autumn arrives, with three beautiful sisters at its side!
And before you know it, fall slips in between the blasting heat and threatening frost. She’s that quick, and always armed with a few tricks up her colorful sleeve. One day shorts and sandals, the next, sweaters and frantic picking of the remaining tomatoes in the garden. Today, we finally have blessed rain to help…
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Party Trick: A little sunshine in a paté for all.
It’s been a magnificent year for sunflowers. Perhaps it was the non-stop rain for weeks followed by intense heat and no rain, but for whatever reason they arrived early and are still delighting us with their vibrant color. All parts of the sunny plant are edible, mostly Filled with color, they are also pretty delicious…
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Pasta on a rainy night? Perfect! And we’ll add some autumn ‘Squash Sauce’ to keep it interesting.
Nutty whole wheat pasta. A creamy sauce made of sweet delicata squash. Some savories, and greens from the garden. A comforting dish for a rainy night. It finally rained. Not the longest rain ever, and certainly nothing to cause the flood-damaged to worry, but a sweet summer rain that sounded like music of the angels…
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Panzanella is fun to say, and even more fun to make and eat, especially if one is in Autumn denial. At least for now.
A large basket of sweet cherry tomatoes from the garden. A massive melon from the farm stand. Some stale bread. Let’s mix them all together and feast. Autumn slipped in quietly this morning, and while there was a distinct chill in the air when I first got up, we hit almost 80 by mid-afternoon and…
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Lobster for the frugal New Englander!
Corn and lobsters are perennial sidekicks. Indulge, if you like, but don’t break the bank! In New England, fresh Maine lobsters star in the summertime, especially when combined with our local harvest of golden corn, our very own amber waves of grain. While both shine beautifully on their own, they go together well! One rarely…
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How to make quinoa taste delicious!
Yes, it can be done! I wouldn’t steer you wrong. The first time I made quinoa, I remember not liking it very much. It tasted bitter to me, with a funny off taste. It’s such a nutritious seed, a complete protein with all the essential amino acids present, so for the vegetarians in the family,…
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Surprise! Thirty-seven pounds of summer squash. Free for the taking. Would you like some?
I made a little mistake when we set out for vacation last week. Although I asked my dear niece, who was kindly house and dog sitting, to water the garden on our absence, I forgot to ask her to pick any summer squash that were ready. They do grow quickly this time of year, and…
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Just a little bump in the road, but good food makes it better.
Life certainly hands us many lemons along the way. Luckily, it’s one of my favorite flavors, sourness and all. My little glitch this week was a mishap in my kitchen that dislocated my shoulder. Don’t ask me how it happened, it is outrageously silly, and I get absolutely no sympathy when I tell the story….
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We’ve waited for blueberry season all year, and we’re not disappointed now. Scones?
Blueberry Season. It’s a happy day indeed when our local blueberries come in. Nothing better than eating a half pint in the car on the way back from the farm stand, making a mental note that next time we’ll buy more. One should always remember not to go food shopping when hungry, but even if…
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Anyone care for a little summer sunshine in a bowl?
It was hot and I had a hankering for a chilled gazpacho, one of my favorite summer lunches. I usually make a half gallon of it at a time, and we enjoy it throughout the heat wave. However, the beautiful field tomatoes are not ripe here yet in any abundance, so I decided to give…
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How to tame a silly garden serpent!
They are everywhere this time of year in the north. Garlic scapes. They look like little serpents curling out of their baskets, but although they are strange to behold, the good news, is they are delicious and useful in many a dish with a subtle garlic flavor and lovey texture. The garlic tries hard to…
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Add a little snap to your supper? Sounds good, horseradish, please.
Well it’s a hot one! This week’s heat wave has sent many a New Englander and beyond to the lake or into the house for refuge as temperatures hovered in the extremely humid and high nineties, kissing 100 with the heat index. This is not the time for prolonged meal prep, especially when even the…
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With a little ginger, some sesame, all is right in the world. Toss in scallions, and the trio is complete.
It’s a sauce, a dressing, a topping, and no matter how you use it, you’ll go back for more. Sesame, ginger, scallions. A trio that often travels together around the world. We love the flavor of each separately, but combined their individuality is transformed. Add garlic, and all is right in that world. There isn’t…
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Let’s celebrate the amazing asparagus! We might have a party, or maybe brunch.
There is probably nothing we look forward to more in the spring at our house than asparagus! My mother would not have agreed. Asparagus was one of the few vegetables she did not like, and I give her credit because she tried it every way under the sun. Luckily, I did not inherit that from…
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Don’t run away, it’s only rhubarb! With a little sweet, you’ll might even like it.
May in Vermont has been as fickle this year as it always is, despite our annual dreams of the perfect month. There’s much to look forward to – warm temperatures, but not too hot and no mugginess, trees leafing out and grass greening, spring bulbs and blossoming fruit trees, the return of the song birds…
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How about a ‘make under’ asparagus soup?
Next year, my asparagus soup will be purple! Guess what type of onion I’ll use. We wait for those tempting little spears all year. Fresh from the garden, tender, full of flavor and nutrition, asparagus tells us that the seasons really have turned and it’s time to dig out the sandals and sunblock. They were…
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Finally, spring delights are on the way, even the weeds!
Spring has been a long time coming this year. We’ve had lots of rain, few blue-sky days, cold temperatures, and slow to blossom fruit trees. The latter is probably a good thing since there was a frost in some areas last week. Frost during blossom time is not a good thing! But the steady drizzle…
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It’s time for a snack, how about some Homemade Pita Bread and Muhammara Sauce, but no nuts please!
Nuts are delicious and nutritious, but sometimes we need to make modifications. We dined out recently with two of our beautiful nieces at a local restaurant, and for a shared appetizer we ordered the meze (mezze) plate. It was beautiful and bountiful, loaded with treats – tasty stuffed grape leaves, marinated feta, mixed olives, cucumber…
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Welcome spring! Let’s clean up the garden and make something hearty for supper.
Happy official Spring, The Vernal Equinox arrived at 5:01 a.m.! Shh, the snow has gone. I am saying this quietly, lest I tempt the fates and end up with a surprise blizzard. It’s happened in the past if I celebrate the turning of the wheel too early. But the snowbanks finished melting over the weekend,…
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A new Irish Stew? Call them to the table.
When we make it to March, it seems like all possible ‘holidays’ are cause for celebration, and we New Englanders embrace them with glee, anything to ease cabin fever as we slide into mud season. Of course, this week was National Pi Day, March 14 (3.14) which most of us are aware of, but alas,…
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Scrap Happy Planet: Can I tell you about Peppermint Pesto?
Once a month, we’re looking at ways to help reduce food waste and keep our planet happier and healthier by using all those scraps that often end up in landfills and contribute to our ever-growing environmental problems. The worldwide statistics are sobering, over a third of everything we produce is tossed out, over a billion tons of…
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A ‘Stuffie’ you ask? In New England, that means clams!
Our family loves New England clams in any form. Deep fried of course while visiting the shore with lots of tangy tartar sauce. Or steamed with all the dunking and slurping rituals. We’ll find them in a silky chowder, tossed in a simple white wine and garlic sauce over spaghetti, and in clam dip, too,…
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A Bloody Plate even a Vegan will Love!
Blood Oranges are in season, let’s have fun with them! This is definitely a mid-February recipe, using beautiful root vegetables from our local farms, as well as the delightful citrus from the south that brightens up wintertime in all parts of the country. We need all the color we can get right now. Wake up…
