The thing is, you either have no fresh peas or you have more than you think you know what to do with all at once. The same with summer squash. Gardens are like that. When the peas are in, we eat peas at every meal, and in our house, this is one crop that is…
Category: Kitchen tips
So, they are all coming to your house for Thanksgiving this year! Don’t worry, you’ve got it covered.
It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving in the U.S. and you have a houseful coming. All’s calm…for now. I’ve catered many events and gatherings, and learned along the way that anything that can be done beforehand needs to be done beforehand. Here are some tips, look through, save what resonates, forget the rest! I usually have the menu…
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Let’s make this easy: One pan or dish, no recipe. Are you with me?
We could call the The Season of Ease. At this time of year, we have vegetables of every possible type, sometimes in great abundance, and dinner is easy. When my kids were small and I relied heavily on my garden, supper in the summer was often a collection of whatever vegetables were in abundance on…
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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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Scrap Happy Planet: When you say ‘leftovers tonight’ do they cheer?
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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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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Scrap Happy Planet: Raid your vegetable and fruit scrap bowls!
Once a month, we’re going to look 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…
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Scrap Happy Planet: Taking and Making Stock in the New Year
Once a month, we’re going to look at ways to help reduce food waste and keep our planet happier by using all those scraps that often end up in landfills and contribute to our environmental problems. The worldwide statistics are sobering, over a third of everything we produce is tossed out, over a billion tons…
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Scrap Happy Planet: Stale Bread for the Banquet?
Once a month, we’re going to look at ways to reduce food waste and keep our planet happier by using all those scraps that often end up in landfills and contribute to our environmental problems. The worldwide statistics are sobering, over a third of everything we produce is tossed out, but we’ve rolled up our…
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Let’s make this a stress-free Thanksgiving celebration!
It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving and you have a houseful coming. Let the games begin. The first time I hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the family I was in my 20s. I’m not sure why I thought it was a good idea, but my mom graciously stepped down from her role as culinary matriarch and went along…
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Scrap Happy Planet: Leftover Rice could feed the planet!
Once a month, we’re going to look at ways to reduce food waste and keep our planet happier by using all those scraps that often end up in landfills and contribute to our environmental problems. We’ve rolled up our sleeves before to save these resources, and now’s the time to do so again. Sunday or…
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Grilled and Chilled Asparagus & Leek Soup
The house will stay cool! We’re firmly in the middle of wonderful Asparagus Season here in Vermont! How delightful those tender and flavorful shoots. We wait all year, and this is one crop that never disappoints. It’s always the best, and we make the most of it and use those tender spears in everything possible….
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Grow your own crop of spring bean sprouts
Way back in the day, when I was just finding my way around my mother’s kitchen, we often had a canning jar of bean sprouts on the counter. My Aunt Janet, the family health nut, was the first to introduce us to the idea, and we loved it. They were hard to find in the…
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Sage Kitchen Wisdom that might steer you wrong!
Following ‘expert advice’ does not always produce the best cooking! There are certain things we do in the kitchen because kitchen wisdom tells us to. Or our mother, or Julia Child or other TV personality. “The Christmas fruitcake batter must be stirred with a wooden spoon clockwise only.” Not a clue why. “Add oil to…
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Grilled Butternut Squash with Smoked Poblano Chili Sauce
Great finds this week at the farm stand including beautiful butternut squash and fat poblano peppers. The heart of autumn treasures, with a few summer peppers tossed in for good measure. Our seasons always have a few stragglers from the previous. Made for each other Poblano peppers have lovely flavor and medium heat. Grilled, roasted,…
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So, What to do with all that fennel…
Stuffed Squash. 1/2 gallon Fennel Stock. Tomato Fennel Soup. Fennel Pesto. Toasted Fennel Au Gratin. I came home from this week’s CSA with two massive fennel bulbs complete with long stalks and the biggest toppings of frilly fronds I’ve ever seen. This was going to take a little work, and I suspected there would be…
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Feast of Seven Fishes – Stew!
You can honor the idea of the Feast of Seven Fishes in a one-dish meal that takes a fraction of the time, but delights with great flavor! Time is short, and I’m sending you a rerun of a previous post. Happiest of Holidays to you all! Dorothy I prepared the full Feast of the Seven…
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Spring Pea and Asparagus Salad with Radish Top Dressing
If you love peas, you’ll love this salad! Spring means the return of fresh, local green things! Fiddleheads, ramps, spring lettuces, radishes, pea shoots, and the much-anticipated asparagus. How we love those first spears, pulled fresh from the earth! There will be grilled and steamed asparagus, asparagus soup, asparagus in stir fries and salads, served…
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Magic Meringues
Every once in a while, you play around with some new culinary ingredient that leaves you amazed. These meringues made from canned bean liquid do just that. “Aquafaba.” This relatively new, made-up word is the liquid in a can of beans, usually chickpeas, and normally gets drained and dumped down the drain. That’s a perfect…
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Mushroom Soup Four Ways!
From Vegan to Full Fat, this Savory Soup Can be Made Exactly How You Like It! On a chilly winter night, hot soup is always welcome, and after the indulgences of the holidays, something healthy is a welcome delight. Whether a hearty stew or light broth, soups warm both the body and soul, often bringing…
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Thanksgiving Prep 101
It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving and I have a houseful coming. All’s calm…for now. But it means I have lots to do today, and those tasks are all about preparation. I’ve catered many events and gatherings, and learned along the way that anything that can be done beforehand needs to be done beforehand. I have…
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Conjuring Clarified Consommé
It’s Kitchen Magic at its Best! It really seems like magic when you take a pan of murky stock and in just minutes transform it into crystal clear broth! There is no nutritional reason to clarify stock, it is all about the appearance and nothing more. But if you have never done this, it is…
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A Perfect Cup of Tea!
A perfect cup of tea is whatever you want it to be! The weather turned, and the iced tea stepped aside, replaced by the steaming pot. One of the most enjoyable parts of running our small Vermont inn was the ritual of afternoon tea – that little stop at 4 p.m. to nibble a snack and savor…
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Put the Season in a Jar!
Savor the best all year long! Jams, Jellies, Preserves, Fruits, Pickles, Relishes, Vinegars, Chutneys, Salsas, Tomatoes I grew up with Ball canning jars. My mother would fill them with jams and jellies and applesauce, and pickles of just about anything in abundance. She made sweet pickles, relish, dill pickles, zucchini pickles, and pickled green…
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Taking Stock: Borrow the Best from the Past
The act of making stock is the first, best place to start. Making stock is one of the ways we can save money, or at least feel virtuous by reducing what we throw in the trash. But, it is more than that. This is one of those simple steps that involves a way of thinking,…
