And this one’s a blushing delight! You know it’s Autumn when you catch that first whiff of apples cooking, especially apple crisp, and right now, the whole world needs a nice big portion. Irresistible! Who can resist the site, the smell, the texture of the crispy top, and spicy softened apples? In this version, I’ve…
Category: vegan
Fennel and Leek “Vichyssoise” with Seared Scallops
A lighter version of one of our family’s favorites. Guilt-free, but just as delicious! It’s not a traditional Vichyssoise, but it is just as delicious (and there’s a vegan alternative too). My mother-in-law Pat Read was one of the best chefs I’ve ever known, and I learned lots from her. She ran two splendid restaurants…
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Stuffed Napa Cabbage Leaves with Peanut Sauce
We love the ease of feeding ourselves a rainbow of nutrition in high summer in Vermont! You never know what you will find at the farm stands and farmers markets in July in Vermont, but it’s a sure bet there will be lots from which to choose and enjoy. This week, I found everything I…
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Quite a Hodge Podge
Another northern dish with a funny name! This quick stew of midsummer veggies has long been a favorite when we need to sample the new produce, but don’t want to stand over the stove too long! Robbing a few new potatoes from the hills is a tradition around here. Pulling sweet baby carrots is also…
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Tempting Trio of Spring Treasures
Could there be anything more perfect than finding wild fiddlehead ferns, ramps, and asparagus all in the same day? The blossoms on the trees are just popping out in lacy, pale green wonder. The grass in the fields is beyond green as well, and the odd freshly tilled field scents the air with earth and…
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Free chairs, romance novels, fabric scraps, and sourdough starter
New Englanders are known for our thrift, which is sometimes an almost obsessive need to reuse and recycle. That’s a good thing! I drove to the market recently and passed by a house with a chair on the lawn with a “FREE” sign sitting on its threadbare cushion. It was not an unusual site as…
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Refrigerator Vegetable Stew
With just a little hint of the warmth of Provence, this simple vegetarian stew is quick to put together and will make your house warm and inviting while it simmers. This has been a winter of cold and grey, with frequent snows and rains or sleets. Lots of time to stay in the house, light…
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Mushroom Croquettes with Saffron Lemon Sauce
We need to please a wide range of dietary needs in our family and friends circle, so I thought a special redux of the traditional croquettes recipe was in order. I swapped out lightly cooked shiitake mushrooms for the cooked turkey in this recipe, and bumped up some of the seasoning.
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Sweet Pea and Leek Risotto
It’s pea season! Make something fresh and lively, but don’t throw away those pea pods, turn them into stock for your risotto! I love that old-fashioned term “mess of peas.” It reminds me of grandmothers on porches with children at their feet shelling peas (or shucking, depending on region) while talking about everything wild and…
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Let’s use every inch of the carrot – roast them and create a luscious Carrot Top Pesto
Save these gems from the compost bin, add some maple syrup and ginger, and you have a delicious pesto! I have to admit, most of the time I have used carrot greens, or tops, as an addition to the stock pot so as not to waste them, or occasionally added a few leaves to salads….
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Moroccan Chickpea Stew
It might be a cold winter’s night, but a hearty bowl of stew with flavors from another land can warm the body and soul! Soups and stews warm many a winter’s night, or day. I love deep rich flavor that a nice long simmer will give a pot of vegetables lots of time to get…
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Sweet and Sour Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
A versatile recipe that is not overly sweet or sour, just right in the middle of delicious. I love stuffing vegetables –– peppers, tomatoes, onions, zucchini. But my favorite is portabella mushrooms. They just ask to be stuffed with something. Whenever I use them in a recipe where they are sliced up I think it…
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Savory Vegetable Crisp
We all love apple crisp, but this creamy and crispy savory version uses potatoes, carrots, an apple, onions, garlic, and rosemary. There’s a vegan option too! Apple crisp is a delicious Autumn dessert that causes many a heart to flutter. If I had an event to cater at that time of year, apple crisp was…
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Black Bean and Corn Salad
Corn and beans are a delicious combination, and when accompanied by lots of other flavorful and colorful vegetables, they shine. This is a vibrant salad with warm spices and lots of crunch! This little collection of beans, corn, vegetables, and spices can play many roles, so make a big batch and serve it differently at…
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Quick Miso Soup
When you are craving miso soup, nothing else will do! The closest Japanese restaurant to us is a half hour away, so we usually plan ahead of time to make the trek, cravings for sushi or miso soup aside. But miso soup is really simple to make, and in less time than it takes to…
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Green Curry with Scallops and Peas
A flavorful curry will always wake up dinner. This one is almost as quick as opening a can of curry paste, and much fresher in taste! Swap in tempeh, and you have a delicious vegan version. One of the downfalls of living in Vermont in the winter is that we don’t always have every ingredient…
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Fusilli with Dairy-Free Vodka Sauce & Seasoned Breadcrumbs
With the wide range of gluten-free pastas available today, this dairy-free version of the classic can easily feed all those family dietary requirements in one quick dish! My teenage grandson loves creamy pastas with a vodka tomato sauce. At lunch recently, he ordered just that at one of our favorite restaurants, but the dish was…
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Maple Oat Bread
There are some recipes that take you home, and some that create home for your own family. This one is both. Maple and oat are both staples of the north. Maple, of course, is the sweet spring essence of our forests and a much welcomed ingredient used by early settlers. It’s our first crop of…
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Winter Vegetable Refrigerator Pickles
Winter root vegetables are beautiful to look at, all the colors of the rainbow. Right now, I’m still excited to cook with them, but I know that by March I’ll be tired of rutabagas and beets! The holidays are over and we’re settling in to that long stretch of winter that holds both magnificent beauty…
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“Have a Ball” Root Vegetable Salad
Who says melons are the only produce to go to the ball? Carrots, beets, turnips, potatoes, and radishes want to have fun too! I’ve always loved fruit salads made with little balls of melon and other fruits. They are so pretty to look at! I had the melon baller in my hand recently and a…
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Warm Up Your Morning with Hot Cereal
It looks like a dish of cereal, a pretty one at that with a few little adornments. However, take a bite, and you might forget forever about those packets of instant oatmeal. Hot cereal in the winter When I was a child, winter months usually meant hot cereal in the morning, and that was…
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A Side Dish of Gratitude
The Brussels sprouts, cranberries, leek, and spinach that never made it to the Thanksgiving table got their time to shine as a tasty weeknight side. We have lots of local Brussels sprouts available to us through the winter months in the North, so it’s fun to play around with different ways to cook and combine…
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Cranberry Orange Relish with Horseradish and Sage
Thanksgiving update. While we had both this relish and beautifully prepared from scratch cranberry sauce, neither made it to the table! Just as we were clearing the dishes, someone remarked, “Where’s the cranberry sauce!” Just five ingredients, buzzed in a food processor, and you have a tangy relish for your holiday table. And no cooking!…
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Cranberry Bean Soup
It was an old standby, a large pot of flavorful and filling soup that fed an army using pantry staples and leftover scraps. My mother made yankee bean soup when she had a leftover ham bone and bits of ham and wasn’t planning to make her split pea soup. She didn’t have an actual recipe…
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Autumn Pot Pie with Roasted Vegetables
Comfort food, but in this version no one will miss the meat (especially if you don’t bother to tell them it’s not there…) There is one dish everyone in my family agrees on – a pot pie. Chicken pot pie, turkey pot pie, and seafood pot pie are the favorites, but I think they’d eat…
