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…
Category: Vintage Update
A Really Good Cup of Hot Chocolate!
December is here! In the north, that means you’ll need a good cup of hot chocolate, and I’m ready. After making snowmen and forts with my brothers on cold, blustery days, Mom would have steaming hot chocolate waiting for us! Nothing tasted better, and nothing warmed us more, beginning with our frozen…
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Apple Purses in Buttered Cider Rum Sauce
Did you pick too many apples? Our wonderful apple season is in full swing, and after a delightful trip to the orchard this week, apple dishes began to dance around in my head as I stared at my abundant haul. The weather was sunny but crisp, definitely fall air. The leaf peepers were out in…
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(Today’s)Yankee Bean and Macaroni Soup
A New England classic that stands the test of time – inexpensive, quick, and really tasty. When I was growing up, Mom often put together a “Yankee Bean Soup” using leftover beans from another meal and a ham bone for flavor. It was a quick meal, tasty, filling, and usually served up with biscuits. There…
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Love Your Heart Chocolate Pudding
You don’t have to compromise flavor to make a delicious chocolate dessert that is heart healthy and still says “I love you!” It’s fun to make a special treat on Valentine’s Day, but sometimes dietary restrictions can leave you scratching your head to make a dessert that is both delicious and healthful. After my husband’s heart…
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Tomato Rice with Broccoli Rabe and Roasted Garlic
It’s tasty and economical, and with a few additions this humble dish can star at a dinner party! From Mexico to Malaysia, and just about everywhere else, there are recipes for simple rice and tomato dishes that offer a wide variety of flavors and options. A base for the simple or the complicated, they create…
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Aunt Mary’s Salt Cod Cakes
The fish that fed the world, traveled from my Aunt’s kitchen to mine, with a few changes along the way. My Aunt Mary made cod cakes frequently, with a flavor that still tickles the memory after all these years. An old New England standby, these were extremely economical, although usually a bit on the bland…
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Right Now, the World Needs Apple Crisp
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…
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Three Sisters Succotash
Corn, Beans, and Squash are a timeless combination, and especially delicious in this classic New England dish. We just about live on vegetables this time of year. There are so many wonderful delights just asking to be taken home from the farm stand. Red swaths of tomatoes are everywhere, squashes are turning up in their…
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Sweet & Sour Brussels Sprouts
You don’t have to be a fan of Brussels sprouts to like this dish! When I was a child, Brussels sprouts were not my favorite, and I could tell we were having them for dinner the second I walked in the house. The aroma that permeated the house, cooking them to death, and serving them…
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Maple and Spice Granola
When my children were small, I got in the habit of making granola for them, a big container always graced a prime spot in the larder. With oats and raisins from the bulk section of the health food store, this was a simple and inexpensive cereal to make while on a really tight budget. We…
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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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Garlic Scape Mashed Potatoes with Poached Eggs
These quirky little serpent-like garlic scapes at the end of spring just ask to be used in any number of dishes, raw or cooked. It was a beautiful Vermont Summer solstice weekend morning and my husband, sister, and I decided to hit the farmers market in Norwich, a lovely little village just a half hour…
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Herbed Fingerling Potatoes with Mustard and Lemon
I have met very few potatoes I didn’t like. There was a casserole my mother made when we were camping that used canned potatoes. I’ll spare you the details. There was also the gummy blender mashed potatoes I made in high school; I’d been practicing the new Oster with just about everything. Any way you…
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Rhubarb and Jalapeño Marmalade
Nothing says Spring like the arrival of rhubarb! My granddaughter brought be an abundant bouquet of freshly pulled rhubarb this week. It was magnificent! The beautiful, ruby stalks are frequently paired with strawberries, also in season at the same time, and usually in a sweet application –– strawberry rhubarb pie or crisp, muffins, coffee cake,…
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Sweet and Spicy Broccoli and Pea Salad
Not quite Mom’s Broccoli Salad, this one’s a little sweet, a little sour, a little spicy, and a lot flavorful! My mom used to make a broccoli salad in the summer that included a mayonnaise dressing, lots of bacon, apple, walnuts, and purple onions. Everyone loved it, but I thought it might be nice to…
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A Celebration of Maple Sugar Season
It’s our state tree, our state flavor, and this time of year is it also our first crop. The sap is running! We love hearing those words. Our first crop of the year in Vermont is maple! It is also our first real evidence of spring in this cold climate. When I hear that the…
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Spelt Anadama Bread
An old New England favorite with a twist or two! This traditional New England yeasted bread was commonly baked throughout the region for at least a couple hundred years. It was even baked and sold commercially in Rockport, Mass. –– where some say it originated –– well into the 20th century. This delightfully flavored bread always…
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Almost Mom’s Salmon Loaf
A twist from 100 years ago, and my Mom’s salmon loaf was transformed! When I was growing up, included in our family’s weeknight supper rotation was the humble salmon loaf, often served on Friday fish nights. A simple recipe that used bread crumbs to stretch an inexpensive can of salmon to make eight servings. I…
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Nantucket Cranberry Pie
Tart and tangy, sweet and satisfying. This pie is easy to make, and can easily move from everyday to holiday dinner dessert. We love our cranberries in New England. Their pop of tartness and vibrant red color move from sweet to savory with ease. What would the Thanksgiving table be without cranberry sauce or relish?…
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Very Berry Coffee Cake
The berries are everywhere, and we never run out of recipes using these treasurers. The grandkids and I joke that sometimes the berries don’t make it all the way home, so we have to buy double! My mom loved making coffee cakes, usually simple recipes with a light streusel topping. She made these little cakes…
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Mom’s Mayonnaise Cake, with a Twist
It’s a simple cake, no fuss and no frills. Quick to put together, and filled with memories. Once in a while, after school, if we were lucky, we found a chocolate mayonnaise cake waiting for us. We needed a treat this week, so I revisited this old recipe, which I’m sure was a standard in…
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Three Mushroom Cassoulet
A traditional cassoulet is an experience in beans and meats, and more meats, and can be quite heavy. This lightened up version uses no meat at all, just meaty mushrooms and lots of other flavor. The traditional slow-cooked cassoulet was created in France, the original Languedoc region towns of Toulouse, Carcassonne, and Castelnaudary. It 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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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…
