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,…
Category: Vintage Update
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…
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Sylvia’s Irish Cream Cheesecake with a Cookie Crust
People love pie, but they adore cheesecake, at least most of us. The cheesecake on a dessert buffet is often the first attacked, and I think a lot of people are drawn to this creamy delight because it is not as sweet as some desserts. Also, the toppings on a cheesecake look really inviting! There’s…
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Imposter Pumpkin Pie
We’re all thinking about our Thanksgiving menus this week, including the important pies and desserts to please everyone around the table. I have rarely made a pumpkin pie from scratch, and when I have (once) it did not turn out as good as my mother’s. Couple that with the fact I’m not a pumpkin pie lover, there has been little…
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Green Mountain Onion Soup
This variation on French onion soup gets a little twist with the additions of apple cider and maple syrup – just a touch. I love onions, and I really love French onion soup. However, what I want the most is to taste the vegetable first and foremost, so I thought I’d experiment with a vegetarian…
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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…
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French Apple Cake
The apple is the star of this dish, or rather, the “apples” of different varieties! I’ve made apple cakes for years, and they are always a hit. When we head out to the orchard to pick, I know there will be a special dessert sometime in the near future, most likely served after Sunday dinner….
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Vermont Shepherdess Pie
A vegetarian version of the layered casserole we all grew up on! Hearty enough for everyone. We are no longer under the illusion that summer will last forever. The temperatures have dropped, and so have lots of leaves! But right now, there seems to be just about every vegetable out there one could want, along…
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Grandmother Alice’s Gingerbread
This is a traditional gingerbread, baked in a traditional square pan, but with a few little flavor twists along the way to move it into this century. I lived across the road from my Aunt Mary, my father’s sister, most of my growing up years. She was a cook who fussed little and rarely used recipes. She…
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Heirloom Beets & Greens
Whether you have a love affair with beets or not, you can eat every inch of them, and they pack a lot of nutrition.
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Haymaker’s Switchel
The original energy drink from Colonial times, haymaker’s switchel has kept New England farmers, and others, well hydrated in the humid summer months. (Rum optional). When I was a child, once in a while someone in the family made haymakers switchel. I didn’t care for it much as a kid, but a few years ago,…
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Coleslaw with Buttermilk Dressing
A delightful Depression-era coleslaw moves into the 21st Century with just a few slight modifications! I got sidetracked this summer with a project from 85 years ago, and boy was it fun. WPA project on today’s table My husband and I are members of the Vermont Historical Society and we attended a dinner this spring…
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Not quite your mother’s Succotash
It’s so much fun to cook this time of year! The farm stand dictates supper, and it’s always good! It’s not surprising that many traditional New England dishes use corn, beans, potatoes, squash, peppers, and tomatoes. These were all gifts of the New World, foods that the First Americans cultivated and enjoyed for thousands of…
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New England jonnycakes: traditional, yet ready for the party!
In New England, these little flatbreads have a long history from the indigenous population to today’s dressed-up tables. In New England, these little cornmeal pancakes are called jonnycakes (no “h”), sometimes jonny cakes, two words; in the south, they may be referred to as journey cakes or hoe cakes. They are also known as ashcake,…
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Broccolini Salad with Toasted Garlic
Inspired by local produce treasures, this remake of broccoli salad will please (almost) everyone! You never know what you are going to find at the farmers market or the farm stand this time of year. This week, I found some lovely, just-picked broccolini in flower and I knew I would use every part of it…
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Grilled Fish Tacos with Cherry & Radish Salsa
The cherries are in season, so why not use them rather than an imported fruit? Cherry salsa? Why not? We often serve fish tacos with the popular mango salsa, and when I was thinking about making fish tacos recently, I knew I needed to come up with an alternate fruit because of an allergy ––…
