It’s a funny name, but this inexpensive Depression-era dish will feed a family quickly and deliciously. While researching Depression-era recipes for a different project, I came across several versions of an old New England supper staple during these hard times –– “Rinktum Diddy” or Rum Tum Diddy or Rum Tim Ditty. No one seemed to…
Three Cabbage Carnival Salad
It is kind of a slaw, kind of a cabbage salad, it’s full of color, and it feeds a crowd! It is summer cookout time, and we gather together, bringing food and conversation to the table. If I’m asked to bring a salad, I like to stray from the old standby recipes of potato salad,…
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 ––…
Mushroom, Leek & Garlic Scape Pasta
Fresh and bright, these early summer flavors combine for a satisfying bowl of pasta that pleases the whole family. You never know what you are going to find at the farmers market this time of year, but whatever you find, you can spin some magic and come up with something delicious for supper, often using…
Sugar Snap Peas with Baby Carrots
It’s peas and carrots updated for 2019! There is no excuse for grabbing a bag of frozen peas and carrots at this time of year. The first spring plantings of both are hitting the farm stands and farmers markets, and are they ever tasty. With a little updating, peas and carrots move from an invisible…
Seductive Strawberry Cream Scones
It’s Impossible to improve on the original old family recipe, unless you add a dab of whipped cream! I was afraid this would be one of those years when the strawberries would taste watery since we’ve had so much rain, but I was wrong! The strawberries have been absolutely delicious this year – sweet, plump,…
A Non-Dairy Wedding Cake?
It took a few attempts, but I finally landed on just the right texture and flavor for a beautiful “naked” wedding cake, one with no dairy. My wedding present to an incredible young woman I’ve known since she was an adolescent was to make her wedding cake. It is a great honor to be asked…
Shrimp Stuffed Avocados
Serving this salad in little avocado boats adds a little bit of festive to a summer dinner. When I was growing up, I doubt I ever saw an avocado. Now, there’s hardly a day when I don’t find one on my plate in some form from breakfast to party appetizer. They are everywhere! My mother-in-law…
Cauliflower & Potato Salad
Less carbs and calories than the classic, but with the traditional summer flavor. I loved my mother’s potato salad. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it, and she made it slightly different each time, but she always included potatoes, eggs, onion, mayonnaise, and chives. Sometimes she added peas, fresh parsley, scallions, but usually…
New England Lobster Stew
There are certain sacred dishes in New England, and many of them revolve around Maine lobsters. We try to make several trips to the shore each year, and often vacation in Maine. We find that the holiday is punctuated with various lobsters along the way, always at our favorite stands and restaurants. Planning the meals…
Strawberry & Rose Fool
Strawberries are best served up without a lot of fuss, but a little rosewater doesn’t hurt! Strawberry season in New England marks the true beginning of the summer. We look forward to the beautiful sweet treats we can now enjoy by the pound and not by just the ounce. Only when they are in season…
Update your picnic with a modern twist on a three-bean salad and other treats
It’s picnic time, if the weather holds… It has been a rainy spring, and while we haven’t thought much about going on picnics, the warmth is returning, and the bonus from all that moisture is a green landscape that begs for a blanket and a basket of treats. The easiest picnic food is eaten with the…
Chive Blossom Vinegar
The chives are flowering en masse! Now’s the time to make a flavorful vinegar. All at once, the herb bed is filled with the fluffy little purple blossoms as the chives send up their flowers. They are beautiful, they are fragrant, and they are tasty as well. Break up the flowers and use them as…
Chicken Thighs with Chive Pesto
The freshness of spring and the beauty of flowers combine to make this topping memorable I planted a small clump of chives in my garden many years ago. I now have four large clumps, and have given away many more starts to friends and relatives. They are hardy in a New England garden, and they…
Heavenly Baked Blooming Onions
The smell of baking onions drives the hungry wild! One of my favorite commentators on Vermont Public Radio for many years was the late Janet Green, whose homespun reflections were often memorable in some way. In one of her programs, she talked about what to do when dinner is going to be a bit late,…
From the Treasure Box
Vintage cookbooks are a window on another time, and a record of how we lived and fed each other My late mother-in-law Pat was the second wife of my husband’s father and an amazing addition to the family she was. Cooking was the biggest part of Pat’s life; she was an accomplished chef and restauranteur…
