These New England staples combine for a memorable winter supper that is packed with flavor and nutrition. Our family’s favorite green in the garden when we were growing up was Swiss chard, and it remains one of my personal favorites to this day. In addition to being tasty, it is easy to grow, you can…
A Celebration of Citrus: Fennel, Grapefruit, and Blood Orange Salad
Light and refreshing, this dish shows off citrus at its best! In the dead of winter, when our fresh local produce is limited to root vegetables and greens, the seasonal citrus from the south are vibrant rays of sunshine. I look forward to all the varieties of oranges available, especially the sweet and colorful blood…
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Whole Wheat Lemon Muffins
This tangy and tender muffin began life as a humble home economics recipe from high school. When I was in high school, I thought I’d take a break from my heavier schedule and signed up for home economics one term. Since I had been cooking with my mother since I was very young, I found…
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Potatoes with Pesto, Peas, and Wild Rice
How could any dish with potatoes and peas not be delicious? This is my new favorite side dish. First, the centerpiece is potatoes, my desert island food, so no dish could start off better. I’ve used colorful baby potatoes here, but you can use any potato you love, just cut them into bite-sized pieces. This…
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Weeknight Mushroom Tetrazzini
If you like a Tetrazzini, you will love this vegetarian version that is filled with mushroom flavor. There’s a baked version with crispy top as well! Like much of the east coast, we had a beautiful snowfall this week. I love a snow day of cooking or baking, making a big mess in the kitchen…
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Purple Reigns Salad
Purple reigns in this salad, and all that color means it’s loaded with lots of healthful nutrients, a nice boost on those low energy days! We’re two weeks in the month of January, often the Season of Resolutions and quests for foods that are nutritious but also hearty where the weather is cold, and it’s…
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Braised Golden Beets and Winter Radishes with Meyer Lemon
We’re deep in winter, and that means not only root vegetables but luscious Meyer lemons as well! Do you like beets? Many people love them, but I have to admit that I’m not a fan of the big fat red beets, perhaps because I had so many as a child. I want to love them,…
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Winter Veggie Stew: A study in orange
This soup is flavorful and warming, and on a cold winter’s night, a welcome supper. It has been grey here in Vermont. Tuesday, we had a bit of sun for a while, but for the most part, the last two weeks have been black and white with a bit of holiday red tossed in. The…
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Lemon Garlic Shrimp over Spaghetti Squash, something light for the new year
We’ve indulged, and now it is time to think about a little lighter experience at the dinner table! The stars were with us, and our family was able to gather together and celebrate the holidays this year, only the second time we’ve all been together in over two years. This being Vermont, with its unpredictable…
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Let’s Have a Party! We’ll Have Crab and Mashed Potato Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms!
A special starter for a dinner party, fun hors d’oeuvre, or a comfort food supper. (And there is a delicious vegan option as well!) First of all, any dish that has mashed potatoes as a prime ingredient is going to be on my favorites list. This has both mashed potatoes and local crab meat, which…
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Let’s Have a Party! We’ll serve June Cleaver Toasts, of course!
Nothing could be easier; these delectable little canapés may become a routine in your home after the first bite. Promise! I was told by an old family friend, Hilda, who lived to her 100th year, that this was a recipe for a party canapé in a pinch, popular in the 1950s, quick and easy. They are…
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Let’s have a party! Amie’s Olive and Artichoke Tapenade starts it off.
With pantry items and a couple of fresh touches, you can have a lovely appetizer in minutes! I love an appetizer you know you can throw together at the last minute, and even better if you can make it a day ahead of time. I can’t remember a party where I didn’t have a bowl…
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Pat’s Holiday Gravlax
I first received gravlax as a gift from my Mother-in-Law and was amazed that this could be accomplished in a home kitchen I remember getting this gift of home-cured gravlax, a salt-preserved salmon, every year at Christmastime from my mother-in-law Pat, my husband’s father’s second wife. The first time she gave it to us, I…
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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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Treats from a Busy Holiday Kitchen
These can be made in minutes! Relax. Time is tight just about now, but we still want to treat our family and friends with delights from our kitchen, especially morsels we create once a year. Cookies and breads top the list of holiday offerings. I know in our family, we have recipes everyone craves and…
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Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins
That sounds like a mouthful, but they are easy to make, and full of flavor and nutrition! When I was growing up, my mom made English muffins once in a while, but not as a regular part of her baking routine. She used tuna-fish cans as the mold to shape them, and as a kid…
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French Lentils with Hakurei Turnips and Sweet Potatoes
This recipe is delicious on a cold autumn night. Lentils are hearty and satisfying, and the addition of the turnips and sweet potatoes round out the flavors, textures, and nutrition in this dish. You can serve it straight up, or dress it up for company with a piece of fish or tofu. The base of…
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Omelet with Nantucket Bay Scallops and Peas
When they are in season, Nantucket Bay Scallops are a treasure from our New England waters. If you are lucky enough to travel to Nantucket Island, Mass., from November to March, plan to dine at one of the fabulous seafood restaurants and look for their bay scallop dishes. You won’t be disappointed. The best in…
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Seven Roasted Autumn Vegetables and One Exquisite Sauce
Pick a rainbow of autumn vegetables, top a bed of wilted greens, and enhance with a simple Maple, Miso, and Mustard Sauce. It is the perfect time of year to think about a big platter of roasted vegetables, especially the delicious roots of the season. I feel truly blessed to live in a beautiful and…
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Making Nana’s Dinner Rolls
Mother always made the rolls, in a great big batch. We called them Nana Rolls, and everyone had some in their freezer for a rainy day. Be it a Christmas dinner, a community potluck, or just a little dinner party, out came the big bread bowl. Out came the massive ingredients, the buckets of flour,…
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Cauliflower Soup with Sun Dried Tomato Chili Oil and Anchovy Croutons
If you’re having a tough week, a pot of soup always helps! I am not quite sure how, but I ended up with both a large and small cauliflower in my refrigerator this week, and while there are indeed a thousand uses for this vegetable these days from pizza crust to stand-ins for mashed potatoes…
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Rigatoni with Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic
Autumn flavors combine with pasta for comfort food delight! The weather finally turned this weekend to crisp and cooler, and then rainy and dank. Lulled by a long, warm early Autumn, we’re all scrambling now to finish those yard chores before snow. Although the thermometer dipped and hovered close to freezing, and the chilly rains…
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Pear & Ginger Muffins
Ripe autumn pears dance beautifully with spicy ginger! We had a lovely brunch with friends Suzy and Bob last week at the peak of Vermont’s fabulous foliage color. It was an autumn celebration of some of the best of the season: a frittata featuring native squash, beans, and corn. Roasted potatoes, of course. A few…
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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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Sushi Salad with Shrimp, Pickled Ginger, & Wasabi Dressing
A salad using some common components of a sushi roll fits the bill as a light offering, and it’s also quick and easy to make. Now, one might not immediately associate Vermont with the growing of ginger, and yet, in the past few years these exotic tropical nuggets, along with their cousin turmeric, are making…
