The cherries are here! Let’s bake something.We wait all year, and it all starts to happen at once.Fruit treasures in Vermont are fleeting, precious jewels! We watch the rhubarb plants grow, and then the strawberries appear. While they are still coming strong, the cherries make their appearance and fruit desserts are just a moment away!…
Brandied Cherries
A perfect cherry suspended in a spiced brandy. These treasures will delight all year long, and they are one of the easiest kitchen gifts to make!Local is always best, of courseMake these when local cherries are ripe, firm, and beautifully colored. If you can get them, try using a mix of sour and sweet cherries, but…
Guilt-Free Banana Muffins for Everyone!
Everyone can eat these muffins guilt-free! They can be made gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy free, and can be made egg-free and nut-free, but they still have tons of flavor and extremely moist! We have all kinds of food restrictions and desires in our family, so sometimes it is nice to make something you know everyone can eat.Lots…
Buttons and Bows
Button mushrooms and bow-tie pasta combine with fresh from the garden vegetables for a delightful summer salad. I remember my Mom fussing about in our kitchen and singing a silly little song about Buttons and Bows and telling me that although she liked the song it was stuck in her head and she was singing it…
Smoky Grilled Garlic Scape Hummus
It’s a little smoky, a little sweet, and a lot savory with the garlic scapes adding a mild not-quite garlic flavor.I think I could eat hummus any meal or snack of the day, and it’s usually front and center at a party or picnic. I’ve made it dozens of ways, but my latest rendition uses…
Squash Flowers Stuffed with Swiss Chard and Beans
These pretty baked summer squash blossoms are dairy- and gluten- free, and stuffed with a flavorful chickpea and rainbow chard filling. There is something simple and beautiful about an edible flower on a plate. Used sparingly, they can add interesting flavor and color to many dishes. But a flower big enough to stuff? The granddaddy…
Sunburst Summer Squash with Saffron and Lemon
This side dish tastes as refreshing as it looks, and can easily move from lunch to dinner. We’ve been experiencing a heat wave here in Vermont, and we’ve seen lots of sun! The gardens are growing like crazy with our long hours of daylight, and everyone is eating a lot of veggies! Sunshine Veggies! Local…
Fresh Pea and Coconut Soup
This chilled soup is light and refreshing, just the thing to enjoy on a hot summer’s evening. The first full day of summer is upon us, and we are in the middle of a little heat wave. Highs in the 90s, tons of humidity, lots of sun and pop-up thunder showers. I don’t want long…
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…
Strawberry and Rose Crêpe Tower
A festive take on a strawberry Crêpe. My garden roses are blooming like crazy, and I’m always inspired by their fragrance to create something special in the kitchen. This year, I decided that since the strawberries are so wonderful, I would start there, with roses, their late spring friend, providing the accent. People love crêpes,…
Seared Scallops, Artichokes, and Tomatoes over Polenta
When I was growing up, my mom would make corn meal mush. This was the New Englander’s version of “polenta,” but since we hold not a single Italian gene, it was just mush to us. We had it for breakfast as cereal, sweetened with maple syrup, as a starch at dinner, and the leftovers were…
Sweet Corn and Potato Salad
The corn’s the star here, but we’ve added some horseradish to wake up the potatoes! I love salads that get better as they sit in the refrigerator! This combination of corn, potatoes, horseradish, and chives, invites seconds! The corn’s the star, but everything else, lightly dressed, is happy to lend flavor Pantry meal This was…
