Simple additions let the flavor of the salmon shine through! We eat a lot of salmon dishes in our house, and this is one of the easiest and most flavorful. The full flavor of the salmon shines through, with the wild leeks and lemons adding their own unique accents. Another bonus is that it is…
Spicy Guacamole Salad
A refreshing guacamole is not just a dip for corn chips. With just a few additions, you have a lovely spring salad or first course. Add a little shrimp, and you have a light lunch. I love avocados and eat them in some form most days. They are great simply sliced and drizzled with citrus…
Marinated Spring Vegetables
You can use either fiddleheads or asparagus, ramps or scallions. These spring treasures will add a pleasant freshness to any meal! When local wild spring vegetables are bountiful, we look for every way possible to use them. Fiddleheads make only the briefest of appearances in our Northern woods, but when they start poking their little…
Spring Foragers Supper
Celebrate early spring with the New England’s signature delicacies of fiddleheads, dandelions, ramps, and mushrooms, in two mid-week meals. The season of foraging has begun. Fiddleheads are everywhere, dandelion greens are decorating the lawn, wild onions are poking their heads up, and any day now, the reclusive morel mushrooms will arrive. In the garden, large…
Fairy Punch
This rhubarb punch makes its appearance in the spring, just about the time the fairies wake up from their winter’s rest and start to explore the spring garden. When the kids were very young, we started searching for fairies in the garden. We actually got a photo of one once, in the early spring after…
Split Pea and Cauliflower Soup
A little lighter than the original, but packed with flavor and nutrition. In a pressure cooker, this is easily a weeknight dinner. This is my 100th post! Pea soup made from dried legumes is a classic Northern dish with French Canadian roots. On rainy spring nights, this soup warms the bones and adds home comfort…
Maple Baked Egg Cups
There’s a little sweet, a little savory, and a lot to love in this brunch or breakfast indulgence. We got this year’s batch of dark amber maple syrup this week! Thank you to our friend Greg and his little sugarhouse for the sweet that lasts us all year. With the arrival of the new syrup,…
Our Favorite Carrot Cake
An old family recipe, traditional at Spring, topped with less-sugar cream cheese frosting, and made with a twist or two! As we think ahead to planning Easter and Spring gatherings, carrot cake comes to mind as a perfect dessert. The flavors and textures of this cake appeal to many, so it is often requested at…
Sweet or Savory Buckwheat Crêpes
Naturally gluten-free, these lacy traditional crêpes are perfect for either sweet or savory dishes. Buckwheat crêpes are one of my favorites from the family recipe box. My own family loves them as well. I might make them for a Sunday breakfast, brunch with guests, dessert, or as a well-loved after-school snack for my grandchildren. Everything…
Pan Fried Trout
Native trout brings flavor to the spring plate Nothing says spring to me more than the beginning of trout fishing season in Vermont, and we’re almost there, April 13 to be exact. Once the ice melts, and everything loosens up, it’s time to get your license, clean the poles, and plot your next expedition, even…
Sylvia’s Maple Oatmeal 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 products 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…
3-Bean Vegetarian Chili
Sometimes, you just have to have chili! Even if someone’s drawn a line in the sand Now, I know the world of chili has definite camps of connoisseurs – there are those who think it can’t possibly be chili if it contains beans, or even tomato, and there are others who can’t imagine the dish…
Sautéed Watercress & Asparagus with Miso
Watercress is far more than just a garnish on the side of the plate, it’s a superfood! We crave fresh, new greens in the spring, just-picked treasures that name their own season and make us feel good. Asparagus season is one of our favorites, right along with fiddlehead and ramp seasons. But although it grows…
Crunchy Oven-Baked Haddock with Herbs
From April to November, New England Haddock is at its most plentiful. Of all the Atlantic whitefish, haddock’s flavor profile is unique and sought after. I know it is a favorite of my family. My mother cooked haddock, cod, and other whitefish simply. On a Friday night when she had more time, she cut up haddock…
Spring Arugula & Lemon Soup
It’s been a long winter and we’re craving greens! With a sunshine hit of lemon, some peppery arugula, this quick soup will wake you out of hibernation! I needed spring this week so I made this soup. We want to be done with snow, and sleet, and mud, and with roasted root vegetables too, no matter…
Dressed Up Green Beans & Tomatoes
One secret ingredient, and a light adornment of Parmesan, transform the humble green bean into the star of the plate. Green beans are handy to have in the refrigerator. They keep for days, and can be cooked in a matter of minutes. There is nothing like fresh green beans from the garden, steamed, bathed with…
