Thanksgiving update. While we had both this relish and beautifully prepared from scratch cranberry sauce, neither made it to the table! Just as we were clearing the dishes, someone remarked, “Where’s the cranberry sauce!” Just five ingredients, buzzed in a food processor, and you have a tangy relish for your holiday table. And no cooking!…
Sour Cream Blueberry Pancakes
Shh, don’t tell the kids they are good for them… Of all the dishes I served up at the inn for 18 years, the most frequently requested meal from repeat guests was blueberry pancakes. People remember them, think about them, desire them, and will eat them with gusto when served. Not only a favorite of…
Mom’s Best Mashed Potatoes with a Potato Peeling Twist
What’s better than mashed potatoes? How about a crispy potato peeling topping? If we forgot mashed potatoes at the Thanksgiving table, there would be a revolt. But since we need to please all eaters with this important dish, making it vegan friendly is as simple as it is important! I think I would definitely rate […]
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…
Homemade Lemon Pasta with Lemon Garlic Sauce
Homemade pasta is fun to make (or quick if you do it in a food processor) and with just the simple addition of lemon, you are already on your way to a flavorful dinner. I’ve made homemade pasta with my my kids and grandkids since they were able to form a ball of play dough….
Apple Galette
A sheet of pastry, some apples, and a few other ingredients, and you have a really quick and delicious dessert! A fruit galette bakes up faster than a two-crust pie, and comes together faster as well. Apple is perfect in a galette, and can be enhanced with the addition of other fruits: fresh cranberries, raspberries,…
Smoked Salmon Wiggle over Roasted Vegetables
It sounds silly, I know. But, if you grew up in New England, your mom probably made a “wiggle.” It was usually made with salmon or tuna, and silly name or not, it was the favorite of many. This New England classic was a a delicious and cheap meal when I was a kid, and…
Orange and Paprika Shrimp Stir-Fry
It’s a treat for the eyes as well as the palate, and you everyone can make it their own! At least once a week, and often two, we have a stir-fry of some sort for supper/dinner. A stir-fry is my go-to fast food because it doesn’t require a recipe or even a lot of thought….
Yankee Cranberry Bean Soup
It was an old standby, a large pot of flavorful and filling soup that fed an army using pantry staples and leftover scraps. My mother made yankee bean soup when she had a leftover ham bone and bits of ham and wasn’t planning to make her split pea soup. She didn’t have an actual recipe…
Moroccan Spiced Carrots and Potatoes with Rosemary Crème Fraîche
Carrots and potatoes love to be together, whether mashed, steamed, grilled, or roasted. Add a sauce made with rosemary, garlic, and lemon, and you have a winning side dish. I find myself thinking about side dishes this week. Our first snow flurries and plummeting temperatures this week, left no denying the fact we are well…
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…
Filling the empty bowls…
With many people living with food insecurity, it is good to pause and think about the ways we can all contribute to the solutions to these difficult problems. Our community participates in the “Empty Bowl” project the first Sunday of November every year to support our local drop-in center and food pantry. It is not…
Autumn Raspberry, Pear, and Ginger Tart
Lovely flavors of the season combine to make a memorable tart. Autumn raspberries are sweeter than those in summer, or at least it seems that way. Perhaps I just think that because they are a treasure at that time of year, a summer throwback, a tease because it could snow any day! This year’s autumn…
Heirloom Tomato and Mozzarella Pie with Herbed Crust
The crust makes memorable this simple pie of tomatoes and cheese. The surplus of cherry tomatoes has finally dwindled at our home to the last few treasures ripening inside. Thursday, we had a 65-degree day, and I let myself think perhaps my struggling cherry tomato plants might offer up something new. This morning? A frost,…
Rosemary and Lemon Pastry Crust
The addition of fresh herbs to a basic pastry dough makes a remarkable transformation for a simple pie. You will think twice about making a plain shell in the future! In all the cooking classes I’ve held, the one technique that sparks absolute fear in many a heart is the idea of making pastry dough…
A Study in Purple…
I didn’t intend for it to happen, but when I went to make the roasted vegetables for Sunday dinner, they were all purple! So I threw in a bunch of grapes for good measure. I sent my husband to the market to get sweet potatoes, and he came back with a purple variety. They were…
