Year: 2016

Quick-Pickled Vegetable Salad and Brining Vegetables

Quick-Pickled Vegetable Salad and Brining Vegetables

  These little veggies were served at the Seed Savers Conference dinner and have now been in my refrigerator for over two weeks….and they still look and taste fantastic!  Once again I set myself up for the situation where I didn’t know exactly what I 

In the Other Kind of Time

In the Other Kind of Time

  Friends!   It’s August and many people in our neck of the woods are on their vacation trips before school begins.  Instead of recipes this week I say we take this time to enjoy some pictures and a poem recently shared with me by a 

Kale Salad with Honeyed Shallots and Plums

Kale Salad with Honeyed Shallots and Plums

  Another salad from Pascale Beale who I had the pleasure of meeting and experiencing her cooking class last fall.  This seemed like a good salad for the season as plums are beginning to roll in and at least some greens are holding their own. 

Carolina Gold Rice Grits Cakes

Carolina Gold Rice Grits Cakes

  All rice is not equal.   I have had creamy rice before, but this was another branch in the tree of amazing grains. People from Anson Mills in South Carolina were at the Seed Savers Exchange Annual Conference last weekend, and beforehand they offered to mail 

Broccomole

Broccomole

  Last weekend we ventured up to the old haunts of Minneapolis to help my dear friend Julie JAO with an evening of speed painting performance in her studio.  Some of you may have seen her speed painting the signature stick figures but now she’s moved 

Lemon-zest Ade with Szechuan Pepper

Lemon-zest Ade with Szechuan Pepper

  In the Upper Midwest of this hemisphere we’ve had a lovely reprieve with mild temperatures this week, but the mercury will be rising soon and we know many of you south of us are scorching.  Time for a little refreshing break.  This is an 

Favorites June 2016

Favorites June 2016

  Ah, late June—the season of the Willow Weavers! This year’s Willow Gathering focused on traditional basket work and hosted instructors Joe Hogan from Ireland, Katherine Lewis from Washington, Karen Tembreull from Michigan and Joanna Schanz from Iowa.  They led their participants through in-depth projects that 

Sankt Hans Aften

Sankt Hans Aften

  Sankt Hans Aften St. John’s Eve, Midsummer, Summer Solstice (“sun stands still”)….whatever the name, it’s a good celebration: good food, friends, and a bonfire on a short summer’s night.   My friend Dennis Larson is an avid celebrator of this Danish version of a 

Avocado Smoothie

Avocado Smoothie

    Avocados are nearly a perfect food.  They’re creamy, tasty, filled with nutrients and healthy fats, rich in omega-3’s, and they go with so many different kinds of dishes both sweet and savory.  Lately we’ve been eating them with a spoon out of the 

Thai Chicken Patties

Thai Chicken Patties

    It’s true, there was a similar post last year about lemongrass pork patties, but when something tastes this good it’s okay to do variations on a theme. I made these buddies small for a tapas-style potluck, but you could make them larger for 

Plantain Cracker-Chips

Plantain Cracker-Chips

  Nothing like trying out new recipes on a few hundred people…   There was a request for plantains at a large graduation party a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve made simple chips before by slicing the starchy fruit and either frying or baking the 

Sweet Bean Hummus

Sweet Bean Hummus

  My little Sweet Bean. A few weeks ago a friend asked if I would concoct a hummus out of local ingredients for a celebration at the Farmer’s Market.  They wanted to serve hummus in lettuce leaves which is a traditional Iranian dish of spring, 

Asparagus Bacon Fettuccine

Asparagus Bacon Fettuccine

  These are the foods I had so this is what happened for dinner.  You can’t go wrong with asparagus and bacon together so really this is more of a reminder to you than it is a formal recipe.  It probably falls into the Vague 

5-Spice Rhubarb Crisp

5-Spice Rhubarb Crisp

  Spices that launched a thousand ships.  Aren’t they beautiful?   Five Spice Powder is used extensively in Chinese and southeast Asian cooking, often as a rub with meats like duck or in sauces and stews, and as many foods do it has now spread 

Milkweed Seed Bombs

Milkweed Seed Bombs

  Remember this little guy from two years ago?  We did figure out he was a guy by the dots on the wings, check out better pictures here to see the visual differences of male and females.   Spring is a great time to plant milkweed to 

Favorites April 2016

Favorites April 2016

  From a run in the woods today: it’s good to be alive.     Since catering became a major part of my life spring has meant the beginning of the crazy season, the listmaking-emailing-ordering-prepping-ducks-in-a-row pseudo-calm before the storm, the beginning of nearly non-stop intensity. 

Peppermint Coconut Oil Snacks

Peppermint Coconut Oil Snacks

 photo by Roy Hampton It has been so fun going through my father’s photos of our times in Mexico.  Good memories of a slower life, and my oh my we all looked so young. This is a print of two nopales (prickly pear cactus) growing 

Caramelized Café Combate

Caramelized Café Combate

photo by Roy Hampton  Blacker than the inside of a box buried in a cave one mile below ground, caramelized coffee (sometimes referred to as the brand name Café Combate) is the northern Mexico style of roasting green coffee beans with azucar, or sugar.  The 

Calcutta Curry Soup

Calcutta Curry Soup

  Red Lentils—one of the most colorful legumes around.  They’re nutritious, delicious and they cook fast if you need some quick protein in a meal.  Check out World’s Healthiest Foods for an afternoon read on these adorable orange delights.  They’re best if rinsed numerous times 

GF Lemon Almond Cake (Torta Caprese Bianca)

GF Lemon Almond Cake (Torta Caprese Bianca)

    Spring means freak snowstorms and a gathering of my sisters…and last week we had both.  Once everyone made it through the weather and to our destination safely we had a lovely weekend of eating, laughing, sharing, sight seeing, and then of course eating