Cumin Ginger Tea
Half pack—not looking so bad. To make things more interesting, in the wee hours of the morning the day before we left I came down with a stomach/intestinal bug. This made for a very slow day of packing that was not planned to …
Author: Ruth
German Onion Pie
This may sound a little like ‘stone soup’ or just a way to use up loads of onions in a pie but it really is scrumptious, summer or winter. These tangy squares will be our travel food—snacking in the car or popping it …
Creamy Mexican Potato Soup
Hot soup in the cold days of January—it’s never a bad idea. We are knee deep in the process of prepping and amassing supplies for the annual trek north. Pulling skis out of hibernation for waxing, dragging out sleeping bags and …
Favorites New Year’s Day 2014
Recently a friend lent to me the cookbook Fäviken by Magnus Nilsson from Phaidon press. I thought it was a sweet gesture to pass along this book but I didn’t understand why she thought of me until I began reading it. Holy mama, it’s …
Hoppin’ John
Eat Good Luck for your New Year! There was an idyllic snow on Christmas eve, and after walking home from a Norwegian Jule dinner on quiet streets in the falling flakes, we awoke to more snow and a perfect day for a …
Smoked Sweet Potato Puree
Nearly everyone who eats this deep orange treat asks for the recipe, it is yet another dish that will convince even the anti-yam-ites to change sides and join my Orange-Love Camp. The original recipe was from Scott’s family and has seen adaptations along the …
Bacon & Liver Pâté
Two liver posts in one year?!? I must really have a need to push your boundaries, and this time there is no conclusion to the cliff-hanger story. Just think of it as another tasty grey spread….creamy and rich and great on a cracker. Step …
Ostkake (Swedish Cheesecake)
I love this plate. Ost = cheese Kake or kaka = cake Ostkaka (or ostakaka) was the Swedish cheesecake dessert we served at my friend’s Surströmming party (sour herring). It’s another understated but surprisingly addictive Scandinavian dessert…fresh-cheese with eggs and sugar. My friend gave me this …
Polenta Pancetta Dressing
This is another recipe that appears the November/December edition of The IOWAN magazine. They asked for “Iowa-Sourced” holiday recipes so polenta seemed like a good direction to take the classic dish since organic polenta is grown and produced near Cresco. It resembles cornbread stuffing—flavorful and …
Happy Anniversary
Apparently my celebration for the two year anniversary of this website was to take a week off. Many things going on and very few of them have to do with food. But that’s okay. I started this little project because people often …
Holiday Chutney
This should probably be labeled “Tart Super-Fruit Chutney” or “Antioxidant Chutney“. Some of these tart fruits are not available right now unless you happen to have frozen them or dried them, but this gets our juices flowing for ways to use this …
Favorites October 2013
Still some color left and I’m soaking it in. We spent an entire day last week hiking in the woods, the leaves were still bright yellow and the sun shone through as we wandered in the golden dome effect. Funny how I so …
Potatoes with Cumin (Aloo Jeera)
Aloo = Potato, Jeera = Cumin Aloo + Jeera = Yum It’s been a while since I’ve had time to sit down and ramble on about food, I’ve been too busy catering. It seems the more I cook the food the less …
Basil Salt
It’s a drizzly overcast day with a chilly night coming on, and time for all of the basil to be dug out of the garden and processed. I’ll be up to my elbows in pesto of course, but I’ve been wanting to try herb …
White Beans with Grilled Peppers, Rosemary and Oregano
I recently made this dish for a wedding I catered, and as I have been known to do I included something on a menu that I hadn’t exactly done before but it sounded like a good combination of ingredients. Fortunately for everyone this assumption …
Parsley Shallot Butter
I was searching at the Farmers Market for shallots and unable to find any so I finally asked one of my favorite vendors. He pointed to containers on the table filled with what appeared to be red onions. Shallots! Shallots the size of baseballs! …
Balsamic Maple Walnuts
It’s time for a little image-tribute to the last days of summer and the radiant color of its bounty. These are two photos from my friend David Cavagnaro of Pepperfield Project. I never tire of looking at his pictures. He photographs using only natural light, …
Homestyle Tomato Soup
A pile of ripe tomatoes and a drizzly day remind me of another soup we used to make in the deli. This creamy tomato soup is simple and homey, and if it doesn’t bring up good childhood memories hopefully it will create warm fuzzy …
Sumac Basil Tea
Tis the season of these fuzzy tart rubies. The cicadas are buzzing, the days are steamy, but the nearly-sharp chill of the early morning gives away that secret I’ve been aching to hear…that fall is knocking at the door. Sumac is often …
Savory Sweet Potato Pie
Years ago we used to organize an all-day street festival called Live on Winnebago, and one of my roles was to feed the numerous bands that were playing during the day and night. Many of them were on tour across the country or world, and that …