Carrot Flower Garnish

Carrot Flower Garnish

  Maybe not something you do every night, but these gems are stunning on a plate.  I recently made these as a garnish for a wedding dinner to be set atop the saffron rice pilaf next to the pesto green beans.  Color!!  We eat with our eyes 

Cucumber White Gazpacho

Cucumber White Gazpacho

  Before we get to refreshing cucumbers, here are more photos from the Willow Gathering in June.  These are from classes led by the two Danish instructors Ane Lyngsgaard and Eva Seidenfaden.         You can see the soaked willow on the floor in the background.   

Stuffed Mushrooms with Caramelized Onions, Bacon and Gouda

Stuffed Mushrooms with Caramelized Onions, Bacon and Gouda

  The plan seemed doable. I wanted a photo of the stuffed mushrooms resting on a serving tray mere minutes before they would be introduced to the hungry post-wedding crowd.  Anyone who is or has been involved with catering or restaurants will know how incredibly funny that notion was.  Over and 

Garbanzo Raisin Salad

Garbanzo Raisin Salad

  My friend Robin gave me this recipe from the Real Simple magazine—she said that it has repeatedly been her potluck smash hit.  I made a couple of little changes, but not much.  Hearty yet lightly sweet-and-sour with a hint of cumin, this could do well in summer 

Lettuce Wrap BL(A)T’s

Lettuce Wrap BL(A)T’s

  Gluten Free and Low Carb—perfect for summer!  You can put nearly anything in a lettuce leaf and it provides a handy shell to hold the flavors.  I often am looking for edible vehicles that can deliver the punch line and in the summer lettuce leaves 

Orange Rice Salad

Orange Rice Salad

  It’s amazing how much trust is involved in cooking for groups of people.  Individuals allow a complete stranger to set comestibles before them that will soon become a part of their bodies, ingested and integrated into their cells.  How crazy is that?  I am humbled by 

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

  With cooking I find it easy to maneuver my way around, look at recipes to get ideas then going my own route by having a basic understanding of the ‘laws of cooking’.  Baking, however, is another story entirely.  I seem to have the need to relearn the 

Revisiting Roasted Tofu with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Revisiting Roasted Tofu with Spicy Peanut Sauce

    Skewered roasted tofu with a peanut sauce is one of my all time favorites for catering, and it’s pretty awesome for eating at home too. When I began this site I wanted to start with some of my crowd-pleaser recipes, dishes that I 

Horseradish Dill Sauce

Horseradish Dill Sauce

  Sour cream–it’s the perfect dip starter: a bit tart, a bit creamy, and it ‘plays well with others‘, merging and melding with most herbs or flavors.  Lightly fermented dairy similar to crème fraîche but is more tangy and often made with less fat…I say yes.  If you’re feeling the 

Smoked Salmon Cakes

Smoked Salmon Cakes

  These buddies were a scrumptious success at a luncheon I recently catered.  You can make them without smoking the salmon, of course, but smokiness adds a rich depth, a ‘something extra’, oooh I could even say “je ne sais quoi”…whatever you want to call it, it will compel you to eat at 

Spinach Artichoke Pesto

Spinach Artichoke Pesto

  While we were in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in February we ate lunch at a little place called Steep Creek Cafe (and White Cap Kayak Trips) in the Ironwood and I seem to recall we licked out the bowl that this dip was served in.  Having only the 

Pickled Asparagus

Pickled Asparagus

  Despite the occasional April snowstorm our landscape is about to explode into electric GREEN.  It’s been patiently waiting and waiting and the time is nigh.  Later this week I’ll plant my onion sets for green onions —I keep harvesting the shoots throughout the spring 

Coconut Ginger Lime Rice

Coconut Ginger Lime Rice

  This is a little recipe from Food Renegade with a few adaptations.  Light but a tad rich, it will be a great one for an evening meal on a hot summer’s day.  I used canned coconut milk but if you have access to fresh 

Mushroom Wild Rice Soup

Mushroom Wild Rice Soup

  This was a Comfort Meal in the deli, a bowlful of both Brothy and Filling.   It’s another soup with the tangy buttermilk-secret-ingredient, added at the end when the soup has cooled slightly (so it won’t curdle) and with the addition of a little 

Fuul in Spring

Fuul in Spring

  Question: What does one eat when coming home after weeks on a ski sabbatical? Answer: Whatever is in the house because the catering has not yet begun and we blew our wad for the winter.  I think it’s time to revisit pintos and Pinto 

Red and Green Potato Croquettes

Red and Green Potato Croquettes

    Croquettes enable you to eat mashed potatoes with one hand and no fork. Isn’t that what everyone has been asking for?   Last week we found ourselves driving home in the midst of another blizzard, perfectly bookending the trip with driving north in 

White Bean Dip with Rosemary and Sage

White Bean Dip with Rosemary and Sage

  Racing is a curious thing.  To the observer it makes no sense at all—people spend loads of money to travel to a location, sleep on floors (or wherever), rise early after not sleeping well, venture out into often uncomfortable conditions, stress and adrenaline courses 

Atole and Pinole

Atole and Pinole

  Sunrise at the Sand Point Cabin.      .   Warmth on a sled. .   Corn.  Soaked in the mineral lime.  Dried.  Ground.  Mixed with a sweetener and cinnamon. . Atole is generally made from toasted masa (corn hominy flour soaked in lime) 

Creamy Pinto Chipotle Sauce

Creamy Pinto Chipotle Sauce

  Packing into ABR‘s remote cabin with cubes and a pulk and a sherpa.  As my cousin says…why travel light when you can travel well?   . For the most part the absence of internet access is welcomed when we travel or stay in remote locations.  

Cumin Ginger Tea

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