Yam Puree with Chipotle

Yam Puree with Chipotle

.   My friend Annette made this up years ago, served it at a potluck, and little did she know that I would promptly take her idea and run with it for the next fifteen years.  It’s simple, delicious, and the perfect combination of sweet-spicy-tangy-creamy and 

Roasted Garlic

Roasted Garlic

  There is something about the slow cook that sweetens everyone.  Roasted garlic becomes less sharp, deeper, sweeter, and in some ways more powerful of a flavor in dishes— a more enduring flavor.   Roasting is also a way you can preserve garlic to extend its life.  Maybe 

Coconut Pumpkin Freeze

Coconut Pumpkin Freeze

    If I called this ice cream you wouldn’t even want to try it because you don’t have an ice cream maker or churn.  It’s too thick to be called a smoothie.  Whatever the name might be, here it is and it’s tasty as-is or could 

Za’atar Carrots

Za’atar Carrots

  Za’atar is a delicious and versatile condiment originating in the fertile crescent of the Middle East.  It generally is made from oregano, sesame seeds and salt, and variations may include other herbs like sumac, savory, cumin, coriander, fennel or caraway.  Like so many regional condiments or sauces, 

Herbed Fruit

Herbed Fruit

  Is ‘herb’ a verb? It is now.     I was recently asked to provide some desserts for a party in late September, a request I usually decline because I’m not baking-inclined, but they wanted the entire event to be gluten free so my empathetic 

Black Bean Salad

Black Bean Salad

  First a little blast of color from local edible flowers.     These are a pile of late summer flowers grown by my friends at Canoe Creek Produce that I used as garnish on salads and an appetizer for a wedding a couple of weeks ago.  I 

Ancho BBQ Sauce… or is it Chutney?

Ancho BBQ Sauce… or is it Chutney?

  It’s kind of a chutney, kind of a móle, kind of a ketchup…don’t let the label inhibit you.  It’s tasty and it goes well with warm things, that’s the most important thing to remember.   Anchos are dried Poblano peppers.  They generally have only the 

Tomato Dill Salad

Tomato Dill Salad

    Purple lisianthus from the Canoe Creek Produce at the Farmer’s Market.  I hear they’re difficult to grow because they are slow to germinate, but it is so worth the wait.  I’ve found myself sitting and just staring at them over the last week and a 

Summer Relish

Summer Relish

  It’s amazing to eat produce when it is still warm from the sun.   These ingredients of summer that I’m finding in my garden or the Farmer’s Market—cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, onion—there is just nothing like fresh and connected to the vine or the soil sometime in the 

Yellow Pepper Pesto

Yellow Pepper Pesto

  Colorful tasty vegetables or herbs ground into a paste…’pesto’ is a loosely used term.  The word pesto comes from the Italian word ‘pestare’ meaning to pound or crush.  Texture has such an impact on the way we perceive and taste a dish, and crushing or pureeing helps create a 

Celery Snack

Celery Snack

  A ridiculously simple snack it is, yet it’s been a (sometimes daily) staple for us when we need a no-grain high-protein crunch.  If you’ve ever done a cleanse-diet or a few weeks of eliminating sugars and grains and reducing carbs, you know the near-desparation that can set in as 

Ginger Beet Lemonade

Ginger Beet Lemonade

  Once again I find myself wrapped tightly in the schedule of catering events and I’m not able to do justice in writing the experiences of the last ten days on our adventure into the south.  This sunset tells the story much better than I ever could, 

Avocado Strawberry Salad

Avocado Strawberry Salad

    NOLA a.k.a. the Rebirth City. I’m traveling with friends this week to New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, visiting friends and eating delectable dinners everywhere we go.  Not much time for words so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.         

Asparagus Kale Salad

Asparagus Kale Salad

  It’s Spring and there is no getting away from recipes about spinach, kale, eggs, nettles, peas and asparagus…so just get used to it.  Embrace the green.  Green is good.  There’s a lot of green activity going on right now by that greenifying chlorophyll, absorbing the blue and red 

Western Indian Spinach

Western Indian Spinach

  Tis the month of spinach and greenery and our livers are thanking us for being drawn to these deep rich colors then serving them up for dinner.  Right now the local spinach is delicate and young, you barely need to add anything.   A side 

Nettle Mint Iced Tea

Nettle Mint Iced Tea

  When life gives you nettles, make nettle tea. I have this greenery growing in my front yard so have been experimenting with ways to eat it…and being careful of its little injection needles full of histamines that give it the ‘stinging’ name.  They say if 

No-Grain Cottage Cheese Pancakes with Lemon Zest

No-Grain Cottage Cheese Pancakes with Lemon Zest

  More woodland flowers from a walk on the bluff top, a pair of Bloodroot blooms.  This North American native is a member of the Poppy family and the root was used as a dye for baskets and clothing.  Here are more tidbits about the medicinal uses of this beautiful Bloodroot, or 

Roasted Chicory

Roasted Chicory

  Coffee lover that I am, I have to secretly admit I’ve been enjoying this dark liquid lately.  That’s right, roasted chicory is carving a new spot in my heart.  It has similar components to a coffee description–acidity, body, aroma, bitterness, sweetness, aftertaste–and a deep rich satisfaction that 

Spring Pea Soup

Spring Pea Soup

  Yay, another pea soup!  I knew that was what you were going to say.  We’ve had a week of spring-emerging: from chill to rain to sunny days which means the buds and grass are finally beginning to explode in greenery.  I even saw blooming 

Cabbage Parsnip Slaw

Cabbage Parsnip Slaw

  Many gardeners in these cold climates overwinter their parsnips in the ground, letting the back-and-forth thawing-and-cooling spring weather sweeten their starches into sugars.  So when little else is local in early April of the upper Midwest…parsnips can be found.   Related and similar to carrots (they look like an albino carrot),