Here’s an easy recipe for when you have just a small amount of greens on hand. With their dark purple stems, beet greens add a nice bit of color and earthy flavor to this simple scramble. Read more …
I made some quick chili based on a recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook, but with some tweaks for the ingredients I had on hand. I also used a pressure cooker instead of slow simmering on the stovetop—quicker cooking means less heat in the kitchen. After the beans and wheat are done soaking, it takes about half an hour for the … Read more
I just got back from a trip and didn’t want to go grocery shopping, so if I wanted to eat I was stuck with what I could find in my freezer and pantry. Nor did I feel much like cooking, so I wanted something that could be prepared with minimum fuss. I considered eating nothing but the chocolates from my … Read more
It’s summer, and I don’t feel like baking. Also, I have a bar of fancy Scharffen Berger chocolate that doesn’t taste as good as I expected. (I can hardly taste the pistachios.) So instead of making chocolate chip muffins or granola bars, I make an easy snack: one ounce of salted cashews with a bit of chopped chocolate. It’s heavenly.
Companion made this beautiful salad. My first instinct, of course, was to take a picture. But it tastes good too. The white chunks are not cheese, though they sort of look like it from this angle. They are kohlrabi, a close relative of broccoli eaten for the stem, rather than the florets. Kohlrabi has a nice, nutty taste and crispy texture. … Read more
Mindy Celeste made an awesome pesto pasta salad when I was visiting her in Oregon last month. I asked her for the recipe and planned to make it this week. But as often happens with me, I neglected to buy half the ingredients when I was at the grocery store. So I changed the recipe to suit what I had on … Read more
This recipe includes several solanaceous vegetables that are just coming into season where I live: eggplant, sweet pepper, and tomatoes. My beloved fennel also plays a starring role, along with fresh basil and onions. And it took me under 30 minutes to prepare. There’s so many vegetables in this dish you could skip the salad. But if you have as many veggies as I do … Read more
I was walking by the river near my house today and was delighted to see one of my favorite prairie plants blooming along the banks: Monarda fistulosa, also known as bee balm or wild bergamot. This charming flower is native to most of North America — and if you don’t have it in your neck of the woods, you might have one … Read more
I’ve been eating black raspberries at every meal now that they’re in season. They were in my oatmeal at breakfast, my yogurt at lunch, and in my salad at dinner. I love how they look next to the beets. The colors would make a lovely combination for a duotone quilt. If only I had made the salad before the sun set, the picture would have … Read more
We signed up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share this year, paying a flat fee at the beginning of the growing season to a local farmer, who then delivers a box of fresh vegetables once a week. Getting a CSA subscription is more economical than buying an equivalent amount of vegetables at the grocery store, and some CSAs let you … Read more