Recipe: Summer Pasta with Kale and Feta

Oh, how I love kale! I was happy to be able to feature it in a pasta sauce this week. Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion 1 small eggplant, diced (about 1/2 pound) 1 small sweet pepper, diced small bunch lacinato kale, stems removed and cut into strips 1/2 pound green beans, cut into bite-size pieces 1/4 cup … Read more

Fermentation Friday: How to make cherry wine

I went cherry picking today with my friend Dekalb — not at an orchard, but at a parking lot that’s been home to these trees for the past few decades. The trees actually predate the parking lot, or so we have been told by the parking lot owners, who are happy to have us pick the cherries without remuneration since it … Read more

Recipe: Dandelion Wine

Right around the winter solstice is when I open my first bottle from the year’s batch of dandelion wine. A white wine that is bright and floral, dandelion wine is good chilled or heated on the stove with a cinnamon stick. It’s like drinking spring sunshine. Have no dandelion wine to enjoy this winter? Save this recipe and make some in the … Read more

Winter’s here. Brew up some warmth.

“You can make wine out of anything but a rock!” So says Appalachian winemaker John Bulgin in The Foxfire Book of Wine Making, and my experience says he’s right. Being the frugal person I am, I’ve never been fond of paying beaucoup bucks for beverages. So when I’ve wanted wine, I’ve made it.* In spring, I’ve raced my neighbors’ lawnmowers … Read more