Roasted Winter Veggies

Sweet potatoes or butternut squash; parsnips or carrots; onions, peppers, even cabbage. Whatever winter veggies you have on hand, toss them into the pan with a splash of olive oil and these Latin-inspired spices. Your cold winter night just got warmer. Serves 4-6 Ingredients 1 tsp. ancho chili powder 1 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt 1 tsp. freshlyContinue reading “Roasted Winter Veggies”

Mediterranean Grain Bowl

I am so loving the flexible, tasty, nutritious meal concept that is a grain bowl. I can think of so many yummy permutations: Mexican (cilantro-topped kidney beans and brown rice), Southern (grits and collard greens, with bacon and black-eyed peas), Indian, Thai, Korean. I’ll stop. But the one I’ve been stirring up this summer isContinue reading “Mediterranean Grain Bowl”

Build Your Own Grain Bowl

Think of a Grain Bowl as a dinner jigsaw puzzle, where you can put the pieces together any way you like, as long as you follow a few simple guidelines. A Grain Bowl is a bowl filled with one part grain, one part greens, one part protein. Top that layer with veggies (they can be grilled,Continue reading “Build Your Own Grain Bowl”

Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes

I roast and purée and then freeze a handful of farmers market pumpkins every year. I love having the big, beautiful white and golden and green squash around to decorate with in the fall and then, once we’ve moved on to evergreens and holly, it’s time to really enjoy these gifts from the ground. TheyContinue reading “Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes”

Carrot and Cranberry Stuffed Acorn Squash

All fall long and well into the winter, produce from the amazing squash family is abundant in gardens and grocery stores, food stands and farmers markets. Beside the best-known pumpkins and butternut squash, there are cushaws and delicatas, acorn squash and spaghetti squash, Hubbard and Kabocha — all slightly different in taste and texture andContinue reading “Carrot and Cranberry Stuffed Acorn Squash”

Kale and Tomato Hoppin’ John

Growing up, greens and black-eyed peas were as big a part of my New Year’s Day as packing away the Christmas decorations and listening to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 Year-End Countdown. My family ate them because it was tradition and good luck — and likely because it was an easy dish to pull together afterContinue reading “Kale and Tomato Hoppin’ John”

Ginger Crinkles

Looking back through my mother’s cookbooks, I can find at least three dog-eared Ginger Cookie recipes plus one for Gingerbread Cake, oh and there’s a Spice Cake recipe as well. I distinctly recall each of these desserts and I remember loving them all. So this year, as winter set in and I began craving the homey, holiday tastes ofContinue reading “Ginger Crinkles”

Sweet Potato Hash

A little sweet, a little heat, with an egg on top. Oh yeah. This recipe is flavorful and filling. Serve it as a side to some pan fried pork chops or heap it on your plate with a slice of toast and a dish of homemade applesauce. In the fall of the year, after theContinue reading “Sweet Potato Hash”

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I have tried dozens of ways to make roasted pumpkin seeds, some to better effect than others. My favorite method of the moment is detailed below. Spicy and sweet variations follow the basic recipe. Ingredients One medium-sized pumpkin fine sea salt olive or coconut oil Instructions Cut open the pumpkin by carving a circle around theContinue reading “Roasted Pumpkin Seeds”

How to Eat More Local Food

  Last Saturday, I gathered my dishes and marched my way to the teaching kitchen at the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op in my home town. I spread out my Thai Butternut Squash Soup and my Beautiful Beet Salad, my Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins, Blue Cheese Herb Spread and Apple Honey Cake. Plus I brought locally harvested MaitakeContinue reading “How to Eat More Local Food”