Chocolate Zucchini Cake

In a good summer, we grow zucchini, lots of zucchini. I love it baked into breaded rounds, diced and added to pasta or other veggie dishes, fried by the panful. But what I end up doing with most of what our garden grows is shredding the zucchini, tucking it into ziplocks stored in the deepContinue reading “Chocolate Zucchini Cake”

Strawberry Balsamic Jam

I make and can strawberry jam most years. It’s a great way to preserve berries that all ripen at once. We eat the jam on peanut butter sandwiches, in jam bar cookies and sometimes just straight from the jar. We also give it as gifts. This year, for my first batch, I used my friend Laura Latham’sContinue reading “Strawberry Balsamic Jam”

Bulldog Tofu

This recipe, like so many of my favorites, is really a framework to support a meal of creativity and whim. It’s different each time I make it, depending on what’s growing in the garden or what I can pull from the freezer. It was passed along to me by a friend who got it from aContinue reading “Bulldog Tofu”

Jam Bars

These have to be one of my most requested cookies — and one of my healthiest dessert recipes. Made from our homemade jam, oats and whole wheat pastry flour, they boast protein and fruit and not so much sugar. But my kids don’t care about that. They like them for their buttery, naturally sweet taste.Continue reading “Jam Bars”

Creamy Coleslaw

Every time I set out to make coleslaw, I end up reinventing my recipe. Not because I want to so much as that I don’t have a recipe I love, so I am forever pulling one offline or out of a cookbook, making it mine for the night and then not writing it down. There is, ofContinue reading “Creamy Coleslaw”

Silken Turnip and Potato Soup

  One year, after a bumper crop of turnips, I was searching for ways to cook them when I came across this lovely dish. Despite including no milk or cream, this soup is so rich and tasty. I cooked it for a neighborhood potluck, afraid no one would come near it if I ’fessed up aboutContinue reading “Silken Turnip and Potato Soup”

Minestrone

  When it’s cold out, there’s nothing that feeds the body and soul so well as a good hearty soup. And I’m not sure any soup fits the bill so well as Minestrone, an ancient Italian soup that includes pasta and beans, onions and tomatoes and whatever you’ve managed to put up from your summerContinue reading “Minestrone”

Cornmeal Blueberry Scones

Scones are not as popular as muffins in my kitchen, but they’re a close second. Straight from the oven, these biscuit-like drop scones make a tasty, hearty breakfast — with just a touch of sweet. Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Garden Makes 12 scones. Ingredients 1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 2/3 cup cornmealContinue reading “Cornmeal Blueberry Scones”

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe pairs moist chocolate cake with ever-so-tasty cream cheese frosting. Barely a birthday goes by that I don’t make these for someone. Whether it’s birthday or holiday or any excuse I can dream up (after school snack?), these are not to be missed. Recipe inspired by www.bettycrocker.com Makes 24  Cupcake Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour 1Continue reading “Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting”

Family Favorite Mac and Cheese

  If my kids did the meal planning around here, it would go something like this: Monday Mom’s Mac and Cheese, Tuesday Tacos, Wednesday Pizza, Thursday Mom’s Mac and Cheese, Friday Mom’s Mac and Cheese, Saturday Pizza. They would, if given the chance, eat this mac and cheese several nights of every week. Which, of course, meansContinue reading “Family Favorite Mac and Cheese”