Here’s hoping your garden is bursting with tomatoes and zucchini and green beans, cucumbers and peppers and melons. Maybe you’ve dug some potatoes. Or headed to a local farm to pick blueberries. Or stocked up at your farmers market, bringing home enough sweet corn to roast on the grill today, as well as cut offContinue reading “Happy Summer!”
Format Archives
Make the Most of Your Herbs
I love herbs. All of them. Mint, oregano, rosemary, thyme, lavender, chives. We grow them as flowers and greenery, as bushes and ground cover. Some of them fill in as quiet background plants, others steal the show in their corner of the yard. I have a dedicated herb garden just outside the back door; the basilContinue reading “Make the Most of Your Herbs”
Linguine with Garden Herbs and Clams
We are seafood fans in our house, but we are also well-aware of how fragile the edible ocean is these days. For more than a decade, I’ve been referring to my Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Guide to help me find environmentally friendly seafood. In the past several years, as eating local has become my guiding principal,Continue reading “Linguine with Garden Herbs and Clams”
Maps Make the Perfect Gift
I have two nieces graduating from high school this month so I’m in the market for a couple of memorable, meaningful gifts. Something to decorate the new dorm rooms, perhaps. Maybe a reminder of home for when they’re far away. As I begin to search for inspiration, one concept keeps popping up at every turn: maps. AsContinue reading “Maps Make the Perfect Gift”
Greens, Glorious Greens
As we march through Spring, past the asparagus and the strawberries, waiting patiently for zucchini canoes and tomato globes, we find ourselves in the months of greens. At our house, it begins with kale and spinach — those cold-hardiest of veggies. We often have an early crop of lettuce, too, thanks to our trusty cold frame. ThisContinue reading “Greens, Glorious Greens”
Spinach Swiss Souffle
We’ve grown a lot of spinach this Spring — which makes me really happy because I adore this veggie’s thick leaves and big crunch. I love how well it pairs with cheese and eggs and cream — and nutmeg. It’s wonderful in salads and sautés and smoothies. I honestly can’t imagine ever feeling tired of spinach.Continue reading “Spinach Swiss Souffle”
Lemon Cream Cheese Scones
My oldest daughter has really found her baking groove this year. After a long week of school or whenever she has a moment, she’ll ask me: “Mom, can I bake?” And I, who will take all the help in the kitchen I can get, quickly make room for my cooking buddy. Her specialties are desserts: cookies,Continue reading “Lemon Cream Cheese Scones”
Lemon Pudding Cake
I remember loving this dish from my childhood. It was a standard familiar enough to be included in the scrapbook of recipes my mom made for me and my sisters after we’d left home, but not so ever-present that I had made it for my own kids. My girls and I baked it this week as a springtimeContinue reading “Lemon Pudding Cake”
Ginger Orange Sesame Slaw
While I’m a big fan of creamy coleslaw stirred together with homemade mayonnaise and whatever’s growing in the garden, sometimes a girl just needs a change. And this lovely recipe — with its cool cabbage, orange and cilantro — is crunchy, bright and flavorful. Featuring cabbage and radishes, it’s another Spring salad star. Pair itContinue reading “Ginger Orange Sesame Slaw”
Eating Local Is My ‘Diet.’ What’s Yours?
To any of you who’ve been reading what I write for awhile, the story of how I cleaned up my eating act is a familiar one. In a nutshell, several forces converged to push me toward a healthier, more plant-based life than I’d grown up with: my husband and I put in a garden and weContinue reading “Eating Local Is My ‘Diet.’ What’s Yours?”