Summer corn – the golden creation of Mother Nature, designed for pure joy. There’s nothing like picnic-table dinners designed for nibbling ears of corn, biting into grilled hotdogs, or scooping up forkfuls of creamy potato salad. I miss the Butter & Sugar corn I used to find at roadside stands in New England, but sometimes, here…
Vegetables & Sides
Feed Your Feelings: Chard, Beans & Tomatoes
I’ve heard we only use about 10% of our brains, so I researched to see if it’s true. Many smart people agree, but one neuroscientist is determined to debunk the theory (Scientific American). He says that while resting, we probably use only 10% of our brain’s capacity, but we actually use all parts of our brain…
Marinated Eggplant with Orzo
Eggplant. Love it? Hate it? Feelings about this funny-looking vegetable seem to be all over the board. If you love it, you happily gobble up garlicky Baba Ganoush or Caponata; you savor creamy Moussaka or veggie-filled Ratatouille; and you adore eggplant Parmesan. . . But if you’re not a fan, you may object to its…
White Beans with Pancetta
Temperatures dipped in Florida this week, so I opened the windows and started making soup, cookies and casseroles, because I love having something in the oven or simmering on the stove when cool weather arrives. I also dug through cookbooks for inspiration and found a recipe in Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home: A Cookbook…
Veggie Fried Rice
When I was a kid, going out for Chinese food was a big deal. Back then, there wasn’t a Chinese restaurant on every block, but in the suburbs of Boston, we knew where to go, and after 40 years I still remember the aromas that greeted us at the China Plaza. The place was decked…
Mushroom & Leek Galette
If you don’t like mushrooms, you may want to move on from this post, because it’s all about the delicious fungi, and I simply cannot hide my adoration for them! But if you decide to keep reading, that would really be great 🙂 In my effort to reduce meat intake, I’ve been poring through vegetable-forward…
Muffin Tin Herbed Potato Stacks
Have you heard of “COVID Cooking Fatigue”? You may not have heard about it, but I bet you’re feeling it! That’s because many of us these days are preparing 3 meals a day at home, 7 days a week. I don’t know about you, but it seems like whenever one meal is finished, I’m already…
Stuffed Portobello with Tarragon Crumbs
Prior to the mid-1990s, the concept of Portobello mushrooms on our home dinner plates was pretty much nonexistent. We really only heard about these Italian-imported, fancy mushrooms from waiters describing the ingredients in our dishes at high-end restaurants, or we may have spotted them in natural food stores but had no idea what to do…
Roasted Radishes with Butter & Chives
Buying veggies directly from a farm is just plain fun. Many farms even utilize a Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) model in which you purchase a membership, and the farm, in turn, supplies you with a box of veggies each week (and sometimes it’s a surprise what’s in there). It’s a great partnership because you support…
Chickpeas and Pasta
This week I dusted off M.F.K. Fisher’s How to Cook a Wolf. It was published in 1942 and opens with a quote from American humanist Charlotte Perkins (Stetson) Gilman: “There’s a whining at the threshold, There’s a scratching at the floor. To work! To work! In Heaven’s name! The wolf is at the door!” It…
Ricotta-Stuffed Chard
Many years ago I enjoyed delectable manicotti at a tiny Italian restaurant in Charlotte, NC. I thought it was a little ‘interesting’ that there could be such an amazing dish in the southern city I called home for a short time, but when I learned that the chef originated from Italy, it all made sense…
Sauteed Collards with Lemon
We’re officially back to healthy eating at my house, so you can expect to see posts over the upcoming months highlighting fresh veggies, warm/cozy soups, and tasty snacks! I think it’s safe to say that most of us are relieved the holiday hoopla is behind us, so I hope you’ll find something interesting here to…