Content
Blogging has taken a hiatus in the last few years. Don't fret - I may pick up the proverbial pen again one of these days. Lots of cooking has taken place, just not so much with the blogging. Apologies dear (and probably few) readers.
This summer has flown by. The last month in a flurry of rain. As opposed to making more excuses about not blogging I will say this: I like cooking better than writing. There, secrets out. Phew, not so bad. That being said, I really do like keeping this blog and will attempt to return to some sort of blogging schedule. There are a lot of exciting things going on in the next few months.Number 1 exci
If you haven't yet checked out Georgia's new garden blog, you may not have seen pictures of her beautiful home garden. And she hasn't yet posted any pics of her garden plot at our community garden.However, while she's away this week I thought I'd take some pictures of her veggie growth for her!What you may not know is that I also have a garden plot at a community garden and growing vegetables has
don't mind me, I drink out of jars nowI've been following Angela at Oh She Glows for quite awhile now. Though "healthy living" isn't exactly the theme of our blog (especially my part with all the butter-laden baking), there are a few other of these go-getters that I follow who are up on things like running and find many different ways to eat kale. If it sounds like I'm being a bit cheeky, its on
I was noticing its been over a year since I last posted and it seemed a good time to remedy that.Curry is fairly simple, especially thai curry. And it's a great way to clean out your fridge. With the massive amount of veggies we've been getting from our CSA share, along with some carrots and potatoes that needed to get eaten, I thought I'd make a hearty veggie-protein and vegetable filled curry.
CSAs are exciting, and I'm happy to see that they are really increasing in popularity. The Whole Foods near our house recently partnered with a few local farms to create their own version of a CSA called the Farmer's Pick Program. From talking with the farmer at our CSA, Henry Got Crops, I've learned that people either love or hate them. The trend seems to be that you either join for one year
As Andrew was scarfing down the last little bit of our Roasted Red Pepper Chipotle Hummus last night - I feebly protested (we just got it the day before and I only ate a little of it). I had veggies that needed hummus!!! He reminded me that we had white beans and I was capable of making my own. Oh, right. Home made bean dips.So, today at lunch, while my beautiful mushrooms were staring a
On this blog, we have posted specifically about chard twice. Plus, there have been a bunch of chard-centric recipes. Like many others, I have only really embraced chard in the past two years. But, now that I am comfortable with it (and grown tons in my garden), I find that it is something I am constantly drawn too. Not only is it extremely tasty, it is packed with Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Ir
I think I may have found my new "go to" pot luck contribution! Saying that, if you are coming to a potluck which I am also attending, find a new dish! Ok, but in all seriousness, this was bright and summery and so good. The recipe is from Real Simple. It is quick and easy. I made this on Friday night in preparation for a potluck on Saturday (for our CSA - Henry Got Crops). I knew I would
Well, despite the fact that this blog has been a little (a lot) neglected, I started a new blog dedicated to garden exploits:A Georgia Garden in Philadelphiaurl: georgias-garden.blogspot.comCheck it out and let me know what you think! It's a work in progress...
Busy!Today I commented on my friend Jenn's blog - Got Goats? - about what we were planting this year. Although "scaling back" might seem absurd based on the list below, we have! Pictures soon, but our community garden plot is so nice and neat, it seems like an invasion of the body snatchers might have occurred. Last year was such a nightmare! I guess we learned a thing or two though..We also plant
One of my favorite "ah ha!" moments in the kitchen is when you conquer something new. This seems to be happening a lot lately as I branch out into new directions. Things that I had never really dealt with (recipes, ingredients, etc.) have been incorporated into my usual routine.This meal utilized two, yes TWO, new things. 1) Pesto. Ok, I have been making pesto for a little while now, but it u
Pasta Puttanesca or "Whore's Pasta" is something that I have ordered many, many times in restaurants. How can you resist something so poetic? However, I had never tried to cook it at home. I'm not really sure why this is, apparently the name originates from ladies of the night being able to quick rustle this dish up between clients. Quick and easy and delicious, what a winning combo
I love making bread.There, I said it. And no, not with a bread machine. Its easy and the results are so so so good. I think that if I had to set one culinary mission, it would be get more people to give it a try. You don't need any special equipment and while the process itself is rather time consuming, the hands on time is minimal.There are many great books and blogs dedicated to artisan bread ma
Last week we were in Southern California at Joshua Tree National Park. This week we are back in chilly Philadelphia and trying to be as budget conscious as possible after spending way too much money on vacation. Whoops! Budget conscious for us means not going out to eat when we feel lazy. So after eating out way through delicious pasta and leftovers the first half of the week, I had to figur
Can you believe that Christmas is so soon? I feel like it snuck up on us this year. I still have about a billion projects to finish - mostly sewing/crocheting related. Yikes!Last night a few of my friends and I got together for a holiday movie/cookie making session. We watched "A Muppet's Christmas" and made and decorated several types of cookies. Val made some scrumptious almond sugar c
My mom always made a very simple spaghetti carbonara growing up. Pasta, egg, cheese, peas, and ham or bacon. Now, whenever I go out to Italian restaurants and see spaghetti carbonara on the menu, it always is served with some sort of thick, creamy sauce.Olive Garden's Chicken or Shrimp Carbonara: Chicken and shrimp with bucatini pasta in a parmesan cream sauce with pancetta bacon and roasted
Life has been a little hectic in this blogger's household this past week. But I thought it would be foolish to let Thanksgiving pass without giving it a word or two. We hosted Thanksgiving for 11 in a one bedroom apartment. Yikes! All went according to plan, and besides a few stressful moments, everything was great! My dad was recently told he needed to watch his blood sugar levels, so I tried a f
Oh Andrew, my beloved Andrew, what will we do with you? Despite my attempts to convert him to a pot roast / brisket / stew lover, I have failed. Its not that he doesn't like the flavors, or necessarily all versions of these dishes. He doesn't like mushy vegetables for dinner. Who doesn't love delicious mushy veggies and stringy meat? My husband apparently. So, when I came acros
Our kitchen looks like it is having squash babies. We started with pumpkins, butternuts, buttercups, and others. They are on our counters and kitchen table. I swear sometimes that when we get up in the morning, there are more! Multiplying squash, that would be fantastic. Some are from our garden, some from my mom's garden, and some from random impulse buys. We have a 22 pound Long Island Chee
This was a truly excellent meal. Andrew at one point commented that it was "restaurant quality." And you know what? I actually agreed with him (which is rare because I often am the first to criticize my food). I can see it now: Grass Fed Sirloin with a Smokehouse Rub, Honey Roasted Rainbow Carrots and Butternut Squash Risotto. Sounds good, right?The food itself wasn't complicated in itself, t
So those that regularly read the blog (thanks!) will notice that the normally blank space on the left is now filled with Williams-Sonoma recipes/ads. I wanted to explain two things:1) A girls gotta eat! I'm sure I will generate about 2 cents of income from them, but still...2) I genuinely like their recipes and have made them many times in the past and they have a great product line!Done and done.
I made this soup about a week ago. The recipe came from GRID magazine (a great local magazine on all things sustainable), in a special article with soup recipes. The author, Marisa McClellan, also blogs at Food In Jars, one of my favorite canning blogs!I altered the recipe slightly, and my adaptations are below. The original recipe can be found here.This is a terrific cold weather soup! Very heart
Butternut Squash have been flourishing this year! Our garden has produced a bunch, and luckily for us, our friend Grace's garden has been exploding yummy Butternuts. She gave us a few of hers (I think she had eaten about all the squash she could, plus frozen a bunch), along with some ideas of ways to eat them. Butternut Squash is one of my favorite things in the fall, but like zucchini,
Like many of you out there, we have been inundated with zucchini this summer. So, when I came across a blog post for Zucchini Pancakes at The Wednesday Chef it was immediately bookmarked. Zucchini and I have a love hate relationship. They are delicious, and I do have a few ways that I always put them to use (grilled, veggie lasagna, other pastas, etc.), but I always end up with far too many a
Before this summer started, I had already started a list of all the things I wanted to preserve once the bounty of our garden and farmers markets hit. Eating well is very important to us, and one of the ways to make sure that we can still get a taste of summer, while still eating locally is to preserve local ingredients. Canning has been getting a lot of press lately, and one of the articles (actu
I know, I know, we disappeared for a while. A long while. So long that I'm sure many of you wondered whether we'd left for good.Well. Good News! We're not dead. Nope, just a combination of lazy, busy, procrastinate-y, lazy, etc. Not lazy in the kitchen necessarily. We have been cooking up a storm. Andrew and I just recently (read two months ago) moved to Philly proper and have been hard at work us
A few weekends ago Andrew and I had an all day cook-athon. This was preceded by a wonderful day shopping at the Lancaster Central Market. We stocked up on grass fed beef, lamb and pork, veggies, goat milk, cow milk (in fun glass bottles), goat cheese, strawberries and rhubarb. These ingredients were turned into strawberry-rhubarb jam (we used an awesome recipe from Marisa at Food in Jars with lemo
I have a dining secret. Well, not really a secret, I guess - as I tell everyone. Here's the secret: I cannot resist a crab cake sandwich.Now I bet you're thinking: Wait - wasn't this about a steak sandwich? Well, yes. I went out to dinner on Friday to a place I've never been before - a place with a menu filled with foodie delights, and many many pages (another secret weakness, a many-paged men
This weekend Georgia's been away in the Big Easy for the big American Planning Association conference (and JazzFest as the case may be) leaving me to fend for myself with the Blues of a different color. It's the first weekend we've been apart since we started dating in 2007. Lonely is an understatement. On another note, she's left me a short "honey-do" list that mainly consists of vacuuming an
Well hello faithful (and bored) blog readers. This blog has become very infrequent lately, and for that, I apologize. Hopefully, when I graduate come May, there will be posts on a regular basis.Exciting things are on the horizon - guess what? Spring has sprung! That means that just around the corner lies gardening!!! Woo-hooo!!!! This summer, my husband and I have a community garden plot at Temple
A special thanks goes out to Georgia and her husband Andrew for my fabulous new William-Sonoma pizza/baking stone that I bought with their very generous gift card. I love new toys, I always want to use them right away. Right now!So as soon as I got the pizza stone I was dreaming up lots of great pizzas and breads I could make. I went on my usual search of my favorite blogs for pizza dough recip
I love holiday cookies.. mostly because I LOVE to bake, but I do not want to be eating whatever I bake for myself, like I do the rest of the year (and notably have gained some notable weight this year). Last year I made lime meltaways, which went over great at a cookie exchange, and the year before, Georgia and I slaved over tons of butter and gingerbread cookies. On a whim the other day, I trie
This past October while the Phillies battled the Yankees for the World Series title, Georgia, a life long Yankees fan (I'm a devout Phillies Phan!) celebrated her 27th birthday. Setting rivalries aside, I decided to be a good new husband and bake her an old family favorite, the 1-2-3-4 Cake! The name of this traditional bundt cake is derived from the 4 basic ingredients and the quantity used of
I love brownies. No, wait. i LOVE brownies. We made and ate lots of brownies in college. Mostly, however, from a box. As an adult though, I keep cocoa powder in my house and hence am capable of the real thing. And what's more real than using the King Arthur Flour recipe?The coolest thing about this recipe is the process of melting the sugar into the butter and then reheating the mixture befo
Hi Everyone! In honor of my FAVORITE holiday - Thanksgiving - I am having a virtual potluck. If you are making a fun dish that you think the blogosphere needs to be aware of (or just feel like participating) than this is for you!!! I know this is short notice, but I kind of just thought of it. I know there are a bunch of readers of this blog that will be making interesting and delicious Thanksgivi
Honey Give AwayAs you may know, last month I submitted an entry to the Royal Foodie Joust hosted by Jenn at The Leftover Queen. I made Pumpkin Flan with Guinness Caramel for the orange and black challenge. Unfortunately, I did not win :( There were a lot of great entries, and I will have to try harder next time! You can see the winners here.In conjunction with the post, we had a contest to give aw
Today is your last chance to enter our Local Honey Giveaway. Comment on this post with a valid email address and the winner will be picked tonight at midnight EST!Another great blogger whose recipe suggestions I love to try is Lindsay and Taylor of Love and Olive Oil. Not too long ago they posted a delicious looking Spinach and Lentil Salad with Blue Cheese and Tart Cherry Vinaigrette and I just
Don't forget to comment on this post to try and win our Local Honey Giveaway! The winner will be drawn on November 7th (Saturday).Recently I've been aggressively increasing the number of recipes on my "to try" list from blogs I read on a regular basis. Ever since making the ginger soup with chard at 101 Cookbooks I've been really inspired to make some more of Heidi's recent recipes. Her Broccol
Fall is usually my favorite time of year. The blue skies, red leaves, brisk weather make for one awesome season. However, this fall has been a mix of rain, humidity and frost. Not so much of an awesome season. Today is looking up and hopefully we will get a few days of true autumn and not transition directly to winter.The one culinary benefit of this yucky weather is it makes me crave soup. And sq
We have never participated in the Royal Foodie Joust before, so I figured it was about time! It is a monthly even put on by Jenn, the Leftover Queen, where she provides some basic ingredients and you have to be creative. This month's challenge was inspired by Halloween and the dish had to include an orange squash (pumpkin or other) and a dark beer. Fun!!! I immediately thought of a custard type di
While I was in Senegal the average temperature was 90 F, with a heat index that made it feel like 100. It was hot. And there was nary an air conditioner anywhere. While I was baking away, Fall was descending on the mid-atlantic. Though normally Fall seems time to wear cosy clothes, drink apple cider and eat pumpkin-related items, right now it just feels downright COLD. Seriously, I'm freezing
I've just recently returned from a trip to visit some friends doing research in Senegal, and was fortunate to eat in some really tasty restaurants while I was there. Unfortunately, my camera had already died when we were eating more traditional meals at home, though I'll see if my hosts have some pictures they can send my way.I have another chard themed post I'm working on (camera needs to charge!
I was quite pleased to see that Randi was on top of blogging these last few weeks. As she mentioned in one of her posts I was a little bit pre-occupied. I got married September 19th - left for Paris and Greece for two weeks - and have been generally a bad blogger lately. Pre-wedding planning and stress takes up a lot of time and although I wasn't blogging, I was cooking! Now that the wedding is ov
Yom Kippur started tonight at sundown, and though it seems stupid, my family always eats a big meal the evening before the day of fasting. I suppose the idea is to keep you full while you fast for 24 hours, but in reality it likely stretches your stomach out, creating more hunger. Regardless, we eat a big meal the night before the fast and a small, light (typically dairy-based) meal to break the
Every time I'm in the grocery store I glance guiltily over at the green sections, eye-ing the kales, chards and various lettuces. I want to use them, but short of making a salad, I pretty much have no idea what to do with them. Without a pre-made plan I rarely pick up produce I am not sure what to do with.BUT at Georgia's wedding last weekend, sauteed swiss chard was present along side deliciou
This past weekend was Georgia's wedding, and I'm going to go ahead and blame wedding preparation on the last on blog posting :) I know Georgia has some pictures lined up for posts when she gets back from her honeymoon.Not only did the bride and groom get presents for their wedding, but those of us in the bridal party got a snazzy present from the couple. Georgia got us really beautiful stoneware
It's been a loooong time since I've posted, but now that I've finished grad school and have more time on my hand, I've been excited about cooking again. The last few months have been a rotation of tacos, broiled fish and pizza. But now that Georgia has been staying with me a few nights out of every week, its inspired me to cook something that takes more than 15 minutes.While wandering around the
The creators of Daring Bakers have launched their new website - thedaringkitchen.com - and with it a new group called the Daring Cooks. As Randi already partakes in the Daring Bakers, I thought it only right to join this new group. Fun!This month's challenge was to make traditional dumplings. Jen of Use Real Butter was the host and did a great job explaining the process and coaching the novice thr
When in doubt - turn to Giada! She has got me out of a food jam many times. Well, I suppose, this did not constitute as a jam...but it was a "what do we make for dinner?" moment. I made this pasta dish a few months ago and remembered how delicious and easy it was. And as you must know by now, delicious + easy = Georgia's favorite type of recipe!Also, this is on the healthy side of pasta recipes, e
