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I’ve been wanting to venture into the world of fermented tonics, but just couldn’t seem to find the time or the gumption to do it. This week’s challenge to cook something new (to me) was just the push I needed. I thought I’d start with a real lemon tonic recipe because the kids arrive today more »
One of my favorite things about the community garden is that people share their abundance. Like if someone’s sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) go completely insane. Which, lucky for me, happened and I have found myself with about 5 pounds of the delectable little tubers. The problem is, I’ve never had them before and I don’t really more »
The fun never ends here at the Backyard Grocery! This week, Rick built his very own hand trommel sifter to make the job of separating our worms from their castings a little bit easier. Add hand trommel sifters to the list of garden tools I never dreamed existed, but that I now own. The list more »
If you had told me a year ago that I would consider red wigglers “adorable and cuddly,” I would have rolled my eyes and snorted. But just this morning I declared the squirmy little things downright cute. Why is the adorableness of worms even a subject in my household? Because my husband has become a more »
I love snow storms, just not in March when I’m READY for Spring. But alas, a snow storm is what we got in Virginia today. And since I always turn to food to get me through the hard times, I decided to make a nice garden vegetable soup to make myself feel better. Last summer, more »
So, I canned my first vegetables back in July and it took me until February to eat any of them. This is not because I haven’t been cooking. It’s because of my life-long, engrained fear of botulism. I’m not kidding. I had these jars of gorgeous tomatoes in my pantry for months, and I just more »
We’ve been so happy this year eating all the great food we preserved from last year. I still have green beans in the freezer (as well as cabbage and tomatillos). And now is the time to start planning our spring garden. I can’t wait. Although part of me is at a bit of a loss more »
Happy New Year! Hard to believe the holidays are already over and it’s 2013. I think this is going to be a fantastic year. It’s already off to a great start. I’m working in a job that I enjoy with great people, I’m cooking great foods, and I’m getting my health squared away. As far more »
So, I’ve become obsessed with foraging for acorns. A few weeks ago, I harvested my first batch to make acorn flour. I chose to make the flour because I wanted to make an acorn honey cake, a recipe from Hunter Angler Gardner Cook. A cake seemed like a good first acorn based food to try. more »
When I started eating more local foods and growing much of my own produce, I really didn’t think I’d become a forager. But more and more, it seems like a cool idea. I live in Virginia, which is an incredibly abundant place. I was thinking on that this fall as the Burr Oak in my more »
I first discovered celery root when I was trying to limit the amount of starches I eat. I have never looked back. It is, simply, one of the best foods on the planet. I eat it many ways, but mashed celery roots is a definite favorite. To humor me, Rick planted celery root in our more »
I love, love, love sweet potato chips, although they’ve always come out a little too mushy for me. I couldn’t figure out why, but thought it may have something to do with the fact of I’ve never used an actual recipe to make them. Perhaps it had something to do with the oven temperature or more »
Our early fall harvest so far has been amazing. Rick planted green beans in September, not really expecting anything from them. Fifteen pounds of beans later (not exaggerating), we still have more coming in every day. They are huge and delicious. I found Happy Dawg pulling some off the lowest vine today; she was very more »
I just had the most wonderful weekend away with my husband celebrating our 5th anniversary. We spent the long weekend in Chincoteague, VA eating, laughing, and hiking through the nature preserves. Even though it rained on us most of the time, we just had fun meeting great people and completely relaxing. What does this have more »
I can honestly say that persimmons are not a fruit I usually think about eating. I didn’t even really know that the Virginia persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) were edible, except that the deer really like them. But this year, the persimmon trees where Rick hunts are going insane! They are just bursting with fruit. So Saturday, more »
I have been eating so much hummus lately. I simply can not get enough of it. A few weeks ago I had a hankering for some hummus, but had no chick peas. No problem. I used black beans instead and discovered the culinary joy that is black bean hummus! This, I thought, would be perfect more »
What a crazy late summer it’s been. I’m finally coming up for air and it feels great. Between freelance work and developing my new weight loss program (50 Days to Fabulous (after 40)), things have been hectic. I did take some time out a few weeks ago, when my few summer squashes came in, to more »
I have officially become someone who cans food, if canning 4 quarts and 2 cups of tomatoes counts. I know this isn’t yet the week for small batch preserving on the SOLE challenge, but the veggies are ready when the veggies are ready! Canning tomatoes was a big deal for me because I grew up more »
One of the things I love about traveling is finding restaurants that serve local food. That’s not always easy in a place like Playa del Carmen that is a tourist mecca. But you know when the maitre d at a restaurant refers another restaurant to you as the place to go for local, regional food more »
This is fruit week at the SOLE challenge, which seemed like a good time to make some strawberry sorbet. I have to confess though: I made this several weeks ago when local strawberries were at their peak here in Northern Va. I decided to hoard this recipe because I’m…not here! At the moment of this more »
Blueberry season seems to have peaked around here, but I’m still enjoying all the berries I stocked up on those few glorious weeks. One day I found myself with about 5 pounds of blueberries and realization that even I couldn’t eat that many. So I thought I’d do something fun for the BBQ we were more »
I’m still working on my recipe for this week, but while I’m pulling that together, I thought I’d quickly upload some photos of what we just harvested from the garden. I think this is our single biggest haul yet, and there is more where this came from (especially the squash). If you have any good more »
It’s great having a larger garden this year—I have so many more fun things to choose from (assuming I get to them before the [swear word] beetles do). We pulled up the last of our broccoli, and I wanted to do something with it a little more exciting than just steaming it, although I really more »
The spring radishes are going crazy, as is everything in my garden. I’ve eaten more greens in the past few weeks than ever before in my life! I’m finding I really like the radish greens…they’re not quite as bitter as some of the others. Who knew? Because I do so love stuffing meat with various more »
It’s been a nice little break, but I’m glad to be back to cooking challenge meals, taking pictures, and blogging about my kitchen creations. I did actually cook a meal for the first week of the SOLE challenge, but I forgot to take pictures of it. And I find posting recipes without pictures kind of more »
This child gives me hope for the future.
I’m still here, really I am! I’m just taking a brief hiatus from posting to Backyard Grocery. The reason for my absence is a good one. I’m launching my health coach business soon, and I’ve been spending all of my time getting my web site built and working on my services. By the end of more »
I love salad. Good thing, too, since I’ve got more lettuce coming up in the garden than I could ever possibly eat. I’ve given a lot away, but it just keeps coming! I love it. I like simple salads for lunch—a high-quality protein, some veggies, and a tangy vinagrette. Perfect. On these slightly chilly Spring more »
Who ordered this cold, dreary weather for the DC area? It’s April. I accept the rain. But I don’t accept the need to wear a heavy winter coat! Even Happy Dawg refused to spend any time outside this morning. Brrrr. On the bright side, I do believe hearty cheese soups were put on this Earth more »
It’s early Sunday morning and I’m relaxing and decompressing after an action-packed week with the kids in town. I love their visits; it’s fun to have kid energy in the house. It’s also exhausting! I now understand why women can start having babies when they’re 13—that’s the only time you ever have enough energy to more »
Sit down and get ready…I’m posting a vegetarian/vegan recipe. I’m almost as surprised as you are. Except I have been working on reducing the amount of animal protein I eat recently. Call it a by-product of my studies at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I will never eliminate meat entirely (I’ve a got a dedicated more »
It’s been a while since I posted and I couldn’t wait any longer…the recipes are piling up and I want to share. The reason for my absence? I won’t bore you with all the details, but it has to do with consolidating all my web hosting accounts in a feeble attempt to save some money more »
Summer is just around the corner, which has given me a terrific excuse to pull out the ice cream maker I got last fall and whip up some (mostly) local ice cream. Not that I needed an excuse, but it’s always nice to have one. The thing I’m really liking about making my own ice more »
It’s amazing to think back to November when I signed on for the dark days challenge; I had no idea then how much I would get out of this simple challenge to cook one completely SOLE meal a week. I thought it would be hard, and it wasn’t really. I’m fortunate to live in an more »
What is kohlrabi? Until I few weeks ago, I didn’t know the answer to that question. I just knew last fall we found seeds for it and planted it on our greenhouse. At the time, I didn’t stop to think about what I’d do with it when it was ready to harvest. Fast forward a more »
I continue on with my south-of-the-border themed meals this week. I had an emotional week, having just quit my extremely stressful job without having another job lined up. Actually, that’s not true. I’m studying to become a health coach, so I’ll have a job doing that…in about 9 months. In the meantime, I’ve got some more »
Nothing says “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” like queso and chips! Well, perhaps that isn’t quite true. But few things say “my tummy is about to be really happy” like queso and chips. My dark days challenge meal this week was a little different because I was doing a cooking demonstration at the Maple Avenue Market. more »
One of the best locally grown and foraged foods is, without doubt, venison. It is a healthy, delicious protein source. And, in areas where the deer herds are dangerously overpopulated, hunting is a good way to help protect the environment (overpopulated herds damage the entire ecosystem by eating food that other woodland creatures need and more »
Life is a little out of control right now. Case in point—I made this dark days meal on Tuesday. It’s now Sunday, and I’m needing to steal a quick five minutes to get it posted before round 2 of my insane family weekend begins. This weekend is the fun kind of insane: my brothers are more »
I’m so excited! Next Thursday, March 15, at 7:00 p.m. I will be speaking at The Maple Avenue Market in Vienna. Here’s a little bit about my talk: Game On! Why hunting in Fairfax County’s backyards is good for you, good for the deer, and good for the environment. Susan Rose of Backyard Grocery shares more »
This week’s Dark Days meal was a fun challenge for me: vegetarian. As a bona fide meat lover, I rarely eat purely veggie meals (although I do love most vegetarian and vegan food). (oh who am I kidding? I love all food! Except goat cheese.). The timing was good for a vegetarian meal because all more »
Rick went hunting last night, so I was on my own for dinner. It’s been a while since I’ve made myself a gourmet dinner—I’m usually at least feeding Rick too when I pull out all the stops. But I wanted something good last night after a very hard and stressful week at work, and I more »
The past few weeks have been very hectic… and exciting. I decided to take the next step in my desire to find better health and life balance through food: I’ve enrolled to become a certified health coach through the amazing Institute for Integrative Nutrition program. I can’t wait! I’ve thought about doing this program for more »
I just love concocting wonderful things to stuff inside beautiful cuts of meat. I do it with venison all the time (like stuffing venison with mashed turnips or mashed pumpkin). A few months ago I got a gorgeous local duck breast from The Organic Butcher in McLean, which has sense been sitting in my freezer more »
It has been one of those weeks. You know what I mean. When work is so busy you don’t even get up from the desk for nine hours, then you come home and just collapse. When you go to the store and buy all sorts of beautiful local produce for your dark days meal, and more »
It’s time for the Dark Days Valentine’s Day Challenge, where we were tasked with making a dessert with as many local ingredients as possible. I will admit to considering going back to my Christmas SOLE cookies; I was feeling a little lazy. Then I thought I’d make an apple crisp, or something like that. The more »
Spoiler Alert: these were the best egg-based savory dishes I’ve ever eaten. Phew. Got that off my chest. I wish the photo did it justice. Learning something…anything…about photography is one of my 2012 goals. But I’m not there yet. For now, I’m really still more interested in making delicious food that makes my husband’s toes more »
I’m really embracing my slow cooker these days. It takes a little bit of planning, but it’s nice to come home from work to a dinner that is, at least mostly, ready to eat. I had intended this meal to be for the Dark Days one pot meal challenge. But when I couldn’t fit the more »
I have to admit that I was not very excited about this meal. I’ve been thinking for a week about what I wanted to make for this one-pot meal challenge and nothing sounded good. A stew or chili seemed the most obvious (at least easiest) choice, but 1) I haven’t been in the mood and more »
I’ve got a dark days challenge coming up, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it. The one pot meal has me stumped, mostly because I don’t want to make chili for it. I actually made a slow cook chicken this week, but while it was tasty, it wasn’t post worthy. And the more »
