spinach strawberry walnut salad

Adapted from the salad my friend Deb made at Easter, we’ve made this salad at least twice since then with great results. It’s especially tasty now that strawberries are in season!
Spinach Strawberry Walnut Salad
1 bag baby spinach
3/4 of a 16 oz container or so of fresh, ripe strawberries, washed and sliced
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 pkg [...]

mediterranean quiche by emeril

Here is another recipe from Easter brunch, also vegetarian for my friend Deb. You can also get this recipe from Food Network by clicking here.
Two important safety tips with this recipe. First, be sure to allot enough time for the quiche to sit and firm up – the recommended 30 minutes didn’t seem like [...]

eggplant parmesan

My good friend Deb joined us Saturday in preparation for Easter festivities, and since she’s a vegetarian I thought I’d make her some eggplant parmigana for dinner. I looked at two recipes (from epicurious.com and food network), merged them together, and added a few touches of my own. It turned into a dish that worked [...]

Baked Ziti for a cold winter night…

hiya- just made this receipe last night from Cook’s Illustrated magazine and thought I’d share… it’s sort of like a lasagna but with curly pasta. I’m guessing that you can make it more like a lasagna by adding veggies like mushrooms and zucchini, perhaps…  but my 17 month old love it so it’s a keeper. [...]

Rachel’s Super Salsa Recipes

Back in August, when I had tons of tomatoes and tomatillos, I asked my friend and colleague Rachel – who was born and rasied in Tucson, and is an excellent cook – for some authentic salsa recipes. She shared these two with me, which she found on Google some time ago. I’ve only made the [...]

Summer begins when…

… you first go outside into your garden and your basil is big enough to cut some and not worry about the rest of the plant dying off.
Mmmmm…. basil. I threw the chiffonade of a big handful as well as a diced clove of garlic into a cup of cooked pasta, added salt and [...]

Eating seasonally: asparagus with ginger

What to do with a bounty of asparagus? Ah, if only to regularly have such a problem…

Eating seasonally: swiss and rainbow chard

A dolled-up recipe for sauteeing swiss chard, the bountiful summer green.

CSA starts up: summer is here!

Sorry for the long blogging absence!
We are members of two CSAs(=”Community Supported Agriculture“), one in Illinois and one in Indiana. The one in Illinois, Henry’s Farm, is fairly infamous for its fabulous variety of vegetables, and its servicing of Chicago restaurants. The one in Indiana we’re new to, ECO/TwinCrooks, which works with an [...]

The seasons collide: roasting spring, summer and fall veggies

It’s been a few weeks since I have had time to cook anything fun – too much work and traveling. Friday I got to go home for a few days, and as we finally got to go to the grocery store yesterday, we got good veggies for cooking. On the weekends, we try [...]