These are the kinds of things that I'm apt to do. I decided to make pepper and herb-infused oil with the half-hearted goal of giving some away as a Christmas present. Here's the crop so far:


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Today seemed like an excellent day to make pie. Unfortunately since I'm anal, I decided to clean out my spice cabinet before starting on the pies. For some reason I can't cook or bake unless I have order in my kitchen, which includes my cabinets. Which leads me to this question: How long should you keep dried herbs, spices, and seasonings? Some of ( Read more... )

I was originally making this for my one year old, Kat, because she likes applesauce and blueberries in her morning oatmeal and yogurt, but it was so tasty, that I am making up another batch of this for everyone to eat. i can't wait to try it with braised pork chops or roasted venison.

I used a mixture of tart and sweet apples: Cortland, Ginger Gold ( Read more... )

Being the mother of a one year old and a seventeen year old has its challenges; luckily, few of them involve what goes on in the kitchen.

Being blessed with two daughters of highly disparate ages and interests, but very similar tastes in food is a great thing. Both of them, like their father and I, love spicy, flavorful food made from fresh, local ( Read more... )

Every Friday night is Movie Night at a friend's house. Out motto is "bring your own damn snacks" so it's usually a pot luck... to feed everyone sufficiently, in a manner that does not put our esteemed hosts in the hole financially ( Read more... )

So my ten month old baby loves coconut milk based curries. I think it is because I have been eating curry all through pregnancy and breastfeeding her--and gave up on giving her the proscribed bland diet early on in her solid food explorations because she didn't care for them.
Instead of making two dinners, now, I have started making curries that ( Read more... )

I love baby vegetables.

Whether they are naturally small veggies, like cherry and pear tomatoes or French haricot vert (tiny French filet green beans), or they are harvest when very small and young, like baby squash, carrots or beets, I love them.

They are not only cute--which I admit is part of their charm--but they have wonderful fresh flavors ( Read more... )

Okay, as far as I am concerned, no vegetable is as sexy as an eggplant. No matter if they are egg-shaped and small, elongated and slender, or large and curvy, they are all voluptuous, filled with sweet, tender flesh that takes on flavors like nobody's business.

They are one of the best reasons for summer heat to exist, in my opinion. (Chilies, corn ( Read more... )

Here is a simple, yet very tasty summer grilled dish from Punjab in the north of India. It uses minced meat--mine uses lamb, but one can do it with chicken, beef, or something more interesting like goat, venison or rabbit. (Though I would change the spice mixture slightly for each of the different meats.)

If you have a spice grinder or really good ( Read more... )

One of my favorite things about shopping at my farmer's market in high summer is the way I never know what I will find there. Small farmers are constantly diversifying and trying new crops, or they introduce new animals to their operations or they start working towards dairy certification.

This summer some of my favorite finds have been rabbit meat ( Read more... )