wishing you a sweet and flourishing 2014

Here is a strawberry shortcake from last summer, and a shot of the garden in its prime, to remind us all of the goodness of life!

many healthful greens - pasta and salad

I did a bow-tie pasta shape and the sauce included goat cheese, bacon and chard.  The salad was arugula, sliced snap peas, and fresh mozzarella.

trout, potatoes. and dessert - oh my!

Here I have wrapped some trout with bacon and tucked in some herbs so it is all ready for the grill.  We had these delicious creamy chive smashed potatoes as our side dish, then a banana cream pie for dessert (notice that the crust is painted with chocolate!).

Merry Christmas 2013!

The table is set for today's meal:  assorted meat and cheese appetizers, glazed ham, garlic scalloped potatoes, brussels sprouts roasted with bacon and garlic, baby greens with cranberry gorgonzola dressing, rolls, molten chocolate cakes and eggnog ice cream.

a new mouth to feed

My daughter arranged an early Christmas surprise for me - meet Marshamellow, an 8 week old feral rescue:

kale chips, homemade pimento cheese, asian chicken salad

This was my first attempt at making pimento cheese and it was SO tasty.  Here I spread it on toast points (and broiled it) as an appetizer, along with some freshly made kale chips, before enjoying an Asian chicken and cabbage salad.

vegetables and cheese and egg - yummy!

On a base of creamed chard I have a baked egg topped with cheese.  I stuffed and baked a yellow squash too.

memories of garden tomatoes, and a delicious calzone

I just ran across this photo of a meal from July - I had harvested this beautiful tomato and had to make a caprese salad with some fresh mozzarella, basil, oil and balsamic.  That was easy enough to compose while my sausage/pepperoni/ricotta calzone baked.  I just put my favorite fillings into a store bought pizza dough, baked, topped with a marinara sauce.

squash blossom summer memories (lamb too)

When the garden had many squash blossoms, I made a ricotta-squash blossom filling for these delicious tortelli (large tortellini) and topped them with a sage-butter sauce.  The main course pictured here is grilled lemon-thyme lamb chops.

summer memories of corn, kale, manicotti

We grew so much kale this year - I often turned it into addicting kale chips for snacking.  This evening I also made fresh creamed corn to go with our stuffed manicotti.

oven fried shrimp; blueberry pies for dessert

This was an easy (and healthful) way to make a lot of 'fried' shrimp for dinner.  I dredged them in flour, dipped them in whisked egg whites (with a touch of mustard), then a final coating in a mixture of panko, corn flake crumbs, spices, and a touch of oil.  Baked on a rack at 425 degrees for 10 minutes and then folks could dip them in their favorite seafood dipping sauce.  I enjoyed making fresh blueberry hand pies for our decadent dessert.

chicken and kale

This is a Chicken Divan casserole, with a raw kale salad for our side dish.

july soup, salad, and dessert

It was much warmer a few months ago when I raided the garden to make a squash blossom soup that included corn and green chile.  Our main course was pork schnitzel with a tomato salad also fresh from the garden.  We also enjoyed a delicious blueberry crumble for dessert.