A Climate Changing World – French Onion Dip

A Climate Changing World – French Onion Dip

As I took my daily walk on this early February morning, I couldn’t help but notice the green stalks of spring flowers already peeking through the ground. It left me conflicted. On the one hand I love that spring – my favorite time of the …

Eat the Season – Fried Goat Cheese with Beets, Apples, and Toasted Walnuts

Eat the Season – Fried Goat Cheese with Beets, Apples, and Toasted Walnuts

It may seem obvious, but we should eat the season. In other words, we should eat fruits and vegetables that are in season locally rather than eating produce that has travelled from halfway around the world or all the way across the country. Our food …

A Change of Seasons – Greek Salad Quinoa

A Change of Seasons – Greek Salad Quinoa

As the angle of the sun dips on the horizon and the first golden hues shine from leaves that are nearing their end, the harvest from my garden changes from summer to fall crops. The shift is not sudden. Summer green beans, peppers, and tomatoes …

I Used To Think “Fresh Pickle” Was An Oxymoron – New Pickles

I Used To Think “Fresh Pickle” Was An Oxymoron – New Pickles

When I think of pickles, a variety of things come to mind, but “fresh” isn’t usually one of them. The synonym I’d more likely apply is “preserved.” Thoughts of pickles include big barrels on old sailing vessels; food made for long-term storage to be eaten …

My Late June Garden – A Quick Video Tour

I thought this week instead of telling a story or discussing my garden harvest and providing a recipe, I would give a quick video tour of my late June garden.     As I watch this video, shot almost two weeks ago, I note how …

My Obsession With Broccoli Rabe – Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

My Obsession With Broccoli Rabe – Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

My wife Marci thinks I’m obsessed with broccoli rabe. Maybe that’s because I frequently order it as a side dish or in this pasta with sausage when we dine on Italian food, or because whenever I eat it, I proclaim my love for this incredible …

Seeds of Success – Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds of Success – Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Warm, ripe summer tomatoes. Sweet, crisp sugar snap peas in spring. Spicy fall arugula. Crunchy, sweet carrots as winter approaches. Herbs as a garnish to shower over a dish before it’s ready to serve. All from my garden. Fruits, leaves, roots. All delicious. But as …

Dilly Beans – Pickled Green Beans

Dilly Beans – Pickled Green Beans

Overabundance in the garden is a problem I can deal with. To even use the word ‘problem’ is a stretch. Nonetheless, when there is too much of a given crop in the heart of its harvesting season, the gardener must find a way to use …

Homegrown Strawberries – Macerated Berries with Vanilla Cream

Homegrown Strawberries – Macerated Berries with Vanilla Cream

When our contractor was rebuilding our porch one spring after the old rotting one almost ripped away from our house in an ice storm the previous winter, I had just added a 4 x 4 foot raised bed of strawberries to the garden. The porch …

My Early Spring Garden – Arugula, Fig Jam, and Burrata on Grilled Garlic Toasts

My Early Spring Garden – Arugula, Fig Jam, and Burrata on Grilled Garlic Toasts

I can only imagine what it would have been like for my ancestors – both the caveman types thousands of years ago, wherever they were, and those just over a century or so before, in little villages somewhere in what is now Ukraine. After a …