Ever been disappointed by the taste of instant mashed potatoes? You might think from the fact that instant potatoes have become so common that making mashed potatoes from scratch must be difficult or time-consuming, but it’s not so! The purveyors of dehydrated potato flakes certainly want you to think mashed potatoes from scratch are a complex art beyond your ability…
Tag: cooking
Making Time for Fresh Food
Why is it that when the fridge is full to bursting with garden-fresh produce, I can still find myself reaching for a box of Cheez-Its? It’s happened more than once this week, and as someone who writes a blog about fresh food, I am more than a little embarrassed. I know that the answer has to…
Green Bean Mini Quiches
When I got asked to bring a dish to a party this weekend, I knew I had to find some way to use both the eggs and the green beans that have been crowding our refrigerator. Thus was born the green bean quiche! The green beans are shredded in the food processor so that they…
Cheap and Easy Granola
Granola is so expensive to buy in the store, and when you do, you can’t get it without a host of unpronounceable items in the ingredients list. But sometimes I just crave it. Maybe it’s those whole grains: oats and whole wheat flour, and whatever seeds and nuts are added. In any case, I finally…
Strawberry Tortellini Salad
I’ve been crazy busy this spring, what with buying a new house and getting married! But not so busy that I haven’t been able to pick fresh strawberries almost every day. Our ever-bearing variety, Tristar, started bearing May 12 and has been going strong ever since. Homegrown strawberries are so delicious that you don’t really…
Fresh Winter Food: Turnips
Most people don’t think of winter as a season in which you can garden, but here in Virginia, you certainly can–even without greenhouses or cold frames. One of the foods we planted last fall and haven’t had to protect all winter is turnips. Now, it’s true that the temperatures down in the twenties a couple…
Garlic Harvest, Part II
A couple of weeks ago, I pulled the garlic from the garden and spread it to dry, stems and all, on the concrete floor under our deck. A couple of days later, I peeled off the outer leaves, culled for the refrigerator a few of the bulbs that were showing some deterioration, and, for convenience’s…
Frying Flounder
Recent storms over the Chesapeake Bay have been stirring up the flounder, which normally hide out on the bay bottom. We’re fortunate to have a fisherman acquaintance who shared his catch with us, bringing us three pounds of fresh flounder filets! Since my dad is a big fan of fried seafood, we decided to go…
Pickling Beets
You might think from the number of posts I’ve written about beets that I must have planted rows and rows of them, but in truth I only planted about five feet! And yet I’m still eating them…for lunch every other day… The problem of excess beet greens does seem to have been solved, however. The…
Perfectly Chewy Granola Bars
Store-bought granola bars and granola cereals are so expensive and have such simple ingredients that it doesn’t make sense to me not to make our own. Of course, the right recipe is essential. We’ve tried some that have turned out bars so hard you might chip a tooth! But this one, modified slightly from one…
gettin' fresh! 