Have you ever had a recipe ask for chipotle peppers in adobo, so you buy a can and open it up and not know what to do with it?  I know I was pretty lost when I first started using these peppers.  But if you like a little bit of smoky heat, this is an ingredient that you want to be familiar with!

Continue reading “fyi: chipotle in adobo” »

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The first day of autumn arrived and all of a sudden it’s winter with snow covering the mountains around us! Gotta love Utah weather.. A few weeks ago I picked up a half bushel of my favorite honey crisp apples. They’re sweet, a little tart, and they have the best crunch. October is all about apples in our home, and a few end of summer peaches, but we’re going to focus on the smooth, crispy red fruit of autumn.

For the next few weeks, I will be sharing some of my favorite recipes highlighting apples. We’re kicking it all off with some fun facts and recipes all about apples, keep reading to find out more! Continue reading “in season: apples” »

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It is not a big secret that I am a kitchen gadget junkie.  I love a good gadget, especially if I find myself using it over and over, the sign of kitchen gadget success!

I recently switched from using aerosol non-stick cooking sprays to using my own oils like olive oil, or vegetable oil in a fun pump sprayer*.  It has quickly become a favorite kitchen gadget!   I love that you can just re-fill with your oil once you have used it all, and you can re-use the can over and over, cutting down waste, and saving money in your pocket!

Another benefit is that you reduce the amount of chemicals you are ingesting from the aerosol sprayers, which also tend to leave a bit of a gummy mess on your cookware, and are not safe for your non-stick cookware.  I also like to use heart healthy olive oil, so putting my own in a pump sprayer has been really great!

So, what are your favorite kitchen gadgets lately?

(*I have a misto brand sprayer that I really like, I think there are similar ones from other brands)

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I hope you are experiencing an Indian Summer in your neck of the woods, or at least a slight version of one!  It’s a glorious time of year, especially for those of us still wanting to intake all the summer produce we can. At the top of this list are garden tomatoes…isn’t the taste difference between garden tomatoes and store-bought tomatoes absolutely incredible?  They are hardly the same fruit/vegetable (tomatoes are technically fruit, but we often refer to them as vegetables so I’m going to use both here ).  Today I’d like to share my favorite way to use the little grape and cherry tomatoes from the garden (or farmer’s market if you don’t have a garden), which makes for a super easy upgrade to any salad.  It’s so simple, but adds so much flavor…

Continue reading “Easy Upgrade to Your Basic Garden Salad” »

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Ruth Reichl discovered that “food could be a way of making sense of the world. . . . If you watched people as they ate, you could find out who they were” from Tender to the Bone.

I have always been fascinated by books that discuss food, specifically non-fiction, although cookbooks are a definite favorite. Whether they’re memoirs, centered around the science of food, food history, or even spiritual food beliefs, call me a nerd, but I love learning how food affects us, sculpts cultures and individuals, and dictates so much of our lives and memories. I just recently read (finally) Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A year of food life. I learned a lot and felt inspired while I was reading it and even more so when I finished. I even canned peaches for the first time because of it!  A couple books I have on my list to read include Salt: A world history by Mark Kurlansky and The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher.

How about you? Do you like food writing (magazines included)?

What food book have you read lately? What about your to-read list?

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I made a lot of freezer jam this summer and since it was my first time (can you believe I waited so long?!), I did a lot of research beforehand and learned some valuable information from seasoned jammers.  Here is what I learned:

Continue reading “Berry Freezer Jam Tips” »

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It’s that time of year again! Local peaches are being harvested from your neighborhood orchards and can be seen (and bought) at roadside stands, farmer’s markets, and even a local grocer. We love eating them fresh, with juice dripping down our arms and chins. Nothing better than a Utah peach in August.

Keep reading to learn some fun facts about these delicious fruit.. Continue reading “in season: peaches” »

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I love using herbs fresh, especially dill. I like to use it in sauces, soups, as a garnish and especially with crisp summer cucumbers. I tried (for the third year in a row) to grow my own herbs and finally they’ve grown enough that I can actually use them! Until they flower, that is. It’s so exciting to have my own little garden, even if it is only a foot and a half wide.

Keep reading to see some facts I learned about dill and check out a recipe we love using it fresh from the garden. Continue reading “herbs: dill” »

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Our family loves chia seeds, for their nutritional value, and the crunch they add to whatever you sprinkle them on. My toddler likes to lick her finger, stick it in the jar of chia seeds, then suck them off like candy or sugar. We sprinkle them on our oatmeal, muesli, on salads, add it to dressings, smoothies, and anything else we can think up.

Keep reading to find out a few more interesting facts about chia seeds. Continue reading “fyi: chia seeds” »

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Isn’t strawberry season wonderful?  In fact, berry season in general is intoxicating.  If you are interested in picking your own berries, you can head to the Pick Your Own website and find local farms providing such an experience.  In fact, the berries you see above were handpicked by moi at a farm about 50 minutes north of our home in Seattle.  With its red barn and picturesque setting, it was a dreamy way to spend a Saturday morning with the family.

That evening, as I stared at my 17 pounds of freshly-picked strawberries, I mentally sifted through all the possible things I could make with some that night.  Strawberry scones?  Strawberry shakes?  Strawberry topping for ice cream?  Strawberries with brown sugar and crème fraiche?  Aaaah…but my hankering for good old-fashioned strawberry shortcake took over and it was pure heaven.  I used this recipe and loved it…I will definitely make it again!  I didn’t sugar my strawberries at all, but added some lightly sweetened whipped cream (1.5 cups heavy cream, 1 TB sugar, 1 tsp. pure vanilla).  Be sure to be generous with those berries…I’m always surprised how quickly they are consumed.

image by Stephanie Brubaker / stephmodo

image by Stephanie Brubaker / stephmodo

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