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FALL COCKTAILS BABY! WITH HOMEMADE SHRUBS
We've been experimenting with shrubs this past few months and have a couple to share with you for your fall cocktailing. If you aren't familiar with shrubs, they are a drinking vinegar ~ a syrupy concoction of fresh fruit, sugar and vinegar to be exact. Intended as...
UMEBOSHI ~ Pickled Salted Plums
This is an amazing fermented food that I discovered by accident last summer. We had a huge plum harvest and I needed a recipe for preserving the hundreds of plums that were ripening fast! I came across a recipe for umeboshi. Ume is a Japanese fruit that's preserved...
PURSLANE CHIMICHURRI
Chimichurri is a very green Argentinian condiment made with parsley, oregano, chilis, vinegar, oil, garlic. There are literally hundreds of variations of chimichurri that come from all over the world, but the true home of chimichurri is Argentina. This version...
A DYNAMIC DUO ~ Soup and Quinoa
So by now you probably know about quinoa (keen-wa). You may not know that it's close relative of spinach, kale and Swiss chard, which is kind of mind blowing because it looks and tastes like a grain. Three to four thousand years ago, the Incas made it a part of their...
PURSLANE IS A SUPERFOOD
Purslane has been on my list of vegetables to explore. I am growing it this year, with intention! It's been one of the things I weeded out of our gardens every year, but on a trip to San Francisco last fall, my sister and I freaked out about the side dish on our...
ORGANIC BROCCOLI BACON SALAD with DRIED APRICOTS & CRANBERRIES
This growing season has been amazing. We have literally eaten a truck load of broccoli since the middle of May. Sometime in mid-June I posted "heads are gonna roll" because we were harvesting huge heads of broccoli and getting ready to plant our next rows. I think I...
MY FRIEND
For two years Lori came to the kitchen every Wednesday morning and picked up soups to be delivered to schools in Oregon City. Those two years were hard for me. Business was booming, but it was relentless and many days of the week i was cooking solo. On those...
PENNE with RAINBOW CHARD BASIL PESTO & BABY SPINACH
I am reposting this penne with pesto recipe because it's summer and this is one of those dishes best made with fresh out-of-the-garden ingredients! Of course, you can use farmer's market or store-bought ingredients and it will be just as delicious. The last couple of...
What’s Up with the Chicken Fat?
I have been asked several times over the last 6 months if we ever offer chicken fat on the menu. It’s been on my wish list for some time, but we so rarely have enough to actually put it on the menu. This just so happens to be the first week we have ~ and it’s not a...
Quarantine Gardening
In times of uncertainty, stress and unrest, people turn to cultivating their own. During 2007’s economic slump, there was a surge in urban farming and community gardens. People were losing their jobs all over the country and rising concerns for feeding your family...