Eating and living locally . . . mindfully . . . simply.
Last weekend I thought about making mini quiches for my sister’s baby shower. I ended up just buying some from Costco because I didn’t want to try a new recipe for my MOTHER and several aunts. I’m just sayin’. So this weekend I decided to give them a try.
OK so I didn’t have enough tomatoes to make this as written. I sort of ate the handful of ripe cherry tomatoes that I had picked for this recipe. Oops. So I added some chopped kale. That’s the nice thing about Simply in Season. They actually give you permission to make substitutions! An added bonus of that feature in this book is that after a year, I’m finally getting the hang of usual substitutions, and carrying that knowledge over to {Read More}
While the recipe in Simply in Season merely calls for a 3 pound whole chicken, I knew that this was the perfect recipe for a stewing chicken. Stewing chickens are usually tough old birds and are very inexpensive, even when they are the organic free range variety that I get from the farm where I have my milk share. When I purchased two of them, my farmer said “you do know those are stewing chickens, right?” I said, “of course!” {Read More}
It’s deer hunting season here in Michigan, and unfortunately DH was unsuccessful. Last year we were able to forgo buying beef and eat from his one deer all year. We are out of steaks, and have only a few packages of ground ven left. So now we are trying to decide whether to buy a quarter cow or a buffalo. Hmmm. Tonight’s dinner is adapted from Simply in Season’s Venison Broccoli Pasta Salad. The original recipe is for a cold {Read More}
One of the amazing things that I’ve learned by cooking through Simply in Season is how many things you can make from scratch that don’t take much time at all. Not only does this make your food much healthier (no added preservatives or sodium, and you can control what’s in it) but it’s cheaper and you don’t need to make as many trips to the grocery store. Now, my mom is a great cook. But with a household of four {Read More}
For this recipe, I used a romanesca cauliflower. It’s a fascinating looking vegetable, and DH couldn’t wait to try it. The night before, cut the cauliflower into 1 inch florets, halve the brussels sprouts, drizzle with 2 T olive oil and mix. Then, add 3 cloves of thinly sliced garlic, 1/2 tsp of rosemary, and 1/2 tsp pepper. The next evening, preheat the oven to 450F, sprinkle with salt, and bake in a single layer for 15-20 minutes (until they’re {Read More}
Today I brought the ingredients to make Simply in Season’s Broccoli Gratin to my mom’s house for Sunday dinner. Imagine my surprise to arrive and discover that her main dish was very similar to this – she was making a broccoli/chicken bake. I decided to go ahead and make my side dish so that we could compare the two. For my version: 5-6 C broccoli or cauliflower (I used broccoli). Steam until just crisp-tender and set aside. I did this {Read More}
Potlucks are funny. You never know what you’re gonna get, which I guess is the point. There is a garbage disposal service in our area called “Potluck Pickup.” At my old church, which had lots of older ladies, the potlucks were divine. At my current church, which is mostly 20 & 30 somethings, chips and dip and potato salad from the deli are more common. DH was invited to a party, and he asked me to make the pumpkin bread {Read More}
I know, a BROCCOLI sandwich? This is another one of those Simply in Season recipes that made me think “you’ve got to be kidding me, Gladys in Pennsylvania. ” But since I had a lot of broccoli from the farmer’s market I thought why not give it a try. Besides, I needed something to go with the gingery butternut soup. I halved the recipe just in case. I chopped 1 C of broccoli in the food chopper, 1/4 C of {Read More}
