the first of the summer squash bounty: zucchini bread

Summers at home were ushered in not so memorably by the end of the school year, but instead by loaves of fresh zucchini bread. My sister and I would devour the green-flecked loaves, drenched with glossy powdered-sugar icing, almost as soon as our mother could get them out of the oven.  Last year, I must have asked my mom on a busy day for her zucchini bread recipe because she told me to "Google it, something similar is sure to come up." Well, last weekend, I asked again, and she helped me find her cookbook with the recipe scrawled in it.  I jotted it down and made a batch as soon...

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eating light: black bean and fresh corn salad

Here's a first: I have no photo of this. I know. I KNOW! It won't be the same! But here me out: I got back from my first triathlon training class, where they taught me that all these years I've been running incorrectly, and it was way past my dinner time. I was hot, my muscles were exhausted, and my adrenaline was pumping from a hard workout. And then I realized the hunger pangs.My plan was to recreate a salad I'd had earlier in the week at Blue Dahlia Bistro. A beautiful bed of greens topped with black beans, corn, pico de gallo, avocado, and a delectable citrus vinaigrette; the perfect...

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looking forward...

The heat is beating down on us already this summer, but I am truly looking forward to what's in store.There is, of course, this movie coming out, all about eating more sustainable and local and organic foods (right up my alley, don't you think?):And I'm sure after I see it, I will become even more of a "locavore," except when my doing so would put someone in a bind. Hear me out; I'll mostly be vegetarian, and eat local, grass-fed, humanely raised meat when I have the chance. If that's not an option at a restaurant, I'll go veggie. And if we're out in the country with the fam, without access...

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beating the heat, caprese style

Yesterday I spent the morning with my mother, helping her harvest some of the most beautiful produce I've ever seen. For the second week in a row, I came home with pounds of vegetables: carrots (of course), lettuce, banana peppers, okra (green and burgundy), onions (secret!), zucchini, cucumbers, squash, and a few of the most gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. It is an unbelievable sight to get home with an ice chest full of home-grown goodies and know that you'd better get to work soon. How inspiring to stare at vegetables you harvested yourself, that your mom grew from seed, and think... We get to...

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carrot cupcakes with a twist

Before I tell you about cupcakes, let me just show you why my dog gets a bite of everything we do. Could YOU turn down that face? The answer is no. Especially when it's coupled with a sweet little nudge from that heart-shaped nose. Moving on. I made cupcakes. This was quite a determined, much talked-about, when's-it-gonna-actually-happen batch of cupcakes. We came home one weekend with five pounds of carrots from my mom's garden, and I wanted miniature-sized carrot cakes with cream cheese icing. But I didn't have a lot of brown sugar, and I didn't have cream cheese, and, in short, I just wanted...

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hippie chow inspiration

I'm a glutton for food blogs. I could read them until my eyes fell out of my head, and have very nearly done that on more than one occasion. Today is one of those occasions.One of the blogs I read regularly is called Bread & Honey. I can't help but admire their gorgeous photos with a vintage tinge. And then when I found out the gal is a hippie-minded folk like me, I just couldn't stop myself. She posted about many nights of "hippie chow"--whatever's in the house goes into the meal. So THAT'S what I should be calling my totally random one-dish meals.Well, when Ryan was out one night...

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garden-inspired pizza: potatoes, onions, and rosemary

A trip to my mother's over the weekend yielded 13 pounds--POUNDS--of fresh produce. Five of those pounds were counted in carrots, but we also came home with chard, the last of the spring lettuce, squash, green beans, parsnips, onions, shallots, and potatoes.You know that it brings me such joy to share in the harvest of my mom's garden, and I have a game plan for the 5 pounds of carrots that we wound up bringing home with us.But first, let me tell you about this extraordinary pizza.I had big plans for Sunday, and utilized the bread machine by making a loaf of artisan foccacia (managed not to take...

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early summer baked potato soup

You'll be seeing a theme here, running the course of at least three meals (and I'm saving the best for last). A five-pound bag of organic potatoes, followed by a half-pound of garden potatoes from my mother (even better) made for a slew of frugal tuber dinners.  It must be because I keep them on top of the fridge, where conditions fall in the warm, not cool, temperature range...but our potatoes grow eyes faster than you can imagine. No matter; I snapped off the eyes of the store-bought potatoes and got to chopping. (Can I point out the dough scraper here? Ryan thought it was a useless...

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