With all the squirrels stealing tomatoes out of my garden I'm amazed there are any left for me to eat. Fortunately there are plenty and they made for a quick and tasty dinner. I just wish I'd made a little more.


» Recipe for Shrimp with Tomatoes

I have a lot of cookbooks, but I rarely use any of them. I have recipes bookmarked with post-its, but that doesn't really do any good when I have so many more bookmarked online that I can access with a click of my mouse. So, in an effort to give my cookbooks the attention they deserve, last Sunday, in a fit of boredom, I decided to index the recipes I'd bookmarked in an excel spreadsheet. Separate worksheets for each category. I was quite proud of my productivity, and I came across some very yummy-looking dishes that I'd completely forgotten about.

This one, though, was a disappointment, through and through. It's from Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave. I didn't have any lowfat buttermilk so I replaced it with skim milk soured with cider vinegar, and added a tiny bit of melted butter. Aside from that I made the recipe as written but the batter came out thin and the resulting pancakes were flat and limp. They didn't even have a good flavor. I think I'll stick with my oatmeal pancake recipe.

This turned out so delicious. Moist, tender, and flavorful. I will definitely make it again. I think it would also be great with other types of nuts, like almonds, or maybe an orange-pecan variation.


» Recipe for Lemon-Pistachio Crusted Haddock

I'm alone in the house for a few days (well, not if you count the pup) while Matt's in Tokyo, which means I'm restless. A hankering for chocolate cake led me to try out this maple syrup sweetened Basic Chocolate Cake recipe. I kinda ruined it with modifications, I think. I replaced some of the flour with coconut flour and used rice milk instead of coconut milk. The result was dense, fudgy, and not too sweet, with a hint of maple flavor that I wasn't really crazy about. Oh well.

Matt's sister and her family went peach picking over at Linvilla Orchards last weekend and offered us some of their haul. we ate delicious fresh peaches for a couple days until they started to go past their prime (which didn't take long). I decided to try a peach-rhubarb combination and I think it turned out well. A bit too sweet though. Or something. I would probably cut back on the sugar and butter in the topping. A higher peach to rhubarb ratio would probably be better also.


» Recipe for Peach Rhubarb Crisp

My first batch of homemade dog treats. Not perfect. I would add some baking powder next time so they're not as dense. Sadie loves them, although I suspect she'll love anything that I give her, seeing as she eats dirt and grass on a regular basis.


» Recipe for Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dog Treats

Today is my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. We're having a little get-together for them. My garden is bursting with rhubarb so dessert's on me.


» Recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler with Whole Wheat

There are so many reasons to love spring and right up there with short-sleeves, sandals, sprouting seeds, and tulips, there's rhubarb cake. Light, fluffy, studded with tart pockets of softened rhubarb, and dusted with cinnamon sugar, it's one of my family's favorites. This year I was able to make it with rhubarb from my own garden.

» Recipe for Rhubarb Cake

This was a satisfying and tasty meatless (vegan!) meal.


» Recipe for Cauliflower Curry

When I was growing up, Savory Sausage Stew made a frequent appearance on the dinner table during the cold months. It was easy to make and easy to love. I'm not sure why it took me this long to try to make it myself.

I was reminded of the stew when my friend Dom posted a similar recipe on his blog for Meatball Stew. I really had a craving for it after that.

I looked up the recipe in our old family cookbook (which I had published online years ago), and when I saw "condensed onion soup" among the ingredients I was taken aback. I'd never known my mom to use canned soup in any of her recipes, but apparently that's how she made it in 1993. I mentioned this to her yesterday and she said, "Oh we don't make it at all like that anymore."

This is my attempt at recreating that comforting stew and it turned out just right.


» Recipe for Sausage Stew