Savory Custard with Bacon and Cheese

With the holidays approaching, maybe you’re looking for a simple but elegant brunch offering for your guests, or maybe just something a tad bit special for yourself. This savory custard should please about anyone – – I even like it and eggs are not my favorite! It must be the garlic-infused cream, or the nutty… Continue reading Savory Custard with Bacon and Cheese

Weekday Chili with Black and White Beans

So to celebrate, I made a pot of chili. I have a few versions of this up my sleeve – there’s the kind of chili that takes all day to cook, and there’s fast chili that you can throw together in 15 minutes and have on the table in an hour. This particular recipe is quick and versatile – just right for a weekday meal.

Shrimp Scampi with Risotto

If it isn’t completely evident by now, I could eat about anything cooked in, smeared with, or floating in butter and garlic.  You put that together with shrimp and a simple risotto – that’s a quick and relatively easy meal that will please most anyone.  There are people out there, I know, that don’t like… Continue reading Shrimp Scampi with Risotto

Summer Squash Stuffed with Goat Cheese

Never mind the date on the calendar; it’s truly summer when summer squash are bursting out all over.  Whether you grow your own or depend on your local farmers,  summer squash is in season!  Luckily it is very versatile and I never get tired of eating it. We usually go for something simple with summer… Continue reading Summer Squash Stuffed with Goat Cheese

Banana Date Walnut Bread (grain-free)

Faced with rapidly blackening bananas in the fruit bowl, I turned to the ever-popular means of using them up…banana bread.  My old recipe for banana bread used wheat flour, but thankfully these non-yeast breads adapt well to using almond flour. The other big change in this recipe is the lack of processed sugar.  After 3… Continue reading Banana Date Walnut Bread (grain-free)

Cheddar Bacon Biscuits (grain-free)

These savory little shortbread cookies will taunt you until you have eaten every last one – I’ll warn you now!  I had to make batch after batch of these because I “forgot” to take a photo, and next thing I knew, they were all gone. I first set out on the path to make plain… Continue reading Cheddar Bacon Biscuits (grain-free)

Crispy, Baked Sweet Potato Fries (gluten-free)

Over the weekend I went on an internet mission to find the secret to sweet potato fries that are crispy, baked (vs fried), well-seasoned, and gluten free.  I wrote down what I thought were the best ideas from a multitude of recipes, added seasonings I like, and put it all together in a Hail Mary,… Continue reading Crispy, Baked Sweet Potato Fries (gluten-free)

Lemon Bars (gluten and grain-free, dairy-free)

Lemon bars seem to be a nice, light dessert, with their innocent-looking sweet tartness and summery color.  However if you spend anytime browsing recipes, you know that they are evil – usually full of sugar and flour (up to 3 cups of sugar in a small pan)!  I had written them off, until I came… Continue reading Lemon Bars (gluten and grain-free, dairy-free)

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes and Vodka Sauce

Tomatoes are starting to roll in, and not even I can keep up with eating that many BLTs.  One of the easiest and most versatile ways to take advantage of this is to oven-roast the tomatoes.  I love the super-concentrated, sweet taste of roasted tomatoes – and you can use them in a sauce, eat… Continue reading Oven-Roasted Tomatoes and Vodka Sauce

Chicken Piccata with Rainbow Chard

We were out of town last week, although not really vacationing.  I had envisioned cooking up a storm and having lots of things to post, but soon after arriving at our non-airconditioned home (in a desert) those plans fell to the wayside.  I forget how much turning on a stove or oven heats the entire… Continue reading Chicken Piccata with Rainbow Chard

Garlic Scape and Cilantro Pesto

This was a new one for me – garlic scapes.  I imagine many people have pulled the tangle of whip-like green stalks from their CSA boxes and wondered ‘what the heck is this’?  Turns out that garlic scapes are the green shoots/flower stems that grow out of the garlic bulbs in the spring or early… Continue reading Garlic Scape and Cilantro Pesto

Cashew “Cheesecake” (gluten-free, dairy-free)

This isn’t the sort of thing I usually do.  With my fondness for all dairy products, I’ve never seen the need to try to make substitutions, but the idea of this raw cheesecake made from cashews piqued my curiosity.  It was hard to imagine that soaked raw nuts could be turned into anything comparable to… Continue reading Cashew “Cheesecake” (gluten-free, dairy-free)

Shrimp Pasta with Kale and Garlic (gluten-free)

Outside it was still raining.  Still. Raining.  When I see the sunshine again, I am going to kiss it – it has been away far too long!  In the meantime, dinner is limited to what I can find in the recesses of the freezer.  Shrimp looks good!  What else do we have – lots and… Continue reading Shrimp Pasta with Kale and Garlic (gluten-free)

Acorn Squash with Kale and Pecans

We’re starting a new venture with community-supported agriculture this year, and we’re signed up with Rise ‘n Shine Organic Farm.  Two weeks into it now, we’ve racked up plenty of good things  – lettuce, kale, radishes, swiss chard, carrots  –  and also supplements of local honey, pecans, and grits since the growing season here is… Continue reading Acorn Squash with Kale and Pecans