Seasonal Recipes

Okra Masala

I don't fry many things, but I love fried okra. Most of the okra we eat is fried. However this dish may change things.

In a small bowl, combine the turmeric, chili, garlic, coriander, salt, ginger, and lemon juice.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and add the mustard seeds; fry for about a minutes, or until they begin to splutter and pop. Add the spice mixtu... Read more

Blackberry Cobbler- Revised

My son, the future chef, is able to notice the slightest changes to recipes. He can tell when the garlic in salsa is roasted rather than fresh. He loves mild cheddar, but refuses to eat medium or sharp. And he would never consider eating french bread without crispy crust, I have to agree with him on that one. Too bad for him, that his mother loves to tweak recipes. There have been many meals he ... Read more

A Little of This and a Lot of That

Meal planning is hard this time of year. With summer in full swing, I feel like I should be really inspired. However things are just beginning to produce, so I don't have a lot of anyone thing to build a meal around. I start thinking about the evening meal, before breakfast when I head to the garden to weed while it is too hot. Today, I like every other day, I took stock of what was ready to ... Read more

Peanut Sauce

Recently I posted about serving grilled veggies on soba noodles with peanut sauce. These are the veggies that I used most recently for this meal. I grilled everything, except the cucumbers, which I served raw. This was my first time to harvested a Purple Vienna Kohlrabi. I have never had... Read more

Green Coriander on Grilled Veggies

In late spring and early summer most gardens and farmer's markets are full of root crops like as beets, turnips, and carrots. My garden is no exception. I think all three of these vegetables taste sweeter when grilled or roasted. Roasting, I save for the fall when the heat from the oven is welcomed in the kitchen. Summer, on the other hand, is for grilling.

To make your own Green Coriand... Read more

Strawberries in Peach Infused Brandy Syrup

While this sounds like something you would order at an expensive, fancy restaurant, it was just my way of not wasting leftovers.


Last summer I preserved some of my peaches by layering them in a mason jar with sugar, and covering everything with brandy. The tasty peaches were polished off months ago, but I still had the sugary peach infused brandy. So I decided to take some of my exces... Read more

Roasted Garbanzo Beans with Swiss Chard

I found this recipe at Bon Appétit, it is a great was to serve chard.



Garbanzo beans:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine first 5 ingredients in 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour oil over; cover dish with foil. Roast until garlic is tender, about 45 minutes.

Chard:
Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic, bay leave... Read more

Spring Salad with Strawberries

Combine greens, onions, and arugula in a large salad bowl, add Mustard dressing and toss. Sprinkle with strawberries and nuts.
Salad greens
Green onions or chives
Arugula or water cress
Mustard dressing
Strawberries
Walnuts or pecans, toasted... Read more

Thin Sweet Cake

Over ten years ago I read a book called "Mrs Whaley and her Charleston Garden". She included this recipe, which I copied down but never made until today, after I found it buried in some notes. I tweaked her recipe a little, and was very pleased with the results. It is great toped with the Cinnamon Bas... Read more

Oatmeal Walnut Burgers

My husband loves Garden Burgers. I like the convenience of taking a few patties from the freezer and tossing them on the grill for a quick supper. But I they always seem too processed to me, and who knows how far they traveled to get to my table. So I have been experimenting with all types of burger recipes looking for one we all liked and would hold up to freezing and grilling without falling... Read more

Roasted Sunchokes and Carrots

This summer, I grew Sunchokes for the first time. It was amazing to watch one small tuber rapidly grow to a huge clump of sunflowers that towered over the garden shed. The best part, was knowing that this winter I could eat the fleshy tubers. So I have been experimenting. I sauteed them with mushrooms, made a soup, and last night I roasted them. They were great roasted.

The best place ... Read more

The Vinegar Project

I must confess that I don't always cook seasonally and locally. This time of year when the garden is almost barren and the stores are full of tropical fruits, I am often seduced by oranges, clementines, grapefruit and pineapples. But to ease my conscience, I only buy Florida oranges and grapefruit and only in the winter, when they are in season. And Florida isn't THAT far from Tennessee.
Read more

Yellow Lentils

It has been a week now since we have seen temps above freezing. As a result we don't have any fresh veggies from the garden. So now we will be eating more dishes like this.

Saute the onions in the oil until tender. Add the lentils and water. Grind the peppercorns, coriander seeds and cardamon seeds in a spice grinder. Add to the pot along with the rest on the ingredients except salt. ... Read more

Buttercup Squash on Waffles

Winter squash can often be a hard sale at my house, so I was thrilled at how yummy this turned out. I had a little roasted winter squash puree left over from baking Thanksgiving pumpkin pecan pie. Not wanting to waste anything I grow, but knowing the puree would not keep another day, I whipped this up on a busy weekday morning between getting kids off to school. The waffles were left from Sunda... Read more

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Every year I try to make my Thanksgiving meal, more seasonal and more local than the year before. I accomplish this in two ways. One, by continuing to grow more and more of the ingredients I need, or by finding local farmers who grow them. The second way is to change what I serve. Since Thanksgiving is a meal full of tradition, this step is harder than trying to grow my own wheat, grinding it ... Read more