Summer is really losing its grip here in the Northeast. The temperature has cooled off a lot - we have days of mellow sunshine and the beginnings of fall colors. It's the perfect time to make this Double Bourbon Apple Cake. When apples are just beginning to get ripe, nearly any variety is good for baking. Later in the season, everyone wants Granny Smiths and Northern Spies, but in September and October, my favorites are Cortlands. Cortland apples, developed about 20 minutes from my ... Read More about Double Apple Bourbon Cake
Courses
Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette
You will love the flavor in this Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette! As I've mentioned in a few recent posts, we've not had the best gardening summer. Regardless, we have plenty of veggies making their way into the house still. It makes for busy days, getting everything preserved for the winter, so that nothing goes to waste. This Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette is the result of a few extra tomatoes lying on the kitchen counter at dinner time. It just makes sense - a vinaigrette is mainly an ... Read More about Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette
Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
This is one of the first new recipes I ever posted on The Creekside Cook. It only seems appropriate that I bring Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies back to the top to celebrate a new design. It had become increasingly evident that my old blog wasn't working all that well anymore. That is no surprise since I created the design back in the Middle Ages of the internet. Technology has changed a lot since then. I'm loving the new look, and I hope that you do as well. You can let me know in the ... Read More about Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
Warm Green Bean Tomato Salad
Salads don't have to be cold This Warm Green Bean Tomato Salad proves that point very nicely. Full of garden fresh veggies, topped with a lively vinaigrette - it's good eats, summer-style. Our favorite kind of food! If you don't have a garden of your own, just about every Farmer's Market in the country will have all of these veggies right now, so getting ahold of the ingredients won't be too difficult. Great for picnics This would be great to take to a cookout or picnic this weekend ... Read More about Warm Green Bean Tomato Salad
Easy Tomato Sauce for Canning & Freezing
An Easy Tomato Sauce is a must if you garden It's that time of year with which I have a love/hate relationship. The tomatoes are starting to come in the back door in multiple 5-gallon buckets now. That means that no matter what else is going on, I have to deal with them. Mostly because we only have so many buckets, and there are plenty more tomatoes where those came from. This easy sauce method helps me get through a lot of tomatoes quickly. It's been a challenging year in the ... Read More about Easy Tomato Sauce for Canning & Freezing
Mediterranean Orzo Salad
I'm bringing this delightful Mediterranean Orzo Salad recipe up from where it formerly appeared. It remains a huge favorite of ours, and I've had a few emails lately from people trying to find it. They couldn't remember the name, so for those folks, here is it, right up at the front of the blog again. This is a great salad to make on a busy weekend morning because you can get it put together in the morning, and consequently, it is in the fridge, waiting for you at dinner time. Great ... Read More about Mediterranean Orzo Salad
Lemon Garlic Zucchini
Do you know what special event we are celebrating today? I bet you don't... It is "Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night". Woohoo! This is an actual thing, people. A gentleman in Pennsylvania, by the name of Tom Roy, came up with the idea - there is even a Facebook Page for it! As any gardener can tell you, this is an easy-to-celebrate day because in August we are losing the battle with the zukes. Despite our best efforts to pick them small, there are always a few ... Read More about Lemon Garlic Zucchini
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream {Philly Style}
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is simplicity itself Summer. Such a happy word, with so many memories and feelings attached. Long hot days at the town pool. The incredible freedom of riding our bikes all over town. Laying on our backs and watching clouds float by through the canopy of our favorite elm tree. Another sweet childhood recollection involved sitting on the porch. We were waiting forever for the ice cream churn to give up its sweet treasure. Surely it must be done by NOW? With ... Read More about Vanilla Bean Ice Cream {Philly Style}
Cucumber and Avocado Salad with Feta
Try this delicious idea! It is the beginning of cucumber season here in Upstate NY. I went looking through my old posts for a really great cucumber recipe to bring up here to the top of things and this one seemed like a great choice. I hope you enjoy it all over again! We wait all year for the garden to begin filling with cucumbers. When it finally does, I am ready with a ton of fresh ideas for how to enjoy them. I've been dreaming about this salad since about February! I suppose I could ... Read More about Cucumber and Avocado Salad with Feta
Sauteed Radishes with Sea Salt & Lime
Sauteed Radishes with Sea Salt & Lime? Really? Just read on, my friend and discover this rewind recipe, brought up from the archives! Now that it's July, we're starting to get quite a few fresh veggies from the garden. It's the time of year we dream about in January. It seems like every day there is a new vegetable, ready to enjoy. And while we've been eating them for a few weeks now, radishes are starting to give up a real bumper crop this week. I really like radishes, and we ... Read More about Sauteed Radishes with Sea Salt & Lime
Garlic Scape Chimichurri Sauce
This is a refreshed post, brought up from the archives because the garlic scapes are ready to harvest just now and this is an amazing way to use them. I hope everyone enjoys it this time too. While I was away, constantly inhaling that unmatchable perfume that is only found at the top of a newborn baby's head, Larry had to cut all of the garlic scapes from our over 200 heads of garlic. Garlic scapes are the flower of a garlic plant, and leaving them in place robs the garlic bulb of ... Read More about Garlic Scape Chimichurri Sauce
Chive Lemon Vinaigrette
Chive Lemon Vinaigrette is a reboot post, brought up from the archives for a new season. It's a bright fresh addition to springtime menus and if your garden is like mine, this is prime time for chives. I hope you enjoy it! Chives are a most agreeable herb to grow. This Chive Lemon Vinaigrette is only one reason you should grow them, and it's a very compelling reason indeed. Plant chives once - enjoy years of delicious flavor and a pretty plant in the bargain. My current plants ... Read More about Chive Lemon Vinaigrette