It is such a luxury this year to have all the rhubarb I could want. Our oldest plants are finally 3 years old, which means we can pick from them pretty freely - yay! As my Mom reminded me on a another rhubarb post a few weeks ago, my grandmother loved rhubarb, and I can still remember the gooey sweet and tart pies that she made with it. She would give us little bits to eat raw, and even though it was so puckery-sour that it nearly turned us cross-eyed, we ate them anyway. They were a taste of ... Read More about Rhubarb Kuchen
Garden Fresh
Kale & Spicy Sausage Soup
Finally! We have some nice warm, spring weather. Time to get out in the yard and garden and really get to work. As my grandmother used to say, we've been so busy that "our shirt tails haven't touched us all day!" There's no happier busy in the world, but it still leaves me feeling kind of lazy about cooking at the end of the day. Which is why I love making soup - especially a lively one like this Kale & Spicy Sausage Soup. I like getting everything in the pan, and then both of us getting to ... Read More about Kale & Spicy Sausage Soup
Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil
The stream of ripe tomatoes that ends in my kitchen is starting slow down now. I always have mixed feelings about that happening. On one hand, I'm heartily and truly tired of doing up tomatoes for this coming winter. I've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 quarts of various forms of tomatoes, from sauce and stewed, to diced, to concentrated tomato paste and various soup bases. The nightmares of being chased by 5 gallon pails of tomatoes have just about ended, and my hand that was frozen ... Read More about Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil
Green Beans with Miso
Thanks to succession plantings, we keep getting a stead supply of really nice green beans. Larry plants a new row about every 2 weeks, until the early part of August. Our favorites are a variety called "Jade", which is pretty widely available in various seed catalogs. "Jade" is a really nice producer, and the beans are long, straight, and stay tender, even if they get a bit on the big side before you get them picked. Green beans will keep producing for at least a couple, weeks, so long as you ... Read More about Green Beans with Miso