Lawsie mercy, it has been hot here! Hot and humid and sticky. The garden is loving this weather, even if the people are just a mite tired of it. But, being of a resourceful bent, we try to find ways to feel a little less miserable, or at least not care quite so much. Enter the Blueberry Lime Cooler. Our nightly meetings on the porch are often accompanied by some kind of snack, plus a refreshing beverage of one sort or another. I admit I have a tendency to become entangled in a rut, where I have ... Read More about Blueberry Lime Coolers
Recipes
The Creekside Cook 4th of July Recipe Roundup!
Looking for some 4th of July recipe inspiration for your get-together? I have a few ideas to share that might make things easier for you. Most of these will travel pretty well, will be safe to sit on a picnic table for awhile, and all of them will make you a very popular guest! If you feel so inclined, how about sharing your 4th of July plans or favorite dishes in the comments? If you are a blogger, feel free to share a link to a favorite picnic recipe on your own blog - I'm sure everyone ... Read More about The Creekside Cook 4th of July Recipe Roundup!
Herb Grilled Chicken Thighs
This is my own version of a very popular local treat. A long time ago, a professor in the food science department at Cornell University, which is a stone's throw from my back door, created a recipe for a chicken marinade that remains a staple of chicken BBQ's and that everyone around here makes all summer long. You can find the original recipe just by googling "Cornell Chicken", but my version is brightened up quite a bit with fresher ingredients than Dr. Baker, the original inventor, used. And ... Read More about Herb Grilled Chicken Thighs
Cherry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
It is possible that we are just wee bit crazy over cherries. We love the darned things, and it is nothing for us to sit and consume an entire pound between the two of us. I don't cook with sweet cherries a whole lot, because cooking them tends to kill some of the flavor and sweetness. Cooking is generally reserved for tart or sour cherries. Those can a little difficult to find in the supermarket, but they do grow around here, so a couple years ago, we planted a tree. This year it has something ... Read More about Cherry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Grilled Romaine Salad
Grilled Romaine? I have to admit that I didn't think up grilled salads all on my own. There are many versions out there, some more complicated, and many using different ingredients. I like to keep this to the most basic elements - fresh, crisp romaine, a flavorful vinaigrette and some salty cheese. Perhaps you haven't yet run across this idea yet, in which case, you might be thinking that I have lost my mind, but rest assured - grilling lettuce is not crazy! When you begin with a nice crispy ... Read More about Grilled Romaine Salad
Strawberry Rhubarb Sherbet
Back a few years ago, my sister gave me an ice cream maker for Christmas. We were both low carbing at the time and I used it quite a bit to make some sugar free ice creams, which weren't as available then as they are now. It has been sitting in the spare room for a awhile, but this year, I seem to be inspired to use it more. This is the ice cream maker that I have: Cuisinart ICE-21 Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker. It makes a quart and half per batch, which is about how much a carton ... Read More about Strawberry Rhubarb Sherbet
Garlic Scape Pesto
Four years ago we started growing our own garlic. And by "we", I mean Larry - as is often the case with growing things you can actually eat. I grow flowers, Larry grows food. But then, I cook the food, so he is not complaining. Anyway, this Garlic Scape Pesto is a great way to use something we get a whole heck of a lot of this time of year. When you grow two hundred heads of garlic, guess how many garlic scapes you get? That is correct - you get two hundred garlic scapes. That's a lot. Scapes ... Read More about Garlic Scape Pesto
Rhubarb Kuchen
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
Lime Butter Cookies
It's getting to the time of year when I pretty much stop baking. We don't have AC, because for the most part, we don't really need it. Our summer temps do sometimes climb into the 90s and a couple years ago we had more than a week of over 100 temps, that is not common here. And usually, it cools down enough at night to get the house down to a comfy sleeping temperature - we have a few kind of miserable nights sometimes, but not enough to make us willing to invest in air conditioning. What ... Read More about Lime Butter Cookies
Molasses Spice Bars
You have GOT to make these. I know, I know - I always tell you that you ought to try my recipes, but this time, I really-really-REALLY mean that this is one recipe you have got to try! They are totally groan-worthy. In fact, if you live in an apartment, or have close neighbors, you should turn up some music or something before you start eating them, because otherwise people are going to think you are engaging in some kind of illicit activity, due to the uncontrollable sounds of pleasure ... Read More about Molasses Spice Bars
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
Chewy Coconut Almond Blondies
Life seems just a touch busy right now. As soon as I returned from the visit with my folks, I had to play catch-up on spring chores around here. I still hadn't planted all of the seedling trays for the veggie and herb gardens and the weeds definitely took advantage of my absence by trying to take over the perennial gardens, and I had absolutely no spare recipes on hand for the blog. Normally, I try to cook/shoot ahead a little, so that if I get behind, I still have something ready to go. And - ... Read More about Chewy Coconut Almond Blondies