Slow Cooker Everyday Challenge: Day 1, Easy Tomato...

This is the first of a what is supposed to be a week’s worth of short, mostly succinct recipe shares, as opposed to my usual rambling attempts at story-telling through food. This weekend, I finally got a slow cooker! I must be the last of my cooking friends to do so, and I’m really not sure what took me so long.  In anticipation, Dave and I have been combing the web for great crockpot recipe ideas to try, and in...

Homemade Yogurt: A Troubleshooter’s Guide

When writing a book proposal, you need to present your expert qualifications. Why are you the best person to author your book? I bring this up only because it’s so startlingly obvious that I am too well suited to write this post, and I’m looking for a silver lining. Because, if there is anyone capable of exploring every possible mistake to be made in the otherwise straightforward and simple process of making...

More Juicy Goods on Pomegranates

A few weeks have passed since I started digging for pomegranate tips and recipe ideas, courtesy of a beautifully appealing challenge from Christina, who has a way of making everything fun, or at least a little warm and fuzzy.  Truly, it doesn’t take much persuasion to delve into a pomegranate. What other fruit is so steeped in romance, and history? Cultivated since ancient times and resembling a glittering treasure...

Easy pear and goat cheese phyllo tartlets

We’re in full-fledged autumn, but not for long. It always surprises me how such a robust season, parading blazing hues of red and gold, can be so fleeting, especially out here in splendid but mercurial Colorado. Today, it’s 80 degrees F; on Wednesday, we’re expecting snow. Outside, the leaves are already starting to crisp, falling to the ground and crackling underfoot. In the kitchen, the change is echoed....

A Bushel of Apples: Sweet Simplicity

This isn’t a recipe post. Not really, anyway. I just felt compelled to share the moment of rediscovering that Simple is Beautiful. We all know this, but it must be human nature to over complicate things, because even in a time when Simplicity is clearly and splendidly Trendy, we continue to make things more difficult than they need to be at frequent turns. At least, I know I do. My eye-opening recollection came from a...

Feels Like Cheating: Toasted Chick Peas (Citrus-y ...

Remember the first time you tried crispy kale, roasted with a little olive oil and sea salt? If so, then surely you remember, too, the bubbly glee that rose up through your chest and into your throat, when you found kale could indeed be a nutritional power house of a substitute for potato chips? Assuming, that is, that you’ve had crispy kale. If not, try it. You’ll know exactly what I mean. Of course, this post...