I had to share this: my husband was reading a local weekly paper this afternoon, and spotted an ad for an outreach supper at a local Catholic church. The ad promises “brats and sauerkraut, featuring Our Savior’s very own special recipe for sauerkraut.”
If you’d asked me to guess Jesus’ kitchen speciality, I NEVER woulda guessed sauerkraut! 
Laura
Last week my husband brought home seven varieties of apples. They’ve been sitting around my kitchen, EVERYWHERE, looking beautiful. So today we decided that we’re going to try some new apple recipe each evening. Last night we had apples baked in Cointreau, a recipe I’ll post later this afternoon.
Stay tuned!
Several months ago I wrote about our new favorite potato salad, Fully Loaded Potato Salad. Well, yesterday I accidentally discovered a serious contender for favorite when I was trying to use leftovers in my fridge and freezer. This new potato salad is so completely different from either the Fully Loaded Potato Salad or a more traditional potato salad that it warrants a post of its own.
Okay, those fabulously tasty roasted vegetables from yesterday’s post morphed into something that looked really unusual but tasted great for dinner tonight.
The dilemma: there weren’t enough roasted vegetables for everyone to have some as leftovers.
The solution: SOUP! PINK soup, in fact.
Last week my friend, Michelle, offered to let me take her weekly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) allotment of veggies. To my delight, I came home with two heads of fennel! I love fennel and immediately resolved to use it for dinner. After a lot of googling, I decided to add it to my roasted vegetables.
A big pan of roasting vegetables can fill the house with simply amazing aromas and this particular batch did not disappoint. In fact, it was so delicious that I am compelled to share this method with you. Roasted vegetables can be the quintessential comfort food!
This simple chili was borne out of my husband Dave’s need to return to our southwestern roots as we live our lives as transplants to the southeast. The prep time is relatively short yet it still yields complex flavors and depth that is rarely found in quick chili recipes. Pursuing the right balance allowed Dave to bring a little bit of Central California to the Blue Ridge Mountains.
This cake is even SHAPED like a pumpkin!
I have a very fun fall dessert to share with you today that goes a little bit against the grain of how I cook.
This cake runs contrary to my typical everything-homemade standard for desserts, but it’s so tasty and moist that I can’t resist adding it to my bag of dessert tricks for this autumn season. This is a great cake to bring to a potluck or for a special occasion. Because it uses a cake mix, it also is very quick and easy to put together.
As I mentioned yesterday, quinoa is my new favorite food. This dish can be used as a side dish/salad or it can be a stand-alone for a light dinner. The flavors in this salad are particularly fabulous because the herbs and veggies are fresh. The quinoa showcases the lingering taste of summer.
I’ve discovered the coolest grain: quinoa. Quinoa, pronounced KEEN-WAH and originating in the South American Andes, is actually related to beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds! Quinoa looks like little seeds…because it actually IS little seeds. These little seeds are quite amazing–very high in protein for a seed and completely gluten-free. Quinoa has some interesting nutritional value that has made it a staple food in the Andes for millennia.
The last week here in the High Country has been one of unrelenting rain. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much rain! I have the gloomy feeling that we’ll not be seeing summer temps any time before next spring. The good news, however, is that we are definitely in the middle of soup weather! My husband has been puttering in the kitchen a lot the last few weeks and he’s perfected a fabulous fish chowder recipe. This is the most delicious soup I’ve had in years! It’s also pretty straightforward and doesn’t take all that long to put together.
