Recipes

Elderberry: Wildflower Wednesday

– Posted in: Native/Invasive, Recipes

The American Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is a native shrub that grows in the ditches and hedgerows here. As you can see it has attractive white flowers. The flowers attract all sorts of pollinators, but I don't know any of their names. I tried to find a list but couldn't. (If you know of a website [...]

First Spinach Harvest

– Posted in: Recipes, Vegetables

My husband harvested the first of our spinach crop yesterday, and he says there's this much or more left to be harvested. He wants to do that this evening, because it is threatening to bolt in this heat. We had a yummy spinach salad, and gave away the rest of this bowlful to two neighbors. [...]

Our best apple recipes

– Posted in: Fruit, Recipes

We have three apples trees. They came with the place. That is how I know the secret to good apple pie and crisp is to start with delicious baking apples. When I started using these apples in the same recipes I'd always used, the compliments increased dramatically: "This is the best apple pie (crisp) I've [...]

Butternut squash is the best winter squash

– Posted in: Recipes, Vegetables

This is not winter squash:One advantage of homeschooling is that faced with too much zucchini, yellow crookneck, patty pan, and kousa squash, you just bring out the butter knives and conduct art class. Wait to harvest winter squash I had to share that with you, because I don't have any pictures of winter squash. We [...]

What to do with Concord grapes

– Posted in: Fruit, Recipes

When we moved to this land, there were some grape vines already growing here. They were slipskin grapes, and if they weren't Concord grapes, they certainly were similar to Concords. That's not too surprising, since the hardiest grape species are slipskin. But you know what? Those kinds of grapes are too tart for me. They [...]

A Berry Good Cake

– Posted in: Recipes

Blueberries and blackberries are done for the season. Peaches aren't really local, and apples aren't ready yet. But all those berries in the freezer, well, we're not just going to let them sit there! Fresh or frozen, this cake complements almost any kind of berry, cut up and sweetened to taste. Try it instead of [...]

Too much sweet corn?

– Posted in: Recipes, Vegetables

Is there such a thing as too much sweet corn? On Sunday he asked me, "How was the corn you had yesterday for lunch, when I wasn't here?" I said it was getting a little mature. He said, "Oh, I guess I better freeze the rest of it." I had no idea how much was [...]

Tomatoes in the kitchen

– Posted in: Recipes, Vegetables

Tomatoes the Old-Fashioned Way I've been reading the The Little House on the Prairie series to my six-year-old at bedtime. We just happen to be on The Long Winter and were reading "Fall of the Year" just a couple of days ago, where the Ingalls were surprised by an early hard frost. Ma and Laura [...]

Green Bean Recipes

– Posted in: Recipes, Vegetables

We don't have any green beans ready quite yet, though they're getting close. And even when we do have green beans, we're quite happy eating them boiled in water until crisp-tender, drained, and then tossed with garlic sauteed in olive oil, or maybe just butter, salt, and pepper. However, there comes a time in the [...]