February 2013
1 post
Vegan Potato Leek Soup
Let me preface this by saying I am not a vegan, nor am I a vegetarian; I am an omnivore through and through. With that being said, I love this soup. You’d never know there’s no cream, no butter, no animal fats whatsoever making this soup creamy, flavorful and decadent. And what is the secret ingredient you may ask? Well, that would be the celery root, my friend. If you’ve ever...
January 2013
3 posts
8 tags
Lemon Leek Linguine
So, it might have been a bit ambitious of me to think I could go from not doing an entry for a year to doing several posts a week. A little more than a week after my first post, where I promised recipes with leeks, I actually get around to posting the first leek recipe. What can I say? I have blogging issues. I do promise that no matter what, I will post something each week; at least one recipe...
11 tags
All About Leeks
What are leeks? Leeks are related to garlic, onions, shallots, and scallions and feature a fragrant flavor that is reminiscent of shallots. With a more delicate and sweeter flavor than onions, leeks add a subtle nuance to recipes without overpowering other flavors. Although leeks are available throughout the year, they are at their best when in season from fall through early spring. Leeks look...
9 tags
Hello, Is It Me You're Cooking For?
It’s been almost a year since my last post. A year! This is largely because I started finding more steady work as a freelance photographer— which is great. The other part of the equation is that I have poor time management skills and seem to be incapable of accomplishing anything outside of what I’m absolutely required to do— it’s a problem—but it’s a new...
April 2012
2 posts
Garlic Herb Linguini with Roasted Butternut...
So it’s Meatless Monday again and somehow I still had a butternut squash as of last week. This meal was a result of a leftover butternut squash and some of my favorite vendors at the Countryside Conservancy’s Winter Market; fresh garlic herb linguini from Ohio City Pasta and fresh spinach and garlic from Morningside Farm. It’s a simple dish, but the flavors meld nicely and...
Herbed Spaghetti Squash with Spinach and Mushrooms
Well, obviously I haven’t posted in awhile. I’ve been pretty busy working with a few new clients so I’m just now getting around to going through my back log of pictures and recipes I’ve been meaning to post. So, the season may have passed by a little, but it still might be possible to make some of these tasty dishes and this one was especially tasty. So, I bring to you,...
February 2012
2 posts
Cheesecake Brownies
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I bring you cheesecake brownies. I made these for my nephew’s birthday since he loves cheesecake and brownies and these are the best of both worlds. The whole family loved them, almost alarmingly so. After my sister’s first bite she asked me to make them for her birthday— her birthday’s in July. So, that should give you some...
Cranberry Chicken Salad with Apples and Fennel
I tried fennel for the first time when I made the Rice with Fennel and Golden Raisins for the Great Grapes dinner party. I read that fennel was great when paired with chicken and apples and I started using fennel instead of celery in a lot of recipes. I made our Thanksgiving apple cider sausage stuffing with fennel instead of celery and when I made turkey salad with the leftovers I used fennel...
January 2012
9 posts
Mandarin Orange Creamsicle Cake
I made this Mandarin Orange Creamsicle Cake to celebrate the Chinese New Year with my family. During the Chinese New Year, Mandarin oranges and tangerines are considered traditional symbols of abundance and good fortune. So, although this recipe may not feature local ingredients, I hope you’ll enjoy it all the same.
Dry Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups organic all purpose flour 1 1/2...
Goat Cheese Garlic Chive Cavatappi
So, I’ve been having a bit of a love affair with goat cheese lately. I can’t help it! It’s just so creamy and delicious. As a consequence of my recent addiction, there are currently three flavors of chévre in our fridge; one of them being garlic chive chévre from Mackenzie Creamery. Since my friend Laura recently did a piece on the creamery for WKSU’s new Quick Bites...
What's in Season in Ohio →
Ohio amazes me sometimes. Did you know Chef’s Garden, the place where world renowned chefs order their produce from, is located right here in Ohio?! Well it is! From their produce, to their website, to their videos, to this beautiful booklet I am always impressed with their dedication to an aesthetically pleasing product.
Fried Cabbage
So, this entry is a break from my usual posts. I recently created this recipe card as a proposal for the type of cards I could make for a local farmer’s market. They ended up not being able to use it so I decided to share the card and recipe with you. Plus! It features bacon again! I like to share multiple recipes for one ingredient so you get lots of ideas of what you can make with your...
Bacon Wrapped Arugula and Shallot Frittata with...
Few things make me happier in this world than bacon. So when I found organic bacon at our farmer’s market, I was ecstatic. Literally, ecstatic. Picture a kid receiving a puppy for Christmas and that’s me jumping up and down in the middle of Old Trail School over organic bacon. The Sara - Erin Dinner Party Club has been planning on featuring bacon in the future, so I have been on the...
Key Lime Chevre on Organic Graham Crackers
My parents bought me this chévre from our local farmer’s market for Christmas. It suddenly occurred to me that if I were to spread the key lime chévre on graham crackers it might taste something like key lime pie. And it did. And it was good. Lake Erie Creamery’s Key Lime Chévre on organic graham crackers. Try it! It’s delicious! Empty plate = proof of deliciousness.
Photos...
Middlefield Original Cheese
If you read my Broccoli Cheddar Soup entry then you know that even though there was no dinner party, I still tracked down some local organic cheddar for the occassion. I had hoped to visit a dairy farm and get pictures of a farmer milking his cows and follow the process of milk to cheese in some way. But this is what happened instead.
I found the Middlefield Original Cheese on OEFFA’s...
Broccoli Cheddar Soup
My favorite soup has got to be broccoli cheddar soup. Hands down. Since the dinner club party is on hiatus— everyone has been busy with the holidays and our gracious hostess, Erin, is still swamped as she prepares for her own gallery showing at Bay Arts! Eep! Go Erin!— November’s cheese dinner themed party had to be rescheduled. So, since I had already made my monthly farm...
Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
For the past two years, I have made coconut cupcakes for my family’s Christmas dinner dessert. My mom can’t eat chocolate so our yellow cake with chocolate frosting had to be revised. I had to find something that was as decadent as my family’s original dessert and that’s when I decided that our family’s new Christmas tradition would be a coconut infused yellow cake...
December 2011
3 posts
Cookie People: A Christmas Tradition
My family has a few Christmas traditions but there is only one I have to do every year or it just doesn’t feel like Christmas. We call them cookie people. Many years ago, my mom bought these special pans for baking gingerbread cookies, but since the pan eliminated the need to use cut-outs we replaced gingerbread with chocolate chip cookie dough and a tradition was born. Every year, we would...
I'm a Celebrate with Organic Finalist
I was selected to be a finalist in the Organic Valley and Stonyfield “Celebrate with Organic” food blogger contest :) I am honored to be one of the six finalists. If you would like to help me take home the grand prize all you have to do is go vote HERE!!! (I fixed the link after my wonderful friend Erin pointed out it was wrong. OOPS!) Voting is as easy as entering your e-mail address...
Pumpkin Blondie Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing...
So, I made this recipe approximately three times before I was successfully able to blog about it. The first time, I made it as a small rectangular cake and it wasn’t that pretty, but it was DELICIOUS and *mysteriously* disappeared before I could figure out a way to photograph it. The next batch was another set of bars and I managed to take pictures this time, but as I finished up the shoot...
November 2011
4 posts
October's Dinner Party: Pumpkin Palooza!
So, as you may or may not know, my friend Erin and I started a dinner party club recently. We feature an ingredient that’s in season locally and have each guest bring a dish that represents it. The most recent dinner was pumpkin and sadly I was too distracted by my Demeter costume of liquid glitter peeling off me like an itchy sunburn and giving me the appearance that I was a molting goddess...
September's Dinner Party: Great Grapes!
Recently, my friend and I decided to form a dinner party club. We decided that each month we would pick an ingredient that is at the peak of its season the week of our dinner and have everyone bring a different dish featuring that ingredient. September’s ingredient was grapes and sadly I’m just now getting around to posting about it.
Since, I’m a documentary food photographer...
Pumpkin Garlic Knots
Pumpkin garlic knots may sound odd at first, but I think they will be making regular fall appearance after my first batch’s success. Whenever I get my hands on some pie pumpkins I’m always looking for an unsual, savory application outside the usual pumpkin pie, so I made pumpkin garlic knots to go along with my friend Erin’s pumpkin lasagna at a recent dinner party. Later that...
Rice with Fennel and Golden Raisins
Serves: 4 Total Time: 1
Ingredients:
•1 medium onion, chopped • 1 large fennel bulb (stalks discarded), chopped • 1/3 cup golden raisins • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed • 3 tablespoons olive oil • 1 cup long-grain rice • 2 1/4 cups water •1 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
1) Cook onion and fennel with raisins, fennel seeds, salt, and pepper in...
October 2011
1 post
Focaccia with Grapes (Schiacciata con L’uva)
This is a beautiful and delicious bread. It’s easy to make, but does take a long time. It is so worth the wait though, I promise! It is the perfect combination between savory and sweet. The grapes with rosemary! Mmm, it’s just delicious! It tasted wonderful with the grape glazed chicken my talented friend Erin made for our Great Grapes Dinner Party, too. Later, I used the leftovers to...
September 2011
2 posts
Salsa Smackdown →
Outstanding in the Field Comes to Ohio →
November 2010
1 post
Sweet and Spicy Apple Cookies
These cookies are just the right combination of sweet and spice for a perfect fall dessert. As a warning they’re extremely addictive so only make if you have a lot of people to share them with. I think I gained five pounds from eating these cookies solo for a week. But really, spiced, iced cooked with a glass of apple cider, who could resist?
Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/3...
October 2010
17 posts
Apples: A Cure All
Vinegar comes from the French, meaning “sour wine.” Apple cider vinegar is a type of vinegar made by the fermentation of apple cider. During this process, sugar in the apple cider is broken down by bacteria and yeast and turns into alcohol. If the alcohol ferments further, you get vinegar. Over the centuries, vinegar has been used for countless purposes from cooking to cleaning....
Caramel Apple Pork Chops & Brussels Sprouts with...
If I was on a cooking show and had to make a signature dish, this would be it. It’s tender, juicy, savory and sweet. It’s delicious. I probably make this dish once a week and never get tired of it. Caramel Apple Pork Chops
-Ingredients-
4 (3/4 inch) thick pork chops
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted...
Apples: A Saucy History
Food historians tell us sauces made with apples and related recipes were made by medieval European cooks. These sauces could be made from tart to sweet and were served as accompaniments to a variety of foods. In early times, they were called by different names, often with regards to its use as sauce for meat. For example, the applesauce recipe in Elizabeth Raffald’s Experienced English...
Apple - Carrot Muffins
I wanted to start apple week off with breakfast. I found a recipe on Whole Foods Market’s website for carrot -apple muffins and it sounded good, but I got to be honest they left something to be desired. First of all, if I hadn’t have added my own cinnamon-sugar topping they would have been the most bland muffins in all creation. Secondly, they tasted nothing of apples and hardly like...
Week Two: Apple Week
You know, I had apple week planned for this week since I first had the idea to start a seasonal food blog. The funny thing is I get my local grocery store ads and all of them are having Apple Fest. That’s right, sales on apples and foods that pair brilliantly with them. This is what I love about using seasonal ingredients— they’re cheap! So let’s embrace fall and have an...
Tomatoes: Queen of American Vegetables
Tomatoes became more important in North American cuisine when thousands of Southern Italians immigrated to the United States. They planted tomatoes in their gardens, ate them raw, cooked with them and introduced them to their non-Italian neighbors. Many Italian immigrants worked in grocery stores and restaurants and continued to spread word of the tomato. But it had to be in a form that was...
Italian Style Pizza
This was my first attempt at making a pizza at home. Not only that, but I made my own dough! I had to wait three whole days for the cold fermentation process, but in the end it was worth it. Sooooo, worth it.
Here’s the recipe I used for the dough: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html I’d type it all out for you, but it was a a rather detailed affair so I’ll just...
Tomatoes: Toe-may-toes
The Mayas probably introduced the Aztecs to the tomato, which they immediately accepted because it reminded them of something they were already eating—the husk tomato. They juiced the tomatoes, added some chili peppers, ground up a little pumpkin seed, and had what we call salsa.
The first time the Spanish ran into the tomato was when Cortés marched into Mexico in 1519. The Spanish called it a...
All American Chili
To me a good chili is colorful, chunky and spicy. A good chili should please the eye, fill your belly to the brim and warm your heart and soul. This is a good chili. More than that it’s the perfect way to use any tomato products you might have remaining after tomato week.
-Ingredients- 1 pound ground turkey or beef 1 can red beans, rinsed 1 can pinto beans, rinsed 1 green pepper, diced...
Tomatoes: Turn You On
The earliest published description of a tomato in Europe appeared in Italy in 1544. It came to be called a pomo d’oro, which means “golden apple.” Tomatoes were associated with the yellow fruit of the mandrake plant, which was described in the Bible as an aphrodisiac. It was also believed that the fruit that Eve ate from the tree of knowledge was a tomato and not an apple. As a result, the...
Chicken Caprese Sandwich
This recipe is from Clean Eating Magazine. Have you ever read a recipe and wanted to make it immediately? That’s what this sandwich did to me, it called to me from the glossy pages and said, “Make me! Make me!” I did change a few things though. The recipe called for balsamic vinegar and focaccia bread but I used what I had: red wine vinegar and deli-style Italian bread....
Tomatoes: Let's Play Ketchup
The word ketchup conjures an image of a thick, sweet, tomato-based condiment. The word ketchup is originally from China. It was originally a fermented fish sauce, or fermented soy sauce called kêtsiap. It referred to a product was a very thin, liquid-y sauce that was spiced and fermented and mainly used for cooking—not a condiment. Ketsiap migrated from China into Southeast Asia, and...
Tomato Glazed Meatloaf
The only way I like my meatloaf is the way my momma used to make it (when she used to cook, that is). My mom’s meatloaf way always hearty, but complimented by a sweet tomato glaze. So, for tomato week I made my very own tomato glazed meatloaf. Nom nomz. -Ingredients- Meatloaf 1 1/2 pounds ground beef or turkey 1 egg 1 onion, diced and sauteed in butter, until lightly brown 1/2 of a...
Tomatoes: A 'Juicy' History
Tomato juice has been the official drink of Ohio since 1965. I live in Ohio and never knew that until tomato week. Tomato juice was first discovered during the summer of 1917. Louis Perrin was a French-American chef at a resort in French Lick Springs, Indiana. One day he did an experiment and started serving his Chicago-businessmen-guests tomato juice. They loved it and spread the word that...
Creamy Tomato Basil Soup & Italian Style Grilled...
-Creamy Tomato Basil Soup- Ingredients: 1 tomato 1 cup tomato juice 4 basil leaves 1/4 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons butter Step One: Peel, remove seeds and dice one tomato. (http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Removing-Tomato-Seeds/Detail.aspx) Step Two: Cook tomatoes and tomato juice on medium heat for half hour in medium saucepan. Step Three: Puree tomato juice, tomatoes and basil in blender or food...
Tomato Goat Cheese Tart
The only downside to this recipe is it calls for frozen puff pastry, which I’m not a fan of since it’s full of so many unnecessary, unnatural ingredients. Alas, until I learn to make my own puff pastry dough I will have to succumb to buying the boxed stuff. However, I stick to my statement that it is the only downside. This is a tasty, savory, surprisingly filling tart. Tomato &...
Week One: Tomatoes
Tomatoes are widely available from May to October. Since tomatoes will be out of season by the end of the month, we’re going to make full use of them now. Plus, there’s the fact that all my neighbors keep offering me theirs. It seems that anyone who grows their own always have too many to use themselves. So, let’s take care of that end of the summer tomato surplus —...
