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Recipe: Polenta Lasagna with Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce
2008-03-03 15:10:00
I love polenta ? it is total comfort food and a great base for a variety of vegetables and great with tomato sauce and cheese. My favorite way to make polenta is with sundried tomatoes, olives, cheese and spinach ? put it in the fridge until it gets hard, dust it with flour and pan fry in olive oil. Served with a hearty tomato sauce it is really one of the best things to eat. This time though, I didn’t feel like frying the polenta ? I wanted something lighter but still comforting and flavorful, so I decided to use the polenta rectangles as a base for lasagna. It was really good and something I will certainly make again. This is also my contribution to Marie of Proud Italian Cook and Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita ’s Event: Festa Italiana. All Entries due March 22nd. Please click on either of their links for participation guidelines! INGREDIENTS: for the polenta: 4 cups vegetable broth 1 cup polenta ½ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded ½ cup extra sharp cheddar, shredd...
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Finest Foodies Friday: Top 5 Vegetarian or Vegan Food Blogs
2008-02-29 16:25:00
Sorry that this came a little late today…but I promise I have a good excuse - we went off today to get our marriage license! So…can I be forgiven? We can all see a little bit of spring beginning…even where it is still cold, blustery and even maybe still snowy for another month or so, it is intrinsic in humans as well as other animals to begin feeling the pull of the spring tide. I think for me it is a lightness in the air. Even though it is still cold, the quality of the air has changed, almost as if it is beckoning me to spend more time outside and stop and smell the roses more often. With the coming of spring also comes all the long awaited Farmers Markets for those who are not able to enjoy them year round. In the spirit of being creative with Farmers Market veggies and produce, it is time to recognize those Vegetarian and Vegan food blogs that can help us all get some great ideas and learn to be more creative with our food! I know for myself, once the warmer ...
More About: Food , Awards , Blogging , Blogs

Foodie Event: Eat To The Beat
2008-02-28 16:35:00
Man, I am getting in a lot of blog posts this week! I guess there is just so much good stuff going on in the food blogoshpere that I want to support and be a part of. Sometimes, I get so backed up with other food related posts that I wait until the last minute to get my entry in for a Foodie Event . I wish I had time to do them all! I just love the creativity in this community! Food Bloggers ROCK! Which leads me exactly to this post and this Foodie Event which is called Eat To The Beat and is the brainchild of my friend Elly from Elly Says Opa! Elly says she was inspired to create this event because her love of music is about as big as her love for food! I completely concur. I have always believed that my life would be so much better if it had a soundtrack. So since I have started working from home, I can listen to music all day long and it just makes my life so complete. I can’t imagine cooking without music, dinner parties or meals without some kind of music playing the the ...
More About: Recipes , Vegetables , Eggs , Dinner

To Market, To Market A Food Blogging Event
2008-02-27 15:53:00
Gay, from A Scientist in the Kitchen invited me to participate in another fabulous food blogging event ? this one devoted entirely to local food markets. As you all know, I am a recently converted member of the I Love The Farmers Market Club. No, it is not a real club, but it really should be. I have been writing lots of posts based on our Farmers Market finds. There is just nothing better than being able to support local farmers, growers and producers of food products - from veggies to bread, cheese, nuts and grains - these markets help you to support your local community in the most important of ways - SUSTAINABILITY, which should be on all our long term goal lists. When I first started this blog, I was always a bit jealous of those food bloggers who had easy access to Farmers Markets, CSAs and the like, because I really believe that the best food is food made simple with the freshest ingredients available. So when Roberto and I moved to Saint Augustine, Florida, a wonderful to...
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Another Quick Meme?
2008-02-26 16:30:00
Okay, so first I was tagged by Susan over at Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy for the 5 things meme. Well luckily I have already done that meme once. If you want to re-visit it, you can find it here. Then Roni, from GreenLiteBites tagged me for the 7 things you didn?t realize you needed to know about me and food?Meme . I have NOT done that one yet, so here we go… 1) I do not like Marjoram. I hate when people say it tastes like Oregano, because it does not. Oregano is my favorite herb and I know it doesn’t taste icky. 2) I don’t like cooked celery. I used to hate celery all together, but now I can deal with it when it is raw and crunchy - but that is all. If there is cooked celery in soup or something else, I have to pick it out. 3) I am not a chocolate freak, I am a vanilla girl. 4) I have been known to throw people’s Splenda out when they aren’t looking…;) 5) I have a sensitivity to Soy, so I only eat it once in a while, if I go out for sushi or if t...
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Season Of Soups: Recipe: Artichoke & White Bean Soup
2008-02-25 16:10:00
Soup doesn’t always have to be a long and involved process. I love quick and easy soup recipes using things I normally have stocked away in my pantry and fridge ? that’s what being the LeftoverQueen is all about, right? I love spending hours experimenting in the kitchen but sometimes even I am in a rush and need a quick but healthy meal. To me soup is the opposite end of the coin from salad - both use lots of veggies and healthy ingredients - just one is hot and one is cold. Here is one of those easy, healthy and delicious recipes straight from the pantry! INGREDIENTS: 2 TBS olive oil 1 medium Spanish onion, chopped 1 10 oz. package of frozen artichokes, rinsed 1 clove of garlic, sliced 2 15 oz. cans Cannelini or Northern Beans 2 cups vegetable broth juice from half a lemon salt & pepper to taste METHOD: In a stock pot heat the olive oil and add the onions, artichokes and garlic. Saute until onions are soft. Season with salt and pepper. Add beans and stir. Add brot...
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Finest Foodies Friday: Top 5 Wittiest Food Bloggers
2008-02-22 16:04:00
Finest Food ie Friday : Top 5 Wittiest Food Bloggers and a MEME and an update! Whew! We all need some humor in our lives, right? Well I find myself trying to visit these blogs as often as I can because they make me laugh along with giving great tips and recipes for food. If you would like to participate in the FFF and have a nomination, please enter your nominations here And since only members of The Foodie Blogroll can be nominated, if you are not yet a member of this group which is over 1000 bloggers strong, please join us today! Ley of Cilantro & Lime is a crack up. She along with giving you recipes for all kinds of goodies and sweet treats, gives you dose of humor with every bite. She tells you like it is and entertains me all the time! Ley was the first Royal Foodie Jouster to receive an apron and she did a great little post about it ? that had Roberto and I cracking up and rolling on the floor! Ley is also getting married soon and planning a wedding, so I also love her bl...
More About: Awards , Blogging

A MEME and an Update?
2008-02-22 15:54:00
I was tagged for this MEME: Food For Gossip by Ivy over at Kopiaste INSTRUCTIONS: Select five people to tag: Consider all y’all tagged Here are the things to blog about and my answers: What were you doing 10 years ago? In 1998 I was in College at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. I was doing research for my undergraduate thesis on strip mining and genocide on Black Mesa/ Big Mountain, on the Navajo Reservation. I also spent 6 months that year out in AZ on the Navajo Reservation with 2 Navajo elders who were and still are resisting relocation by the US Government ? because their ancestral homeland lies on top of large amounts of coal, uranium and natural gas. I was there to help them get through the winter (at that time they were both in their early 80’s and there is no electricity or running water on the Mesa) and look after them as well as bear witness to the atrocities. What were you doing 1 year ago? Roberto and I had just moved to Florida from Vermont in the middle ...
More About: Meme , General , Blogging , Musings , Update

Recipe: Homemade Gyros with Super Garlic Tzatziki
2008-02-20 15:30:00
I have been getting very inspired by blogs recently. Maybe it is because I sit down to check my daily bloggings while sipping that first cup of coffee before I eat anything ? so I am half starved. But in any case, bad habits aside, I have been going crazy copying recipes from blogs that I visit through my daily interactions with The Foodie Blogroll. There is just so much good food out there and being exposed to it on a daily basis is a dream for someone as food obsessed as me. To me there is nothing better than a Gyro ? spiced meat in a warm pita slathered with garlicky Tzatziki, put an order of fries on the side and I am in a state of bliss. So the other day when I came across this, on Bitsy’s blog, A Matter of Taste, I was intrigued. I mean normally I only get Gyros out ? and you watch them slice the meat off a huge cylinder of meat on a spit. For me, foodie though I may be, it never really occurred to me to think how this giant cylinder of meat might come to be. I mean the...
More About: Recipes , Meat , Recipe , Garlic , Dinner

Recipe: Golubki, Polish Comfort Food
2008-02-18 16:16:00
The winter is coming to an end here in the Sunshine State (I won’t rub it in that Roberto and I spent the weekend at the beach…), and before it gets too warm in the rest of the world, I thought I’d post about this wintery dish. A few weekends ago we went to visit my mom. It was cold and gray and so she decided we were going to make stuffed cabbage rolls. This is an old family favorite. My Nana had two best friends as an adult ? one was British and the other Liz, was what they called ?Slavic? back in the old days. I am not sure if that means she is Polish, Czech, Ukrainian or something in between. According to my mom, Liz always referred to these cabbage rolls as Halupky. Well, inevitably walking in my Nana’s footsteps, my best friend Jen also happens to be Polish and I knew quite a few people of Polish decent when I lived in Western Mass. Jen’s family and most of the polish people I know call cabbage rolls Golubki. So in honor of Jen, that is what I ca...
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Finest Foodies Friday: Top 5 Bloggers With Heart!
2008-02-15 15:40:00
This is the day when I feature the best of the best of The Foodie Blogroll Membership - which is over 1000 members large now! I love how things work out. The topic of this Finest Foodies Friday is the Top 5 Food Bloggers With Heart . In lieu of being awarded the Nice Matters Badge (you can see it sitting over on my left hand sidebar under “awards” by both Nuria and Ivy, this week, (THANKS GUYS!) I’d say the timing couldn’t be better. I just love how the blogosphere has made the world a little bit smaller and puts you in touch with all kinds of people you would never get to know, if it weren’t for this funny little thing called the internet. The Foodie Blogosphere is kind if like one big pot luck table of the world, where all of us foodies bring to the table our dishes everyday to share. It is this sharing of knowledge and friendship which really is the motivation behind why I created The Foodie Blogroll - a way to bridge cultural gaps through food and t...
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Recipe: Spicy Mayan Hot Chocolate
2008-02-14 14:56:00
Happy Valentine’s Day! Today is the day to celebrate the strongest power in the universe. Love. So since we are all slaves to it, in one fashion or another, here the music of the day: Have you seen the movie, Chocolat? You know the one where Juliette Binoche plays Vianne, a woman who through her chocolate confections, changes peoples lives by unleashing their hidden desires? Who has a knack for guessing the favorite confections of the people in the village based on a basic understanding of the human desire? Where until she lets her own desires take over, she cannot guess the favorite chocolate of the one she secretly desires ? aka Johnny Depp? Well I guess I have always fancied myself a cook’s version of this archetype. The Kitchen Witch. Who through blending the perfect balance of tastes and textures can win the heart of any person. I truly believe that the way to anyone’s heart is through food, not the physical food itself, but the energy that goes into it as...
More About: Holidays , Recipes , Hot Chocolate , Recipe , Drinks

Recipe: Lebanesesque Cauliflower & Bruschetta di Roma
2008-02-12 16:15:00
If you have never had fried cauliflower, you are missing out. My Nana used to make it, just dusted in flower and pan fried. I used to eat it with ketchup when I was a kid! It was delicious. Years later, as an adult, I had fried cauliflower, known as Zahra Mekleyah, again, at a Lebanese friend’s house, then again at a Lebanese restaurant. They traditionally serve it with a delicious Tahini sauce and it is out of this world. Blows ketchup right out of the water! I have always tried to take fried things I have enjoyed in a restaurant and see if I can make them healthier at home. I still enjoy all the fried stuff when I go out sometimes, but I hate the mess of all the oil splatters in MY kitchen. Yes, I am a neat freak,that is established. My favorite way to get a similar crunchy texture in the oven to frying is either to bake it at 450F, maybe 475F or broil it. These cauliflower, I did the former. Instead of creating a Tahini dipping sauce, I decided to toss the cauliflower in it...
More About: Recipes , Vegetables , Recipe , Sauces , Appetizer

A Tribute
2008-02-11 15:07:00
(Photo Courtesy of Rose-Champagne.com) A bright soul has left this world. At the age of 30, my bellydancing teacher, Rose Champagne has left on the final journey into the unknown after a battle with brain cancer. She already beat it five years ago and had her whole life ahead of her. When I left New England, she had just gotten married and bought a new house. She had it all ? a wonderful husband, a new house and a fabulous career doing what she loved. She was one of those shining stars, someone with a beautiful soul who kind of glided through the world. She was the kind of person everyone wanted to know and be around. She was someone who stood out in a room. She was kind, and loving and beautiful. I knew her but briefly and from afar, but she affected everyone she knew with her grace. I pray for her family that must go on without her. To my teacher Rose Champagne. Rose, it is hard to believe that a spirit so strong and beautiful and full of light has left this earth. There is alwa...
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Finest Foodies Friday! Top 5 Greek Food Blogs!
2008-02-08 17:32:00
Welcome to this week’s addition of Finest Food ies Friday! This is the day that I like to feature favorite blogs from The Foodie Blogroll. It is a way to help us expand our foodie horizons and get to know other food bloggers out there. Last week, I featured my Top 5 Favorite Italian American Food Blogs ! This week, as promised, I will be featuring my Top 5 Greek Food Blogs! Greek food will always been my first love of the culinary world. As a person who is Italian American, who grew up on Italian food, I am always amazed when 90% of the time when ask someone what their favorite kind of food is ? I get ?Italian?. Don’t get me wrong, I obviously love La Cucina Italiana as much as the next person, but it was never ?exotic? to me. I like to be enchanted and surprised when I eat food and the first time I ever had Greek food, the true food of the Gods, I thought I has died and gone to the Elysian Fields. I think what really got me was Feta cheese ? the tartness of it and the te...
More About: Awards , Blogging

February Royal Foodie Joust Winners!
2008-02-07 16:15:00
Hi Everyone! Time to announce the winner of February ’s Royal Foodie Joust! This month’s ingredients of Eggplant, Lentils and Cinnamon were chosen by last month’s winner, my buddy Dharm at Dad~Baker & Chef. If you want to check out all the really really wonderful entries, go to The Leftover Queen Forum. If you want to check out pictures of Dharm’s adorable kids in his new Royal Food Joust Apron, check out his blog. Now for the WINNER! This month’s winner is Heather of Gild the Voodoolily. Heather’s dish Lentil Fritters with Venison Chorizo, Eggplant Sofrito and Cinnamon Aioli looked absolutely fantastic! So creative! Wish I could have been there for the taste testing! Our second place winner is SuperChef of Mirch Masala, with her flavorful dish of Eggplant in Lentils and Salsa. Comfort food, for sure! In Third place we have Peter aka Protos of Souvlaki For The Soul, with his absolutely gorgeous Moroccan Style Spiced Lamb with Lentil Pilaf an...
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5 Things?.
2008-02-06 16:44:00
Well lovely Ivy over at Kopiaste, who has a fabulous Greek/Cypriot Food Blog asked me to do the 5 Facts About Me meme. So I figured what the heck?! Could be fun! Then I thought, as always in true Jenn fashion, is there anything I can write about that would be beneficial for people to read, that is related to food ? being that this is a food blog. Well I am not one to do rants generally, as I always steer my blog to positive things, but there are some things in the Food World that have been pestering me for several weeks now and I feel I should share this information and perhaps spread the word about the food we eat and things that you might not know about. But first, the fun ones, the 5 facts about me! 1)I believe that the most powerful force in the universe is Love 2)When I was younger I had blond, poker straight hair (must be all that Olive oil!) 3)I believe in Fairies! 4)I once lived as a Shepard on The Navajo Reservation 5)I worked in the Alternative/Holistic Health field for ma...
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World Nutella Day 2008: Nutella-Date Pudding Cupcakes
2008-02-04 02:29:00
The reason we are all gathered here today ? at least in my corner of the universe, is because February 5th is World Nutella Day 2008. This is the day that my buddies, American expats in Italy, Sara, Michelle and Shelley decided we should all sit back, relax and enjoy the Nutella. This is a day to celebrate this delicious chocolate-hazelnut spread that puts smiles on faces young and old all across the world. My first encounter with Nutella was when I lived in Norway, in 1994. Bread is a big thing in Norwegian cuisine. You eat it for breakfast and lunch with a wide variety of meats cheeses and spreads. My favorite was always Brunost (?Brown Cheese?) ? I had it for breakfast and lunch, every single day. Of course, I was a foodie back then, too, I just didn’t know it yet, so I was addicted to going to the grocery stores there and seeing what kinds of products I could find that were unique to Norway. When I came across Nutella and realized you could eat it on toast for breakfast, ...
More About: Holidays , Baking , Recipes , Dessert

Finest Foodies Friday
2008-02-01 17:25:00
This is the first installment of Finest Foodies Friday . Every Friday, I will be featuring the BEST of the BEST ? favorite blogs from the Foodie Blogroll. This is a way for all of us in the Foodie community to get to know the other bloggers and their blogs. I have set up a place for nominations on The Leftover Queen Forum, here. The only qualification is that they are part of The Foodie Blogroll! If you are not yet a member, you are missing out on a great community of food bloggers! There is no time like the present to sign up, here! I see at least over 10 new blogs a day, with people requesting to join the Foodie Blogroll all the time. So I must admit, I get over saturated with food blogs at times. However, a girl does have her favorites and there are blogs and bloggers that have a special place in my heart, and whose blogs I try to visit on a regular basis. But this is why I need this Finest Foodies Friday ? so I can learn about all of your favorites too and find new favorites of...
More About: Awards , Blogging

Season of Soups: Recipe: Lamb Stew
2008-01-31 18:22:00
Here is a Leftover Queen classic! Remember all those greens from the Farmer’s Market several week ago? Well even with all my recipes that week, I still couldn’t use all the greens, so I washed some and stored them away in the freezer. I also had leftover tomatoes in juice from the Imam Bayildi and then there was the issue of random pieces of veggies in my vegetable bin. I also had purchased a small piece of lamb shoulder at the store, perfect for soup. I went into the pantry and found a can of cannellini beans and a package of rice pilaf. Put this all together and what do you have ? an AWESOME stew. I am telling you guys, the flavors in here really really rock. It’s got a bit of the Middle East happening in here since I spiced it up with Sumac and Za’atar, a dash of coriander and a bay leaf and the world is a warm bowl of stew. We ate some for dinner, had it for lunch the next day and put the rest in the freezer for next week, so we can have leftovers of lef...
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Important Updates!
2008-01-30 19:17:00
Hi Everyone! I have a few updates to share with everyone. Number one, I was adding new blogs to the ever growing, ever popular Foodie Blogroll this morning. Can you believe we have over 900 blogs now and that I get more and more requests everyday? It is amazing. I don’t talk about it much on this blog, because it speaks for itself, really, but it is really such a wealth of information. It features blogs from all corners of the world. Such an amazing tool for the food blogger, home cook, chef and anyone who just loves food. There is so much there, it is hard to keep track of everyone. I think as a community it is important for people to share with each other what is going on and inform us all about really great blogs out there that we might be missing. For example… One of the newest members of The Foodie Blogroll is Priya, from 365 Days Pure Vegetarian, had a recipe for Tamarind Date Chutney on her blog! Many of you who enjoyed my post on Tamarinds were wondering how to ...
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Royal Foodie Joust: Deadline Friday!!!
2008-01-29 17:44:00
Hi everyone, it is Royal Foodie Joust time again! This month the competition is FIERCE. It is going to be our biggest joust yet! This month the ingredients are: Eggplant, Lentils and Cinnamon. Please post your entry here, on the LeftoverQueen Forum by Friday so you can have a chance to win your own personalized apron!
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Daring Bakers Challenge: Recipe: Lemon Meringue Pie (Tartlettes)
2008-01-28 06:22:00
I have to admit, sometimes being unprepared does have its charms and advantages. In regards to this challenge it caused me to be creative and not be afraid to play with my baked goods a little bit. As most of you have heard at one time or another, up until I joined the Daring Bakers, I didn’t bake ? as a point of principal. Any recipe that had the words: Knead or Yeast or even really Flour and that was as far as I got, I wasn’t going to make it. Period. When I joined the Daring Bakers, I followed each recipe word for word. I did some modifications, sometimes, but nothing that really diverted from the recipe too much. I didn’t want to mess it up! But times change, you get older and wiser and all that good stuff. So here I am ? it has been almost a YEAR since I joined this fabulous group of food bloggers, and I still don’t have a pie pan in my possession…therefore, it doesn’t take me long to realize there is no way I am making a big honkin’ p...
More About: Baking , Recipes , Recipe , Lemon , Dessert

Recipe: Tamarind Chicken
2008-01-25 15:50:00
I {heart} Tamarind. For the longest time, I never even knew what it was. All I knew was there was a certain sauce at the Indian restaurant that I wanted to buy by the bottle so I could put it on every thing. Slightly sweet and tangy and full of an indescribable flavor. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Anyway, I just went about my life blissfully ignorant of what made up this sauce and how it was going to become an obsession years later. Several years ago my cousin Michelle and I went on a field trip to Biscayne Bay near Homestead, Florida ? the last city on the Florida mainland. She is a marine mammal researcher and we were going to the bay to get samples of plants that make up the diet of wild manatees. She had a friend in her lab, whose family was from Homestead and she told us we had to go to this huge fruit stand, called Robert is Here! famous for tropical milkshakes. I love milkshakes, hands down, so I was there. When we got to Robert is Here! we were overwhelme...
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Farmer?s Market Series: Abundance: Recipe: Sausage, Beans & Greens
2008-01-23 16:25:00
This is my second to last recipe from dishes I made from my first foray into the world of local produce. These are meals from 2 weeks ago that I haven’t posted yet. So here we go, one more installment… See, there is a lot you can do with greens. This little Farmer’s market series is my attempt to use a lot of the same ingredients in a variety of ways, so that you aren’t stuck in a rut wondering what to do with an over abundance of greens. These are some of the greatest of cooking challenges ? what to do when you have TONS of one ingredient. How do you keep it interesting and tasty night after night? Of course you can freeze some, which I did do, but even at that you have a lot to contend with. These are the types of things I am going to challenge myself with this year ? Farmer’s Market purchases, buying produce on sale and trying to keep my food bill down by getting really creative with what is available. I am going to try to take this seasonal eating ...
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Food Candy Fame!
2008-01-23 01:54:00
My Kitty is Famous! I sent her picture in to my good friend Lisa’s blog, Lisabeeen, where she features a Coffee Critter of the day. Moo was today’s Coffee Critter and she was featured on the front page of Food Candy ! Check it out!
More About: Drinks , Blogging

Recipe: Lemony-Yogurt Shrimp Pasta
2008-01-21 16:43:00
Okay guys, I am giving away secrets here. I use yogurt in a lot of my cooking. It is one of my culinary secrets. When a dish needs a little extra tang or some creaminess, I dig out the ubiquitous carton of plain yogurt in my fridge. I prefer the Greek style yogurt, as many of you know, but sometimes it is not available, so I just go for the all natural, organic plain stuff. No one can ever guess that it is in there, but it really adds a wonderful element to some of the best dishes I have made. My Dad and Step mom were here this weekend visiting us. I wanted them to see the things about St. Augustine that we love so much, so on Saturday AM, bright and early we took a trip to the Farmer’s Market. We picked up some beautiful fresh local shrimp. We got some more of those huge Meyer lemons. I had pasta at home already and standing there at the market with fresh shrimp, lemons and beautiful green spring onions a plan began to form. This is the kind of cooking I love ? being inspired...
More About: Recipes , Vegetables , Wine , Recipe , Fruit

Recipe: Roasted Beet and Beet Green Salad a la, You Guessed it, The Farmer?
2008-01-17 16:28:00
Here we go folks, another Fabulous Farmer’s Market recipe! This is really fun and challenging. Stay with me because I still have two more meals to show you - still from out FIRST Farmer’s Market Adventure! This weekend my Dad and Stepmom are coming to visit and guess where we are going Saturday AM - you guessed it! I will try to get some better pictures of the market itself…this was the best I could find from our maiden voyage. Anyway, I digress… I am a die hard beet fan. I just love them. Maybe it is their beautiful color, maybe it is their sweet taste, maybe it is the fact that they just SCREAM health. Whatever it is, when I see good looking beets, I am all over them, I can’t resist. My favorite way to prepare them, is to roast them. It just really brings out their sweetness ? it is like making vegetable candy. I could eat em by the bowl full. But me, I love the entire beet, I love the sweet purple root and I also adore the bitter greens. Nothing goes...
More About: Recipes , Vegetables , Recipe , Green , Cheese

Recipe: Imam Bayildi and Help From a ?Little Greek Cookbook?
2008-01-15 19:20:00
On our last trip to the Farmer’s Market we also procured some little eggplants. Not the Japanese kind, just small eggplants. I love getting these because they taste so amazing ? like eggplant is supposed to taste. Many times when I get the big ones they are full of seeds and the flesh is bitter, even when you salt them and let them drain. But these small ones are delicious and need no salting. One of my favorite things to make with eggplant is Imam Bayildi or The Imam Fainted. Apparently it is the copious amounts of olive oil in the dish that made him faint, but it is not clear whether he fainted from meanness or delight, so the legend says. I have loved cooking since I was a young girl. I spent many many hours in the kitchen with my grandmother and my mother watching. That is what they say about writers ? we are observers first and foremost, as being involved would make us lose our perspective. But I also helped these ladies of the kitchens. I was cooking full meals by the ti...
More About: Recipes , Vegetables , Recipe , Dinner , Greek

Farmer?s Market Love And The Virtues of Simple Fare
2008-01-11 18:01:00
I really believe in the concept of eating with the seasons. On the occasional times I have been able to do that with regularity(when I had a CSA membership, when I lived on the Navajo Reservation) I have felt great. Like I really had a concept of what the earth produces at certain times of the year - you know The Harvest. I also found that it made me much more creative, culinarily speaking. You have all these veggies of the same kind for weeks in a row ? how can you make them interesting? After having these experiences of seasonal eating, I have always wanted to live near a farmer’s market so I could keep up the good work. When I lived in MA and when I travel back to The Northeast and I find myself in Boston, I always get jealous of the people living there that have access to one of the best farmers markets I have ever seen. They have meats, cheeses, breads, fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, grains, food stalls where you can eat, ad infinitum. It is a playground for anyone who love...
More About: Recipes , Vegetables , Love , Market , Musings