A potato side-dish complements almost any meat, chicken, or fish meal. This simple version of cheesy scalloped potatoes are not only great for a “big dinner” but also make good leftovers (particularly with leftover ham!). First we need to clear up some controversy about scalloped potatoes. From Cooksinfo.com: “A few people speculate that for
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Are you familiar with the song that Dana Carvey sang called “The Lady I Know?” For some reason that song was rolling around in my head as I was creating this recipe. It’s really a spoof of a song and mainly just repeats the lyrics “Chop’in broccoli.” Most people think of the song as the
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Summer is winding down, and I don’t think I’ve ever been looking forward to a cool rainy afternoon as much as this year. It was one hot summer here in the Northwest. Now maybe I noticed it a bit more this year because I literally spent at least one-half of every day cooking. This year
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The summer season does have an impact on my blogging. I’d rather be in the garden admiring and/or harvesting the vegetables, or sitting under the shade of the gazebo reading a book, or taking a walk in our neighborhood where the water features and ponds are lush this time of year, or wine tasting and
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One endearing memory of dating my hubby is his term for dinner, “din din.” I’d not heard that word before in the circles I hung out in. He’s from New York and I’m a California native, so our lives were from two different sides of the planet as far as I was concerned. Well, they
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This soup is an oldie but a goodie – one that I used to make a long time ago in the early years of marriage. It is easy to make and budget friendly, which was as important in those days as it is today. I pulled this old recipe out of the archives, dusted it
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Jerry Lee Lewis’ signature song of “Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire” was playing in the background. What a song to get you pumped up and motivated. Since I was going to be cooking zucchini AGAIN, I needed some motivation! I had 13 zucchini in the fridge, neighbors and friends were avoiding me when I
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Cooking truly “in season” can be challenging sometimes but in today’s world grocery stores can supply fruits and vegetables from other states or countries year around. We would all like fresh tomatoes in January sometimes, right? However, you will notice that the best flavor of fruits and vegetables is when they really are “in season” and
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Everybody loves nachos, right? Well here’s a healthy twist to a time-tested recipe that is sure to please everyone. The only chips used in this recipe are zucchini chips. (Yes I’m still peddling zucchini in my recipes.) If you are a nachos purest, you may have to adjust your thinking about this recipe. Consider
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Do you ever wonder what to do with the vegetables that are left after serving a vegetable platter? I hosted book club last month and after everyone left I had a few veggies that needed to be repurposed for another meal so I had to think of something. What I realized, is using the ingredients
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Fava beans are one of my favorite summer beans that we include in our garden. I have fond memories of growing up eating them as a staple at my Italian relatives’ dinner table. Favas sautéed in olive oil and garlic with swiss chard was Uncle Frank’s specialty. He would take me out to his garden
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The food carts in Sicily that we encountered on our trips are so different than those found in the US, yet so similar. We’re not food cart aficionados usually, but when in Rome… Actually, there are a lot of food carts in the Portland metro area that are quite sought-after. My favorite is the cart called
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