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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Decided to make potato chips today (or crisps as they are referred to in the UK). The hardest part of this recipe was getting the slices of potato even and consistent in size. You see, I don’t have a mandolin….. yet. I know I’ve lamented about this on past posts. You wouldn’t want to know
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I love the time of year when the vegetable garden is in high production. Neighbors are scoping out each other’s gardens and comparing the size of their zucchini plants (…among other things). When we first moved to Oregon we were aghast that zucchini would not grow in our yard. For years the plants did nothing
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One of my favorite things to do is to take cooking classes. Shocker I know. What I love about taking a class is learning new cooking techniques or ingredient combinations or secrets from other chefs that make them successful in presenting a meal, or, or, or…. So when I was in Sicily a few years
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Alfredo sauce has intimidated cooks for years. In the Southern regions of Italy where my family originates, it is not used much because they tend to use the tomato based sauces. The white sauces are typically used more in the Northern regions of Italy. So Alfredo sauce was not something that was cooked in our
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Some movies are destined to become popular and ultimately classics that live on in the minds of movie goers. “It’s A Wonderful Life” is one of those classics that is revisited every Christmas time and quotes from the movie are shared over and over. “When Harry Met Sally” is another movie that falls into the
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