Who’s afraid of zucchini? Here are several ideas for using that bumper crop…

According to an article in Sunday’s New York Times, the increased levels of carbon dioxide that characterize global climate change have given weeds — better defined as those plants “out of place” — a supernatural advantage. So what’s a gardener to do when faced with a bed of weeds? The answer is simple: eat them.

Remember last year’s Penny-Wise Challenge? The rising cost of food this year causes me to look back to what I learned then — and to cook from my pantry more and more.

As March draws to a close, I start counting the weeks until the farmers market returns. (Ten, thanks.)
After a long winter rounded out by a handful of late snowstorms, I’m really looking forward to the first local salad of mixed greens, the first fresh asparagus, and the chance to restock my garlic stash. […]

I love pasta. There’s just no getting around that simple fact.
Others may avoid carbohydrates like the plague, but I find that a meal isn’t quite complete without something a little starchy to hold everything together. An old-fashioned trencherwoman, that’s me. And pasta ranks at the top of the list because it’s so easy to […]

The high-starch vegetables play an important role in our winter diets, giving us the extra nutrition and energy we northerners need to stay warm and well-fed when the snow flies. But you’d better believe that we’re counting down the days until the start of this year’s farmers market -– and the first fresh leafy greens and other spring vegetables!

Since goats have provided almost all of our dairy for the last year or so — thank goodness for goats! — when I read Elanor’s resolution to go goat in 2008, I felt inspired to offer tips for finding great-tasting goat dairy products.

A friend of mine once predicted that I would decorate for Christmas once I had kids. She said you can’t help it, you just feel more inclined to honor traditions when you have kids. Now that I have a four-month-old daughter, I feared that glowing nativity scenes were in our future.
I’m pleased to […]

Though the New Year has arrived, making Christmas a distant memory, I’m still lingering over my holiday baking. Normally, having focused on cookies, I’d have wrapped everything up by now and given the last crumbs to hungry friends. This year, though, I spent more time baking bread than cookies, and I’ve only just finished.
Why […]

Why not try ditching those store-bought gifts in favor of sharing one of your favorite food traditions? Making a special treat allows you the chance to share a family recipe and a meaningful part of your personal history. Using your kitchen skills to create gifts is usually more economical as well, and it can also allow you to recycle empty bottles, jars, or tins as gift containers. Best of all, cooking up presents allows you to showcase some of your favorite local foods and to share the local bounty.

Since becoming a vegetarian, I’ve been more inclined to celebrate Thanksgiving according to its original intent: to give thanks for a successful harvest by eating the results of that harvest. I like to look to the garden or the farmers market and celebrate the rich bounty of vegetables available at this time of the year — as well as the stories behind them — to celebrate a 100-Mile Thanksgiving, at least in part.

When apple harvest time comes around, look for cider vinegar, too, and find new ways to incorporate it into your cooking.

I am not a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, when it comes to wine, I can generally take it or leave it. I’ve nothing against it, mind you, and I’ve found that the right wine can often make a good meal even more blissful. But I can also leave a […]

So of course, I decided that’s what I had to bring to this potluck: not only a dish I’d never made before, but a thing I’d barely even tried and was pretty sure I wouldn’t like, plus that most people wouldn’t want to sample….

When the leaves begin to fall from the trees around these parts and the Canadian geese fill the skies, some folks smile with delight at the vibrant colours of the fall foliage. Other folks, a group which I belong to, see it in a different light. For me, autumn signals the death of the […]