Hello Spring! Spring is actually happening! For a while we were not sure it would ever get here. Spring means the beginning of wild food season for us. While you may already be picking dandelions and wishing for mushrooms, these 4 foraged foods are what get us hooked on wild every single year. Stinging Nettles: …
Wild Knotweed Jelly
This pretty pink jelly is the result of a local weed problem. Knotweed is an invasive plant that quickly takes over wastelands and riverbeds. My attitude towards this invasive species is that it is good for nothing . . . except for eating of course! Lucky for knotweed, people like me will come along and …
Spring Pictures 2013
Braised Mushrooms
Braised mushrooms create a rustic sauce for hearty ricotta gnocchi. This earthy plate is rich, comforting and best served with a glass of bold wine. What makes this dish truly special is the combination of mushrooms prepared in different manners. The minced bits will melt down creating a thick base while the sliced mushrooms (especially …
Blackberry Lemon Jelly
The blackberries are in! This might be my favorite time of the summer. Every week of the season we paced up and down the length of the blackberry patch inspecting and speculating about the upcoming berry crop for year. The sighting of the first juicy blackberry of the year elicits giggles of delight, I just …
Cool Blue Potato Salad
Happily browsing the shiny aisles of my local grocery store, a beautiful basket of blue potatoes stopped me in my tracks. How can I resist tight skins over firm blue flesh? I couldn’t. Those little babies belong to me. I have a weakness for potatoes in any form: red, white, blue, mashed, baked, or boiled. Lucky …
Stock Your Pantry with Grape Leaves
If you know me then you might know that I grew up not far from a large Greek community called Tarpon Springs. This influenced some of my food favorites growing up. Kalmata olives were more common than green or black olives, feta cheese is best when brined, Papa’s Greek salad is my favorite, and dolmades are …
More Blackberries Than I Can Pick
I see Jelly in my future. I have more blackberries than I know what to do with. I pick every berry that is close to me and never seem to get them all. I start picking at the end of one long drooping arm, pulling off blackberries the size of my thumb. As I pull …
Spud and Bud Sauted Salad
Such an over looked food source the daylily is! Easy to propagate and hard to control beds can give you plenty of food to play with. I served this yummy dish with pan seared salmon and a stuffed lily but this vegetable sauté stole the show. Collect green buds of the daylily. I would snip …
Eating Daylilies
My morning runs are getting slightly less comfortable due to the rising summer temperatures. I now sweat profusely. Something I do not really miss about Florida. The flower colors seem to get bolder as the temperature gets warmer. It is almost as if the flowers are trying to intimidate the sun with equal radiance. I …