Shirred Eggs with Potato Puree

A few years ago, I did a melancholy post that revolved around my forced retirement from teaching. It involved the economic downturn, the slashing of teaching budgets, my age and reduced chances of getting hired to a teaching position in New Hampshire's slow economy and the angst at 'letting it go' and embracing a new chapter of life.

Reading Ruth Reichl's memoir/cook book, My Kitchen Year, gave me much the same feeling that I had as I posted that earlier post here at The Spice Garden.

Ukrainian Beet Borshch and Pampushky

Christmas always brings me at least one new cookbook and this year was no exception! My traditional first recipe from most of the cook books I get is a soup recipe. This is, perhaps, the result of looking to use leftovers from the Christmas food shopping fest or maybe just a rustic reaction to all the rich food we consume during the holidays. Soup seems simpler, less caloric, and less stressful to create.

Butter for Breakfast with No Apologies !

I recently gifted myself this book about apples. Now, I suppose there are a kazillion books about apples out there in Biblioland, but this one struck me as really interesting, as most of the orchards and the places that the author writes about are within spitting distance of our little grey cottage. Amy Traverso writes a book ABOUT apples and then hits us with recipes that have apples, cider, cider vinegar, dried apples, apple juice as main ingredients or as complements to other mains. It's an awesome book with a lot of interesting tidbits about heritage apples, apple genetics and cultivation, stories about regional orchardists and the apples they grow, interviews with horticulturists, brewers, bakers, and backyard hobbyists. It was such a fun read for me that I passed it over to SB. He enjoyed it also ... which says something because SB doesn't usually give a hoot about cookbooks. Well, after SB had his way with the book, I grabbed it back and took second and third looks through it. The book rested on the floor by the bedside table for a few days, which is probably a bad place for a cookbook to be - visions of sugarplums and all that. However, it may explain the overwhelming urge this morning for these sticky apple biscuit buns...

Golden Onion Pie ... and a Story

This is a seriously yummy onion pie. It's not a quiche. It's a pie stuffed with the sweetest onions I could find ... those huge white onions that caramelize in the blink of an eye because of their super sugar content. Yes, there are a couple eggs in this pie, but there's also flour mixed with those eggs and that's very un-quiche-like. No, this is a pie reminiscent of some farm wife's bounty of onions and her wish to make an easy supper that  surprises her husband and satisfies her kids.

Roast Chicken and Other Stories - Simon Hopkinson

I've been reading a book this past month by Simon Hopkinson, a man I had never heard of until picking up his cook book with additional stories and patter on kitchen wisdom and food opinions. I have had fun reading the recipes and making a few, as I poked along through the book. He's conversational in his writing style and I like that. It's rather like listening to my brother yak about food and experiences he's had in the kitchen and around the world of food. Not intimidating, full of good information and technique tips, sweetly illustrated with a few stories and a few chuckles, full of recipes that are written clearly and not too complicated. The other thing that I really like about the book's recipes is that they are all geared for four servings, which is perfect for a two-person household, a retiree budget, and a small-ish refrigerator.

Power Foods! - Green Bean, Corn, and Tomato Salad

Don't you just love summer salads ? It's Meatless Monday here and we're really trying to keep to a few meatless meals a week. I'd love to say that we succeeded this evening, but I had such a hankering for a pork tenderloin and a couple good sides. Soooo... I will be doing meatless later in the week.

The Random Cookbooks ... Random Recipes

This month, Dom has challenged us to show off our stuff ... as in, cookbooks. Where DO we get the inspiration for all this cookery stuff? Well, I get it from a multitude of sources and in a few places around the house. I have a lot of cookbooks, recipes, and magazines. They sit in various places in the grey cottage but, interestingly enough, only a few sit in the kitchen.

Summertime Flavours ... Cinnamon-Basil Ice Cream

Silent Bob is the biggest fan of ice cream that I have ever known. He has been known to sit down with an entire half-gallon and slurp his way blythely toward the bottom of the container before being shamed into saving some for others. He's an ice cream fiend!

Since summer is on its way I got thinking about his ice cream cravings.  So, this week, when we made our pilgrimage to the town library, I brought home a book devoted to ice cream and cold desserts. I've been leafing though it for the past few days, bookmarking yummy ice cream, sorbet, and sherbet recipes.

A Classic Pear Tart

The Bosc pears were just so perfect this week ... and pears will be gone for the summer very soon. My sweetheart has not had much in the way of sweet treats of late, so I made him a tart ... a classic French pear tart.

The New American Plate - The Book and the Concept

My brother, Rich told me about this book a while ago and I poohed-poohed it, all the while knowing that he was concerned about me and was trying to pass on a good idea and some good recipes.

We all have to come to terms with weight loss and dietary control in our own time and it's taken me a while, but hey now ! I'm slowing coming around. The Weight Watchers membership has been a good first step. I'm managing to stay somewhat  mostly disciplined in my diet and as I get used to things like portion control, looking at the actual plate content analytically has started to kick in ... and here is where this cookbook comes in.

Ahhhhh ..... !

That's just how I feel ..... ahhhh! The Christmas holiday has passed and our family had a fun few days of exchanging gifts, taking walks, playing games, doing a bit of poking around the backroads of Vermont, cooking together, and sitting by the evening fire chatting or reading quietly. We watched some classic movies, had martinis and laughed over the kitchen countertop, played with Christmas ribbons with the family cat and tried (in vain) to keep the Corgis quiet and calm. It's a wonder the Christmas tree is still standing, considering all the running and barking that Mimi (frisky Corgi) and Penny (equally frisky kitty) have done! Pete (gentleman Corgi) and Opey (resident Queen Cat) just sit and quietly watch their antics.

Random Recipe - Chocolate Sabayon Torte

This month's Random Recipe challenge teamed up participants and had them make a recipe that a team member randomly chose ... a neat trick! Well, I got the treat when Lyndsey from Vanilla Clouds and Lemon Drops chose this recipe for me! I'm making it for a Halloween treat; it's small enough that it will be gone by the end of the evening. I intend to offer our neighbor's a dessert and coffee 'trick or treat' as they bring their children by for their more traditional candy treats. This treat involves chocolate ... a lot of chocolate!

Picture Perfect ... Is It Possible?

This is a pear and walnut tart ... the product of a whimsy and a bowl of ripe pears just begging to be used in their prime!

They say that copying someone is the most sincere form of flattery ... wellll ...

Random Recipe #5 - Marsala Burgers

This month, Dom's challenge was all about grabbing the latest cook book received or bought and doing a 'random open up' - well, Brenda over at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen gifted me a copy of  rachael ray's look + cook in a recent give-away drawing and I have been having fun testing some of the recipes.

This random recipe is perfect for the season ... nothing like grilling burgers on a Friday night! We're ushering in summertime with these Marsala Burgers from page 192 of the cook book. Simple, easy and really tasty! Brenda would love it that I opened the book to this recipe, as she is the queen of sandwiches and burgers ... 'tis fitting.

Tuscan Peasant Bread with Olives

The first of the herbs are coming in from the garden and yesterday I bought new onions and garlic at the farmer's market in Temple, NH ... today all I could think about was a fresh vegetable fry-up over some penne pasta and a good loaf of bread for slopping up the juices and some olive oil ... I can taste it already!

I bought The Bread Bible awhile ago and have been itching to try a few new bread recipes, so I got out my clay bread baker and made this Tuscan Bread ... I put green and black olives into the dough and plan to have a small dish of olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper for knoshing with it.

Bocconcini Stuffed Meatballs in Pesto Tomato Sauce

Just look at those little devils! They were so tasty! I am pretty in love with this recipe. It's that Rachael Ray recipe I told you about in yesterday's post ... and this time I got pictures ... and plenty of sprinkled basil and parsley!  First of all, bocconcini are, apparently, little bocci balls of mozzarella cheese swimming in a salty brine ... I didn't have them hanging in my fridge, but I did have a block of mozzarella. I cut up a slab into six little cubes and used them. How did I use them, you ask?

A New Cook Book - Decisions, Decisions!

Luck of the draw brought me a new cook book from Brenda. I love her blog,  Brenda's Canadian Kitchen . It is a direct reflection of her love of cooking, her busy lifestyle, and her warm way of including her followers in her blogshares, recipe challenges, and commentary on different cook books ... oh, and did I say her love of cupcakes and sandwiches? She comes across as a real person with no fluff and stuff ... and I like that! I've often wished that Toronto and Fitzwilliam were just across the highway from each other, but no.

Random Recipe # 4 - Triple Truffle Cake

This month's Random Recipe challenge brought me to Debbi Fields' Great American Desserts. On page 194, you will find a recipe for a truly guilty pleasure - and I am guilty, because I loved using two entire pounds of semi-sweet chocolate in this dessert. My kitchen smells like a candy factory and I have licked every spoon and spatula from the batter, to the chocolate frosting, to the coffee Kahlua syrup. To say that there is a lot of sugar and fat in this recipe would be an understatement. Blame it on Dom. It was his idea to choose a random cookbook, open it to a random page and then ... stir, swirl, pour, and bake.

Herbed Spiral Bread ... Random Recipe III

This month's Random Recipe came from the very first cook book that I bought for myself ... I got it through The Book-of-the-Month Club right after I got out of college. And the cook book is ... insert drum roll ... Craig Claiborne's  New York Times Cook Book. Let it be said that right after college, I never wanted to read 'required texts' ever again. In fact, I never wanted to read anything over 200 pages ever again. It took a while, but before I knew it, certain books started looking attractive again.

This book got me started on cooking for boyfriends and family. There are classic recipes and great technique tips ... to boot, I only had to read one or two pages at a time to get good results - and I'm NOT talking a grade or a positive comment from some pompous ass of a professor! I'm talking something much more substantial and 'stick-to-your-ribs'! Over the years, I've lost the dust cover, spilled on the pages, split the spine, and marked favorites.

Random Recipe II ...

Because I loved participating in Dom's February Random Recipe Challenge, I jumped on this month's dare the moment he posted the parameters ... read on here to see if you'd like to join the hardy folk willing to allow randomness into their culinary lives!

The recipe comes from that same little book I've been accessing of late - A Taste of New Hampshire. Actually, when the randomness brought it off my cookbook shelf, it never went back ... I've been having fun looking through it and making a few 'little things'.  One of the 'few little things' that this recipe yields ...