Grains 
Shop Your Pantry & Freezer
Last week while my car was being repaired, I was forced to think about my all-too-often impulse to “run to the grocery store” to pick up something for dinner. Run meaning, of course, drive. I’m sorry to say that it took me not having my car to look at the food I already had and [...]
Great Granola, No Gluten
During our 28-day detox diet, just finished, no wheat was allowed, along with dairy, sugar in any form – yes, that includes chocolate – alcohol, soy, caffeine. Our plates were full of fruits and veggies, rice, some meat, nuts and legumes. A limited repertoire, but a healthy way to eat for a short while. It [...]
Perfect Protein Quinoa
Growing up on a ranch in eastern Washington, quinoa never entered the culinary picture, nor couscous, rarely rice, not much pasta either. But potatoes aplenty. My father and grandfather grew them which I guess explains it. Food cultures vary from family to family, regionally, and internationally, and time makes a difference too, food fads come [...]
Season’s Eatings: A Wild Piece of Cake
Who can resist a cake, of any kind? But, Farro? That’s a stretch. I got to thinking about cakes and, surprisingly, I didn’t start with the chocolate one, but with crab cakes, then sweet potato cakes, salmon cakes, and eventually I did get to my favorite dessert.
On the way through this cakes’ daydream [...]
A Crush on Sourdough
Change is something we may think we want but often find difficult to adjust to. When I first heard about the 100-mile-diet, it sounded like a radical idea even for someone like me who has been a staunch supporter of the farmers market for many years. I’ve had more than one lively conversation around the [...]
A Baby with a Big Heart
It turns out that baby artichokes aren’t really babies but fully-grown small varieties instead. I hope I’m not the last person to make this realization. I still love them but I’m a real sucker for baby vegetables. They seem so perfect in their smallness. For many years now I’ve had a fantasy of planting a [...]
Tabbouleh & Salmon, Summertime on a Plate
Tabbouleh from the middle east meets salmon from the PNW and summer romance begins, together they make sweet and local dinner music. Good beat, you can dance to it and it tastes delicious. Cook on.
This is the moment for herbs. In warm, dry conditions, they flourish. Actually, it’s false to characterize herbs as having a [...]
A Spring Greens Risotto Fling
From the Farmers Market or the garden, spring’s first greens play a lead role in Risotto Primavera. Making it can be high drama.
Showmanship is part of its culinary potential, and risotto-making has a way of bringing on culinary pizazz – introverts beware. Go ahead, try to hold yourself back. Like trying to hold still when [...]
Spring Forward to Homemade Cereal
This morning we were all supposed to “spring forward” for Daylight Savings Time. This is a practice filled with reluctance and controversy at our house. Why exactly are we doing this again? When I was growing up, the myth I heard was that it gave farmers extra time to work in the fields at the [...]
I Need No-Knead Bread
Suddenly all of those indoor projects I vowed to do over the winter are being put on the back burner. Spring is teasing me in its usual fits and starts fashion. I’ve been conditioned by the Northwest spring — when the sun is shining, I’d better go outside because who knows how long it will [...]
