Soup 
Versatile Vegetable Soup
Groundhog’s Day yesterday and Imbolc mean we’re halfway to spring. There are wee signs in the garden – the earliest flowers unfolding, and rhubarb gallantly punching hot pink nubs and crinkled neon leaves through its own mulch.
Still, it’s winter and the hardiest vegetables rule. A steaming pot of homemade soup is winter’s snooze on a [...]
The Best Broth Ever
I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. I’ve been making broth in my slow cooker all winter long — chicken, turkey & beef. It never really occurred to me to mix my meats until I saw a recipe in Volume 2 of Canal House Cooking using chicken and a ham hock (plus [...]
Seconds on Turkey Soup
A few years ago I saw a sign next to the gate of a fenced rural garden: Dear Deer. It’s almost Thanksgiving and it doesn’t have to be turkey this year. KEEP OUT! Funny story. But deer soup, not so much.
Turkey soup, definitely. A bowl with seasonal produce, kale and squash, some barley, swimming in [...]
Slow Cooker Broth Heals All
Want to know my secret plan for boosting immunity, fending off flu and dealing with the stress of the holidays? It may sound too easy but I’m going to consume plenty of homemade broth. Broth is a food with such restorative healing properties it’s often used as medicine to nurse the sick back to health. [...]
Last Cup of Soup with Gourmet
For those of you who haven’t heard, Gourmet magazine is calling it quits after over sixty years in production. My mother subscribed to Gourmet and saved every issue (she saved everything, but still…) I have a big stack of past issues right on my desk, turned so I can see the contents on each spine [...]
What’s Hot? Roasted Peppers
Roasted peppers are my latest obsession at the farmers market — Billy’s roasted peppers. They’re only going to be there for a couple more weeks, but they’re simple to freeze to use later. The wonderfully smoky aroma that fills the market when they’re roasting gets me every time. One whiff of that and I’m [...]
Souped Up on Tomatoes
Put me elbow-to-elbow at the farmers market over a box of Billy’s tomato seconds and I can get pretty competitive. My greediness reared its ugly head last week and I ended up with about four large tomatoes more than I needed. Serves me right, because there were plenty to go around. Even knowing this, the [...]
Reclaiming Asparagus Butts
Tender edible asparagus tips are one thing, the tougher butt ends another. More flotsam and jetsam, stuff in the kitchen that we know we should, but don’t really want to mess with. Discounted food sits on the culinary conscience like an unread book on the shelf.
Maybe the economic state of affairs fosters a new level [...]
There’s an egg in my soup
Some of you will not go for this. I get it. I might have been one of you had I not experienced this meal with friends a few weeks ago. Putting a poached egg in the middle of a bowl of tomato soup isn’t something I would have done on my own, but it was [...]
Plot to Plate: Green Goddess Soup
You wanna try something new that’s effortless, gorgeous and delicious? This is it. Stepping out the door to fetch a handful of fresh herbs is part of the attraction. With its fresh taste and brilliant aura, this verdant spring soup might transport you to a land where the sun shines, the garden grows and the [...]
