• Easy Sourdough – Start in the Bread Machine and Finish in the Oven

    You will not find a recipe for artisanal bread in this post. Fancy scoring, overnight proofing, flouring a board -- none of it are here. Every other day I make a simple sourdough sandwich bread by starting the dough in my bread machine and finishing it in the oven. It goes through two rises in the machine, and a third rise in a loaf pan before baking in the oven.

  • Fried Red Okra

    At my kids’ soccer practice this morning, a good friend was relating to me how she picked and roasted okra, and I had to stop her mid-story to inform her that fried okra is the only way to do okra. She will likely live a longer, more mobile, more healthily radiant life than myself. I know other people have their own okra preferences, but the only way I eat okra is fried. Beyond only eating it fried, it has to…

  • Chocolate Raspberry Scones

    Truth: I can’t get enough raspberries and chocolate. After some tinkering, here’s my chocolate raspberry scones recipe. 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 8 tablespoons salted or unsalted butter, chilled 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup frozen raspberries 1/2 cup half and half 1 large egg 1 tablespoon sugar  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and move the rack to the middle. In a large bowl, mix…

  • Spicy Swiss Chard and Fried Egg

    This morning as I was misting the new lettuce and carrot sprouts in the garden, I looked over at the Swiss Chard and was overcome with a pang of guilt for not using it. I love growing things, but eating them is another story. So I gathered about 5 – 7 leaves from the center (forgoing the older, larger ones), and found a quick saute recipe online (here), which I tweaked to my own tastes. The trick to this recipe…

  • Sweet Potato and Arugula Salad

    I just pulled up the first sweet potato from my garden and knew that it deserved a massive celebration … in my mouth. With the arugula propagating like a weed in the garden, it now serves as the base for salads around here. There are three kinds currently growing. One is rather spindly, but the other two are tender with broader leaves, one which is pleasantly spicy. The other lettuces we planted either never took off or are just too…

  • Sun dried tomato sourdough bread

    There’s a new favorite bread in our house, and it was born out of a desire to use up the cherry tomatoes. I’m going to skip the narrative and get straight to the recipe. Ingredients 3 cups bread flour 2 – 3 tbs sugar, depends on if you want the bread slightly sweet or not 1 tsp salt 2 tbs olive oil 1 cup sourdough starter 1 cup caramelized cherry tomatoes in olive oil or your choice of sun dried…