From garden to butternut squash celebration today = many months. I was thrilled to create this absolutely delicious recipe – at the end of February, wind whipping up some mighty frigid air here in northern Colorado, the smell of garlic and lasagna lusciousness warming my kitchen and my heart. Scanning back over hundreds and hundreds…
Category: Cooking
Adventures of a Cookbook
Like I preface most of my conversations about the journey of creating my cookbook Pachamama’s Beautiful Food, I begin this post with the same sentence. I have no illusions of grandeur. No thoughts of huge fame, and surely not fortune, but a joy that this long term dream of mine wriggled through the recipe filled…
Rustic squash, olive and cheddar galette … and the first snow of the season
Yesterday was beautiful … and bittersweet. The first snow of the season happened, in midst of the October eruption of golden leaves and fall prairie flowers. The familiar changes are always, to me, a bit startling and therefore so entrancing, creating magical landscapes in the tiniest and grandest of details. The afternoon before I had…
Pachamama’s Beautiful Food book proof is here! So close to publication!!
My heart was pounding when I heard the FedEx knock on the door this Tuesday, August 6. I was actually on a call with a client then, and had about 35 minutes to wait until I could open that door, lift the box and take a deep, joyful breath before I opened it. I…
Feta Stuffed Squash Blossom Summer Casserole
It was magical in the kitchen today. And it all started in the cool morning garden. 🙂 Take a quick peek: Then I had to celebrate with all the vegetables I brought home. As I said on my Garden Mandala post earlier today, “Point me to a garden plot in late February and I’ll…
Spring Tacos with Wild Mushrooms, Asparagus and Cilantro Chimichurri, or, The World is Your Taco
I cherish the fact that in this world, a taco can absolutely be filled with your dreams: your spring garden finds, your yearnings and celebratory flights of fancy, and you can bet it will be just lovely. Presented on a tortilla, all manner of graciously grown things can be heaped, then lifted and folded, and…
Yam and Azufrado Bean Hummus
I’ve had a few pounds of locally grown Colorado beans in my freezer since last October, when I bought them at a fall farmer’s market from a Greeley family farm. As you may remember, dear reader, I was gearing up for my three week Eat Local Challenge back then, ecstatic to find local beans to…
Reflections on #EatLocalChallenge : Day 21
Thanks to Slow Food International‘s 3 week #EatLocal challenge, I have become so much more connected to the community where I live, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. We live just east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, here, at 4900 some odd feet above sea level, in the north eastern part of the state. As…
Eat Local Challenge : Honey Caramel Fried Pear and Elderberry Tart with Glass Gem Cornmeal Crust
Eat Local Challenge : October 31 : An inspiration of dessert desire and these ingredients led me to create this honey caramel fried pear and foraged elderberry tart with Glass Gem cornmeal crust – rustic! Local! Copoco’s local honey, Ela Family Farms pears, foraged elderberries from Fort Collins, I grew the beautiful Glass Gem corn…
Eat Local Challenge : Foraged Fruit Poached Pears with Lemon Verbena Creme Anglaise
What a delight to combine these lovely Ela Family Farms pears with sour Montmorency cherries, elderberries, dried Stanley plums and local honey in a poaching syrup that is rosy and inviting! And then, infuse dried lemon verbena from my own garden this summer – in raw cow’s milk from Taft Hill Dairy, thicken the custard…
Eat Local Challenge : Grilled Corn and Chevre Stuffed Poblano Chilies
Slow Food International’s Eat Local Challenge continues and I am getting caught up on my posts! Going to the Farmer’s Market down town Fort Collins, Colorado was even sweeter as I encountered this amazing mural just across the street. The autumn mood was definitely present and influencing my choices for dinner that evening. There’s a…
Day Three : Eat Local Challenge : Glass Gem Cornmeal Pancakes and Elderberry Honey Syrup
Launching into Day Three of the Eat Local Challenge and the breakfast I made has brought me the most joy so far on this three week (and probably beyond) ride! These sweet stacks of silver dollar pancakes began their history in 2013, when I grew the magical Glass Gem corn in our garden on the…
Eat Local Challenge – Three Weeks of Deliciousness Began Today in My Colorado Kitchen
The last two days I’ve spent reveling in the Colorado autumn sun and gold, and singlemindedly gathering the following amazing goods, preparing my kitchen, heart and belly for three weeks (at least) of Eat Local planning, discovering, selecting, more planning, creating, cooking and eating amazing food grown in, near or very close to Fort Collins,…
Mexican Mole’ Pumpkin Coconut Soup
This week I picked the last marigolds from the garden, and harvested lots of fennel seed, chives and thyme. Loads of tomatoes, beets too, and butternut squash. With a chill in the air, and now having weathered our first snow of the season, my yearly reluctance to jump into autumn is fading a little, because…
