The predicted, celebrated and at once startling rush of spring in Colorado is here, with all possible weather variations – making me feel, after these many, many long strange months of the pandemic – a welcome, grateful giddiness some days and moments of joy that feel a little foreign, a little unexpected, yet familiar, too,…
Tag: Seasonal cooking
GF maple glazed corn fritter donuts 🌽
If you’re from Iowa, you get it. In the summer, in the Midwest. Or anywhere else where local sweet corn can be bought by the bushel, then you sit out in the garage with your sister and shuck the ears for your mom, coming away with memories of dinner with platters of corn, slathered with…
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…
Oh Joy! Pachamama’s Beautiful Food Cookbook is coming soon!!!
I am so thrilled to share with you – my longggg term dream is becoming a reality! Dear Readers and Friends, Gluten Free Eaters and Pachamama Lovers, My first job getting paid to cook was 41 years ago at a little diner in Iowa City, Iowa. From then to now there has been a whole…
Ginger Plum Butter
Italian plums will always remind me of my mom when we were growing up, her delight when plum season arrived in the summertime, and her two bite technique for eating these plums out of hand, deftly plucking the pit from the halved fruit and forging ahead with the second bite without a hitch. She…
Tomato Nirvana: Heirloom Tomato, Basil and Goat Cheese Tortilla Pizzas
Here in Colorado we have finally reached peak tomato ecstasy. I think for me it is truly a deep down, ingrained, hereditary love. Of tomatoes. A gift of tomatoes is a treasure indeed. Hot off the vine. Recently, from my plants and from my CSA share, I happily, gratefully gleaned purple Cherokees, Valencias, Green Zebras,…
Grilled Vegetable Ratatouille with French Pistou
There are two main styles of cooking, as my eyes see it today. One celebrates the simple purity of the ingredients and aims to let each one shine through in a merged state of clarity with the others. The other style contains more emphasis on stylistic appeal, sophistication, complexity – not to mention ambition. Both…
Celebrating What Is, Including Lots of Kale, and Saag Panir
Celebrating what is. Each morning we get to wake up and decide what we cook up to place on our plate of life. I love and appreciate all the seasons, but summer, oh summer, is so easy to celebrate. Even amidst some hardships this season: super-strained knees, and a foot bent out of shape for…
A Midsummer Night’s Nicoise
It’s pure summer love. My inspiration began when I noticed the green beans in the garden were getting big enough to pick. And a few tomatoes gleamed from deep in their foliage. Salad Nicoise with a few liberties. You know, that French dish from long ago? Here’s to a little breaking with tradition. What’s ripening…
Two Step Fresh from the Garden Thai Style Coconut Curry
I hope all your garden dreams are coming true this summer. It’s just about my favorite place to be, and favorite thing to do: garden as noun and garden as verb. ❤ This summer we seem to be blessed with few varmints in the garden, grateful for that. For this particular batch of curry, I did…
Fried Apple and Wilted Kale Salad with Curried Raisins and Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
I live in a climate that feels winter deep into it’s bones. This year we’ve gotten more snow than usual; the blues and whites stunning – merging, a dreamy fusion, blending land and sky. I’m to be found at home today, fire in the woodstove, thinking greens. This perfect little salad has been rolling around…
Chilies in Nut Sauce ~ A Magical Recipe from Like Water for Chocolate
What gifts a magical perspective can bring. It can expand and fire up our hearts, restore the sense of wonder within our lives. It is a gift we can give ourselves, to choose to see the world beyond the mundane, unclouded by the jaded. For me it is the fuel that has helped me persevere…
Watermelon Jalapeno Slushies and Granita + a Few Good Mom Maxims
It’s been hot. Incredibly. STILL SUMMER. 🙂 I bought a watermelon a few days ago, and in my mom’s words, I thought today – “did your eyes get bigger than your tummy?” Sometimes I go on a spree, remembering all the goofy-wonderful maxims our mom would say. “You girls would forget your heads if they weren’t…
Pachamama's Beautiful Food 