I feel like I’m emerging from a coma. This week our family was hit particularly hard by a nasty little cold virus. I feel a bit like I’m whining since I know several families with young ones have recently battled stomach bugs and the flu virus, which are WAY worse, but this cold virus threw us for a loop, including making my toddler wake up … Continue reading Individual Chicken Pot Pies
In the years since I met my Hong Kong-born husband, I’ve tried to make a Chinese dinner at home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year. I’ve been fairly successful at my attempts, but fall off on making Chinese food the rest of the year, often relying on take out or delivery to satisfy our cravings. However, with my New Year’s resolution … Continue reading Honey Cashew Chicken
Making your own chicken stock is one of the easiest things you can do in the kitchen, resulting in a versatile, high-reward product. Some recipes suggest boiling a whole chicken or using chicken meat to make the stock, but that seems wasteful to me. So, I always use chicken carcasses or bones for my stock, and with the addition of vegetables, my stock is always … Continue reading Roasted Chicken Stock
A few months back, I borrowed a copy of Ina Garten’s “Make It Ahead” from our local library to get some ideas for entertaining that can be made ahead with little fuss right before serving. Overall, she had some recipes that looked great, but I only found a few recipes that fit what I was looking for. One of those recipes was for a Truffled … Continue reading Truffled Chicken Liver Mousse
A few years ago, The Washington Post posted a recipe for 12-Hour Tomatoes. I tried the recipe once and was hooked. They develop such a deep, rich flavor after spending all those long hours roasting at a low heat. These are so versatile and can be used in so many ways. I’ve used them as a topping to a baguette smeared with fresh ricotta, mixed … Continue reading Slow Roasted Tomatoes
A few months back I was shopping at our local grocery store where I saw a familiar face in a completely unexpected place. I recognized Raj, a Nepali training staff member from my Peace Corps service in Nepal. It took me a couple minutes to process seeing a face I had only seen in Nepal, in the produce section at my local grocery store, but … Continue reading Menu: Braised Whole Chicken, Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
When we came back from our recent peach picking adventure, I knew that I wanted to make a peach salsa. After I reviewed a few recipes, I adapted two recipes to come up with this salsa. Normally I don’t recommend making changes to canning recipes because of the risk of changing the acidity level, making the final product unsafe. But, I felt comfortable with these … Continue reading Peach Salsa
This recipe is, by far, one of my favorite ways to eat pasta. Kale is loaded with great nutrients such as beta carotene, calcium, vitamin C and vitamin K. And since this recipe is made with raw kale, it retains so many of these nutrients that are lost when boiling kale. One of my favorite things about this pasta is that my toddler loves it! Really! It’s so … Continue reading Kale Pesto
I love apricot season in the summer! Apricots are really easy to work with in canning as you don’t have to tediously peel all the fruit, like many canning recipes for peaches. This is a great starter recipe if you are new to canning because its fairly straightforward and the jam comes together really nicely with a short time on the burner. This comes from one … Continue reading Apricot Rosemary Jam
Half Pint Garden 