This summer, when squash is overtaking your garden, don’t squash the idea of sharing, but also consider using kitchen magic to transform this garden champ into winning pantry offerings for all year long.
Cranberry enthusiasts employ this seasonal berry in creative ways including cranberry salsa, mustard, syrup, liquor, and as a meat sauce. However, the most impressive way to feature fresh cranberries is to frost them with sugar.
This year, we can confidently have company for holiday dinners without our secret greed for stuffing. Even though this is my recipe for stuffing bread, the actual stuffing recipe will always be my mom’s, and like any mom, she’ll be glad I’m doing a better job sharing.
The grocery game of creating a bountiful pantry with a frugal approach is always profitable, lulls concerns of shortages, and provides more spontaneous creative freedom in the kitchen. Even with rising grocery prices, you can still eat up the savings.
Butternut squash might be tan and plain on the outside, a real ho-hum in comparison. But underneath is a brilliant orange flesh surpassing the flavor of all others. Roasted, zoodled or steamed, cook with it and you will fall for butternut squash.
Homemade bread made with freshly milled flour provides a soft yet sturdy canvas for sandwiches and spreads with tremendous health benefits canceling any bread guilt. Common, nutrition-lacking loaves are now the price of the artisan counterparts in the store. Buy grains now to to stock your pantry, and fill your bread box with a slice of heaven.
The start of Carlsbad’s strawberry season yields the biggest, sweetest strawberries I’ve ever had. I remember my then 4-year-old scooting up to the strawberry stand and asking “one basket please” and being gifted a giant, ruby red strawberry as an extra treat. Between our berry acquisition and the Flower Fields, that day was a little slice of heaven.
I remember driving from Escondido to Moonlight Beach in Encinitas as a teenager, passing produce stands overflowing with fresh blood oranges and other fruits and vegetables. Before I knew about preserving, I would stop along the road just buy a little here and there, and savor the produce fresh. I may not have preserved fruit back then, but what I have preserved are memories growing up surrounded by citrus and avocado groves, friendly produce vendors, and, most of all, a very best friend.
My gingerbread loaf recipe, though, is a much-anticipated treat and baked in ornamental pans. With a deep, spiced flavor and soft crumb, it’s the perfect holiday breakfast treat.
Don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy pumpkin and it’s employed in my kitchen in the fall and winter. But butternut squash is something I use all year because it doesn’t depend on heavy fall spices to lift the flavor. Pumpkin has to be gussied up, while butternut squash naturally can stand alone.
