FROM SCRATCH CLUB

I grew up loving food, so much so that I fluctuated between 180 and almost 200 pounds from the time I was 18 until after marrying my hubs at 33, almost eight years ago (we joke that I was overweight and he was bleach-blond when we got married…must have been true love). Much of what [...]

Making vegetable stock is so easy, yet I’m guessing that not all of you have homemade stock on hand. By the time I remember to make some stock, I only have half an onion or a single celery stalk to work with and something about buying a whole basket of fresh veggies just to boil [...]

Today I’m going to share my Asian Greens Salad recipe with you. In the winter I make this salad five nights a week, and we eat it for several months straight. We never tire of it. In fact, when autumn rolls around and the air gets crisp and cool, we start to hunger for it. [...]

I have always loved the folk tale of “Stone Soup” because in it a delicious soup is created from meager ingredients.  I love the challenge of creating delicious food from not-so-obvious ingredients.  Over one year ago I pledged to stop buying grocery store meat and this prompted me to start purchasing whole chickens at the [...]

  There are many ways to garden. Some people buy plants from a nursery, your local farmer or garden center, which is a great option for many. I have done this in the past, primarily with annuals flowers (like pansies and petunias), tomatoes and peppers.* Last year, I decided to try my hand at starting [...]

I like local food. I like to eat it, I like to read about it and I like to sell it. Every Saturday morning I am lucky enough to talk about and sell local vegetables for Michael Kilpatrick (Kilpatrick Family Farm) at the farmers market in Saratoga Springs. Working at the market is so much fun for me, [...]

For the holidays my grandmother would make a dish that was simply called Cheesy Potato Casserole. It’s pretty much exactly what you would find at a Midwestern church potluck. I absolutely adored it and my brother and I would beg for it whenever we had a family holiday meal together. As my grandmother got older, [...]

After a great harvest I’m always looking for a way to use up my root vegetables. It’s so easy to incorporate these little gems into your Thanksgiving festivities this week. Root vegetables are so flavorful and also oh so good for you. Back in September, I snuck out to my dad’s house for a whole [...]

Have you thrown a fondue party yet? No? What are you waiting for? Take the plunge this Thanksgiving by trying out a fondue appetizer while the turkey is in the oven. It’s a great excuse to keep your family and friends lingering around the table, lazily dipping crudite and hunks of warm bread into a [...]

I’ve pretty much wrapped up harvesting crops on Silly Goose Farm. Apples are done, tomatoes are done, and all that’s left to put-up is a couple of cabbages, a few rows of rainbow carrots, and a whole bunch of pears. The pear trees on our farm are over 100 years old and positively drip with fruit. [...]

I used to be a creative person.  For years after completing a bachelors in art I made stuff and found ways to express myself visually.  I am no longer like that.  I have the usual excuses: child, work, household demands, tv, etc, but really none of them is adequate in explaining my lack of non-verbal [...]

September is the biggest harvest month in the community share-cropping gardens.  That means that we have to do something with the perishable stuff we grew all summer.  While I think zucchini make excellent compost, I want to use each and every eggplant, no matter how small.  I have spent years convincing my husband that we [...]

Sure I’m still harvesting (an enjoying) tomatoes from my garden, and I’m still making pickles from the cucumbers I pick every day. But the weather is crisping up around here and it’s time for some comfort food. To me that means it’s time to make my infamous Roasted Root Vegetable Tart. I’ve been making this [...]

Did you know I lived in Mexico for a while? Well I did. It was a phenomenal time, and I wish I could have stayed longer. When I was there I learned a lot about real Mexican cuisine, especially specific to the region where I resided. Foods I learned and now love and crave include pozole (corn [...]

For all of my adult life, I’ve been a big fan of Asian rolls. I didn’t grow up in the most food-savvy town and it’s nice to look back and see how my experiences and my taste buds changed as I traveled and moved farther away from home. At first I only knew about egg [...]