One thing that I really love about pasta is the versatility of it. In the winter it is a hearty, warming, and filling dinner while in summer it can be as light and fresh as a sun warmed heirloom tomato. You need fast? Thousands of pasta dishes can be made in under ten minutes.
Really, does it get better than that? Last week I had taken on an assignment which required a series of ten articles. I had about five days to finish them, and that was on top of my normal stuff. And…as luck would have it, there was no …read more

I think that Orzo has to be one of the most fun pastas ever invented.  It looks like big grains of rice,and nothing gets lost in it.  It can be frustrating, to me anyway, to create a pasta dish and have the components on the bottom of the pan when the pasta has all been served.  Orzo allows the other ingredients to cuddle right in.  Got to love that!
Spring is here.  I got fresh asparagus for 99 cents a pound and nothing says spring more than that.  When I bought it I knew that Pasta Primavera was not far behind.

In …read more

Soup is the best food ever.  Really. Think about it.
It is versatile, generally inexpensive, and is there a better way to get rid of the leftovers in the fridge? I think not.  You can toss everything into a slow cooker or cook it in a stock pot on top of the stove and the results will be the same.  Hot steamy goodness that makes the house smell like home.

This is my entry for Presto Pasta Night.  The host this week is Ivy of Kopiaste.  If you haven’t checked out her blog you should.  Why? Because it is always incredible, that’s why.
I am finding interesting and varied pasta shapes more and more in the local stores.  This may be old news to some of you but trust me, around here you just don’t get the variety that you do in other places.  Apparently that is changing, something for which I will foreve be grateful because I get bored easily.

O.k. I admit it.  This is nothing more than macaroni and cheese.  I promised the kids macaroni and cheese and there was no way I could change mid stream…
Or was there?

I could not believe it. I was working on formatting the cookbook until about 1:30 a.m. and when I went to bed it was still hovering around 90 humid degrees.
We are just about into those dog days of summer when even the bugs seem to take shelter in the afternoon heat!

 
I have learned to love Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes.  They add a smoky bite to everything I have put them in.
Our green beans are just starting to stop producing. I didn’t plant enough this year so I haven’t canned any at all.  I thought about putting in more but I think my time is too limited at the moment to care for them.
Anyway, the okra begins to produce just about the time that the green beans stop. We didn’t have enough for fried okra, only a few tender pods…so I sliced them up with some onions, and other things …read more

This is my entry for the Presto Pasta Night Round-up. Head over there and check out the rest of the pasta dishes. They are always amazing.
I discovered whole foods (not Whole Foods, that came later) sometime in the very early 1980s. Yep. Before it was cool. We were vegan for several years and then vegetarian for several years after that.
We still eat a diet that is not average for Americans. It is very vegetable based with more meat in winter than in summer. We try to eat locally and about 90% of what we eat is either …read more

This is my entry for Ruth’s Presto Pasta night!Hey I am getting good, two weeks in a row.
This was inspired by the fact that I had an eggplant in the fridge that was threatening to grow fuzz, a few leftover mushrooms, and a can of artichoke hearts. Not a very poetic beginning but wait until you try the end result! This lasagne is buttery-creamy and very rich. At the same time it is light because of the lack of meat. You can adjust the cheese however you want but I used a lot. I …read more

 
This is my entry this week in Ruth’s Pasta Presto night.   It goes up every friday and if you want some great pasta ideas THAT is the place to get them!
Over on Kettle and Cup I had gotten started talking about the tea room Marc and I had for awhile.  Some good memories, some bad….
Anyway, one of the favorite items on the menu was this pasta salad.  We used it as a side and often people chose it over our fresh cut french fries or homemade onion rings.  And my onion rings are ROCKIN’.  Seriously. We used to go …read more