Southwestern BLT Sandwich

(Or How to Make a Sandwich in Fourteen Steps!) I grew up eating tomato sandwiches with tomatoes still warm from the sun. There was nothing like picking a completely ripe tomato and immediately eating it in a sandwich. There is something magical about a sweet and acidic tomato with salt on bread with mayo. When […]

Lavender Italian Soda

Since I made lavender syrup a few days ago, I have been using it. I poured it over blueberries instead of sprinkling them with sugar. The flora note of the lavender was lovely with the blueberries. Bruce makes 5 gallons of seltzer water at a time and keeps it in his kegerator. While we mostly […]

Grill Blistered Green Beans Topped with Garlic, Red Pepper Flakes, and Capers

Hienie’s Market had fresh green beans and I bought a pound. I was considering how to cook them without heating up the house, when I ran across a recipe from Bon Appetit https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/blistered-green-beans-with-garlic. It sounded delicious, but I didn’t want to cook it on the stove, so I took it to the grill. Bruce and […]

Refrigerator Quick and Spicy Pickles

I grew dill this summer so I could make pickles. Heinie’s Market had pickling cucumbers and my dill was ready, so I knew the time was right to make pickles. Serves 32

Lavender Syrup

July 15, 2020 On Sunday morning, while the day was fairly cool, I went outside with a large bowl and a pair of kitchen sheers to harvest a large portion of my lavender blooms to make lavender syrup. I got the idea to make lavender syrup after reading Dorothy’s post from The New Vintage Kitchen […]

Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie

I bought strawberries at Costco and they were sweet and delicious. I have rhubarb growing in my garden and I introduced the strawberries to the rhubarb in a pie. Strawberry rhubarb pie is one of Bruce’s favorite pies. Makes a 9 inch pie

No Sugar Banana “Ice Cream”

I was wondering what to do with a couple of overripe bananas and didn’t feel like heating up the house to make banana bread. I found the inspiration for this recipe in the “Cuisinart Recipe Booklet”. Bruce loves cow dairy cheese and milk, but they don’t love him. I thought it would be worth it […]

Caveman Roast Pepper Salad

Having watched a Steven Raichlen’s “Project Fire” show, where he cooked peppers and onions directly on coals of a wood fire for a salsa, I thought it would be fun to try it cooking vegetables directly on coals. I made a salad using Caveman cooked vegetables. I was very pleased with how the salad came […]

Cultured Butter and Real Buttermilk

When I was a child, I remember making butter with my mother and sisters. My mom would fill up jugs with fresh milk and skim of the cream. The cream was put into a butter churn. The churn was a very large glass jar, maybe 3 gallons, with a lid with a crank attached to […]

Guacamole

This is my go to guacamole recipe. I don’t recall where I read about grating the onion. Since I don’t care for biting into chucks of onion in my guacamole, I love how grating the onion distributes the onion flavor and I don’t have to worry about a chunk of onion overwhelming the rest of […]