Recently In The Gardening Section
Do you have an abundance of citrus and regularly squeeze up a pitcher of orange juice? Your countertops are likely filled with a pile of squeezed out orange skins. They do compost well, but you might consider another route. Candy them! Candied orange peel is a nice finisher for a garlic-laden meal. It cuts the…
Frederick and I are embarking on an ice cream adventure. Every week that he has done his chores without being asked, we make ice cream. Being a former (former?) educator, I approach all activity as time to explore and discover. Ice cream making is no exception to my rule. Frederick: “You can COOK a banana?”…
Does the thought of olive oil in ice cream make your nose wrinkle? Before this past weekend, that was my experience but having used olive oil in cookies and cake in these past months, I was feeling more adventuresome. Check out olive oil recipes online and you will find them all pretty much the same….
This cookie is surprisingly popular in our household. I am surprised at its popularity in part because the presence of a chocolate chip within in a cookie sets up expectations for a “Tollhouse”-like experience. The fact is, like most human beings, I would love to live on Tollhouse-like cookies for at least three meals a…
With the bonanza of mountain apples we had this year, I made lots of applesauce. It was amazing — dark and richly flavored. Even with no added sugar or spices, it was an epicurean experience and I had to try baking with it. Does a dynamite applesauce make a difference in baked goods or does…
This unusual and fantastic cookie was inspired completely by Susan Bradley’s recipe at The Luna Cafe. She specializes in cookies and has a number of cookie cookbooks that we probably all need to buy. Her creativity is inspiring. This particular recipe is surprising not only in its use of rosemary and black pepper as seasoning,…
I’m finding baked apples to be such a comfort food, delicious and healthy. They’re great with any meal and at all times in between. Yesterday I tried this recipe and the apples were fresh from the oven when two friends stopped by to help move some chickens. As they were climbing into their truck to…
This coconut pineapple candy is a spin-off from a popular recipe on this site that uses chocolate chips and peanut butter. My family loves the chocolate peanut butter version so much that my husband asked, “Why make anything else?” The world is full of great flavors and when you eat this particular combination you will…
The key to a winning spiced muffin or sweet bread is the perfect blending of spices. Ashley at Delish provided that very element to a muffin recipe I adapted slightly to use some of our dehydrated candied zucchini (our “zucc-raisins“), though you can use dried apple, raisin, or cranberry instead. The results were so wonderful…
My grandson Frederick and I love cooking together. Of course, what he loves most is baking. I have similar memories of baking with my grandmother. Sweet things were always my favorite. Baking together is a special time. I allow lots of time for the job so we can talk and fiddle. Frederick reads the recipe,…
Why have I not developed a habit of baking apples? They are so quick to do and everyone loves them. This apple season I am determined to test a few variations on this theme. My first pass this season is inspired by Maria Meridith at Family Fresh Cooking. I love both walnuts and dates, so…
We have eaten many batches of our homemade coconut candy with chocolate and nuts and my family squawked just a bit that I would even consider a variation that involved anything other than chocolate. Somehow, this variation disappears readily nonetheless and is quite popular among the preschool set. I actually created the almond chip recipe…
When you hit a peach bonanza you can splurge with recipes you might not have tried otherwise. Unless there is a pile of peaches, they need no recipe. The first thing we do with ripe peaches is to peel and eat them, at least two peaches a piece. Juice runs down all our fingers. No…
Homemade almond butter chips may seem excessive — like someone with far too much cooking time. But there may be a need some day for these little morsels and here is a recipe to get you started. I needed the chips when I was making a candy with apricots and I wanted a strong almond…
When the temperatures are up and the harvest is in, we are always looking for ways to enjoy our harvest cold and this recipe is a winner. The inspiration came from Molly Katzen’s Moosewood which obviously dates me. The Moosewood books still move me to try new foods in new combinations. This soup is a…
It was this recipe in the Squash Cookbook by Yvonne Young-Tarr that inspired me to candy zucchini. Before that, I considered candied zucchini as a project for people with too much time on their hands. Since then, I’ve served this coffee cake to dozens of people and no one has asked what was in it….
This simply recipe combines the nutritional powerhouse teff with nut butter and maple syrup to create a simple cookie. Teff is loaded with minerals and protein and is becoming a popular gluten-free flour option (read more here about teff). These cookies are easy to make and store well in an air-tight container. They are certainly…
We discovered “zucc-raisins” when experimenting with “candied zucchini” — zucchini cubes cooked in a sugar syrup that we use in baked goods calling for fresh fruit. I decided to take the idea a step further and create a product that would preserve the zucchini better and could also replace dried fruit in our recipes. Zucc-raisins…
Every summer season we aim to experiment with at least one new way to enjoy zucchini. During one zucchini avalanche I decided to try something really far out: candied zucchini. I found the recipe in a book by Yvonne Young Tarr called The Squash Cookbook. Initially the idea of candied zucchini was not that intriguing…
The first time I tasted an avocado I was on the USS Anderson, an Army ship transporting us to Okinawa where my dad was stationed. After spending the first ten years of life in the Northern East Coast, I was in for lots of tropical discoveries. Avocado was the beginning. These days avocado does not…
The Traditional Foods site comes to you from the Sequoia National Forest in a house designed by Irving Gill. We are a mother-daughter team strong in both the science and the art of cooking. We chronicle our cooking here and our adventures in the forest at Gill on the Hill. Read more about our background and food philosophy.
