Cooking Local Blog

Roasted Tomatoes

12 July 2011
Roasted Tomatoes

‘There are only two things that money can’t buy and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.’
My friend Hayley quotes that song all the time and it’s SO true.

It’s become my gardening mantra as I slowly narrow down the list of things I’m willing to slave over in the garden. Corn? So not worth it. It never gets quite as sweet as I like it and the ants get it far before it’s fully ripe. Squash? I’ve been banned from planting them after last summer’s saga (it’s a long story but basically, I was bed-ridden with a bad back when Andrew found me on hands and knees in the garden, killing vine borers while sobbing in pain – yes, I’m a little neurotic). Cucumbers? Apparently a rare orange Chinese variety has found its way to my back yard. Essentially, I’m down to peppers, melons, green beans, okra, herbs and homegrown tomatoes.
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Spinach Salad with Pears, Cranberries, Red Onions and Hazelnuts

16 May 2011
Spinach Salad

This simple little salad added two new cooking methods to my repertoire.
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Italian Herb Salad

23 March 2011
Italian Salad Recipe

I didn’t have high expectations for this salad.
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Gingered Carrots (for SXSW detox)

16 March 2011
Carrots Side Dish

I protested SXSW last night.

After four straight nights (and one day) of cocktail drinking, decadent eating and stiletto wearing, my body just couldn’t take anymore. I thought I’d give the festival a day to subtly switch from the iPad toting, ironic t-shirt wearing, North Face sporting crowd to the skinny jeans wearing, mustache-faced, fedora topped hordes. You know – give the bars a chance to change over from serving Irish coffees to PBRs.
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Spinach and Chickpeas

15 March 2011
Spinach Side Dish

Fast, easy and incredibly tasty.
What could be better?
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