Vietnamese-Style Beef Stew (Bo Kho)
It’s stewing season. And while I love a good, simple, Julia-Child-style stew, I also like to get a bit complex. A bit spicy and fragrant. Bo kho hits all of those and then some. While it’s said to have French origins, this beef stew is in a league all of its own. Full of gelatin-rich beef…
Loaded Baked Potato Soup with Crispy Bacon
At midday, my husband and I leave our computers and sit down to lunch. Soup, hearty and rich and filling, is a mainstay on our lunchtime table. Either one of us will toss the ingredients into a single pot around noon, and let it simmer until done, when we sit down to eat, supplementing lunch…
Jalapeno, Apricot and Bacon Zingers
I have a love of bacon. No, really. I love bacon. All salty and sweet and meaty. And that’s why I jumped at the opportunity to work with Applegate, the makers of amazing natural and organic bacon. I’ve been known to skip a real dinner and head down with my husband to the local rum…
How to Make a Sourdough Starter
Love sourdough breads? Wondering how to make your own sourdough starter? It’s easy. While the internet is full of sourdough starter recipes that call for odd ingredients like pineapple juice, orange juice, potato flakes or sugar water, to make a truly good sourdough starter you need just three things: flour, water and time. It’s easy,…
Roasted Persimmon and Ginger Custard
I’m not a huge dessert maker. I get that sweet calling every so often, but typically grab a ripe fruit or a few squares of high quality chocolate. When the mood does strike me, I pull out my ramekins and whip up a rich custard. The ingredients are always available, and it’s always a huge hit…
Sourdough Rye Crepes with Sorghum-Cinnamon Apples
As summer slowly fades to autumn, we are found in one of the busiest times of the year here on our off-grid homestead. Central Texas provides us with a fall gardening season and so many days this time of year you can find us planting kale seedlings, direct-seeding carrots and beets, picking dried beans, and…
Glowing Ghost Gummies for Halloween
As Halloween rolls around each year, I look for new ways to my son’s favorite holiday: homemade costumes and decorations, special treats and natural and organic candies that we pile into a bucket on our doorstep for any little goblins, witches and ghouls that might come calling. So we make sugar cookies, and honey caramel…
