When I was about 4 years old, potato salad was one of my most favorite dishes to scarf down on. Unfortunately, I think I ate so much that I developed an aversion to it. It took about 24 years for me to start falling in love with potato salad again. My dear friend Terzo, who reignited my love for this starchy salad, sent me her recipe and I adjusted it a little (see below). I also included my mom’s recipe for White Bean Soup, which is excellent when served on any cold autumn or winter day. Put these two together at your dinner table, add a freshly baked loaf of bread and you’re golden!

Read more »

For years I’ve wanted to make my own pizza from scratch, but I was basically intimidated by the whole idea (seemed like a huge undertaking – especially since pizza is so inexpensive and readily available in these parts). However, last week I really looked at the recipe (Jamie At Home cookbook), all of sudden, it looked do-able. With all this free-time on my hands I figured, “Hey what the heck… what’ve I got to lose?”

Making the dough was a little messy, especially since I didn’t really know how to handle it, but the dough rose perfectly in the end. I left it refrigerated for a couple hours which helped it rise a little more. Rolling it out was probably the easiest part. I ended up making 8 medium-ish thin-crust pizzas. The dough was crispy on the outside but still chewy on the inside! Next time I’ll try it with semolina flour as well, just to see how different the crust will taste like (which I didn’t have at the time).

The tomato sauce was fairly simple and quick to make. Just a little basil, garlic, whole canned plum tomatoes and salt/pepper and presto! It does however take a little elbow grease to push the tomato sauce mixture through the sieve / strainer.

The toppings were an assortment of vegetables and dairy/vegan cheese since it was a “build your own pizza party” after all. My faves were the marinated artichokes and the hot cherry peppers.

All in all it was a great learning/baking experience and it’s safe to say that I’ll definitely be making pizza again in the not-so-distant-future.

Last week I made a bowl of guacamole by following Alton Brown’s recipe. I added a little more salt and only half a lime (kinda watery). In the end, this turned out to be the BEST guac I’ve ever had; people couldn’t stop eating it. Next time I’ll have to double the recipe.

In other news my brother and sister came to town for a little visit. They really wanted to check out Haunted Happenings in Salem, MA — and since I had never been myself, we grabbed the commuter train down to Salem for the day. This is probably the best time of year to check this town out, since so many events are going on. There was a street fair and a 3 museum pass deal, so we took advantage of both. The museums were lacking in real historical artifacts but the tour guides and the incredibly creepy mannequins made up for it. My hands down favorite was the New England Pirate Museum due to the fact that the tour guide was extremely entertaining, funny and knowledgeable about pirates. After a whole day of sightseeing we stopped by Boston Hot Dog and I had one the best veggie dogs ever!

With the abundance of Squash right now I had to try Roasted Squash, Corn and Beans from Moosewood Celebrates (if you keep scrolling on the linked page you’ll find the recipe). This recipe calls for the 3 sisters which are the 3 staple crops (corn/maize, beans, squash) that have been used by indigenous groups in the Americas since pre-European colonial times (thousands of years). The recipe calls for Butternut squash but with a myriad of other beautiful squashes calling my name I also picked a Delicata Squash (aka the Sweet Potato Squash). Peeling, cleaning and cutting squash can be a hassle but I was lucky enough that the store had already peeled and removed the seeds from the butternut.
I had never used baby lima beans but I was familiar with butter beans and their slightly meaty, hearty texture. But after trying this I’m not so sure I like lima beans. They were a little too tough for my liking. Next time I’m going to put them in the oven to roast instead of mixing them with the corn on the stovetop as the recipe suggests. I might also add something a little crunchy to the mix like sunflower seeds, sesame, roasted almond?