beets

Chicken, Red Beets and Green Cabbage; here comes the sun

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Have you ever lost a favorite recipe? Seems impossible in today’s environment, doesn’t it? But this was a favorite before the internet. I was just getting serious about cooking…. (It was probably a recipe from Bon Appétit – my favorite cooking magazine at the time.) We were both working long hours and I remember this … Continue reading…

Beet and Goat Cheese Tarts; the update

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Do you waste food? I used to. I would routinely buy something, like sour cream (in the US), use what I needed, then, two or three weeks later realize that the rest was moldy and through it out. That rarely happens any longer. I started getting very conscious of it when I started my menu … Continue reading…

Easy Dill Pickles with Garlic; Pickling 101

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Summer means pickling and canning. Or it used to for me. When I lived in the US I made 3 or 4 different kinds of pickles, tomato juice, brandied peaches and cherries and canned lots and lots of tomatoes. When I lived in the Vendée, with all of our fruit trees, I added jams, jellies … Continue reading…

Moroccan Vegetable Salads

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We had a small dinner party a few weeks ago. As our guests prefer not to eat meat that isn’t well-done, cooking on the barbecue was not an option – as we prefer not to cook meat that IS well done. I didn’t really want to go all the way back to proper winter cooking, … Continue reading…

Creamy Goat Cheese topped Beets on Spinach Salad

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I was meandering past Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook, the other day, and saw her fantastic-looking Mille Feuille de Bettrave. The recipe sounded delicious; I had the goat cheese and beetroot… and some spinach. Of course I couldn’t be bothered to actually follow the recipe.  As was usual, it was late and I was in a hurry….. … Continue reading…

Pickled Green Beans – and more pickles!

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'Is that a pickle in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?' to paraphrase the immortal words of Mae West. When one no longer has room in the freezer to store soup made from the, still over-producing, vegetable garden, one turns to pickles.  There was a time when I thought pickles needed … Continue reading…