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Posts tagged “food”

Torta di Mele

Meredith

Posted on November 10, 2012

I was lucky enough this week, so far west of the Mississippi, to snap up some organic Cortland apples in superb condition.  These apples have a deep red color, with flashes of green, and snow white crisp flesh.  They are sweet-tart, and make a good baking apple. I wanted to make an apple cake, mostly because I kept stumbling upon them online here and here.  But I wanted to keep it simple, and make sure the apples were center stage. I did not want to have to use a special pan.  I did not want too much spice, or too much sugar.  Again, the apples. I found some recipes for Italian apple cakes, particularly this one, written charmingly by an Italian student new to…

Categories: recipes, vegetarian

Tagged: apple cake, cortland, dessert, food, recipe, rye, torta di mele

7 Comments

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Old Mother Hubbard

Meredith

Posted on November 8, 2012

There are some things that should not come in your coffee drink as a “flavor shot” and I feel that “pumpkin spice” is one of them.  Maybe I’m old-fashioned. Here is what is called for: Pecan sticky buns, with a yeasty spiced dough, kept moist and tender by a whole cup of roasted pureed Hubbard squash. Perfect on a plate, next to your cup of unadulterated coffee.  A Hubbard is like a pumpkin, but has a less stringy texture.  Also, it is enormous, oblong, and blue– with warts! If you live in a cold place where winter gardening is difficult, Hubbards are good for wintering over.  You can harvest them in the fall, and they will sit around in a drafty corner of your…

Categories: recipes, vegetarian

Tagged: breakfast, cinnamon rolls, dessert, food, hubbard, pecan, recipe, rye, squash, sticky buns

2 Comments

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It’s blueberry season in Texas

Meredith

Posted on May 28, 2012

I have been neglecting to share too many goodies with you.  Work and house have interfered with important communicae involving homemade grapefruit curd slathered on whole grain shortbread with bits of carrot and apple baked inside.  Zucchini casserole with just the right crispy top.  Each are worthy of an entry and will get their day in the blog sun. But then blueberry season just came at me out of nowhere.  And the thing is, Texas blueberries are here one minute and gone the next.  So I got a whole bunch of them, and after eating a little in my breakfast all week long, I figured out what to do with them. I knew this recipe was a winner as soon as I read it. …

Categories: recipes, vegetarian

Tagged: blueberry, buttermilk, dessert, food, lemon, low sugar, recipe, tart, texas

4 Comments

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charcuterie

Meredith

Posted on May 13, 2012

Chorizo is a big deal here in South Texas.  The regional version is a more laid back sausage than its Spanish ancestor, but it packs a punch.  Although it comes in a casing, it is usually cooked like a ground meat broken up, and quite greasy.  Unlike Spanish chorizo, it is not cured or dried.  It is a common breakfast food served mixed in with scrambled eggs, or with refried beans in a flour tortilla, or with breakfast potatoes on the side.  It adds a spicy vinegary flavor, and is usually deep orange-red and full of chili powder, cumin, and garlic. Tlacuache loves the chorizo from the San Manuel chorizo factory on I-37 South (between San Antonio and McAllen).  He says he prefers it…

Categories: recipes

Tagged: charcuterie, chorizo verde, food, pork, recipes, sausage

1 Comment

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A long-time coming

Meredith

Posted on May 11, 2012

This salad has been a long-time coming.  It is  inspired by a salad I bought at the Central Market deli last fall, containing kale, cranberries, almonds, and sometimes candied ginger and pumpkin seeds.  Yes, sometimes they change the ingredients (maybe they too knew the salad was on the verge of perfection, but not quite there).  But the dressing is usually consistent: a delightful orange juice vinaigrette with shallots. What is so great about this salad is that it is not raw kale the way you might imagine: tough, fibrous, stringy.  Also, unlike most fancy fresh green salads, you can make this ahead of time– in fact you can make it, and dress it, and eat it for a couple of days– and it wont…

Categories: recipes, vegetarian

Tagged: carrot salad, food, kale, orange vinaigrette, pineapple, pumpkin seeds, recipes, salad, shallots, vegetarian

2 Comments

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Poteet Strawberry Festival Bounty: two recipes

Meredith

Posted on April 18, 2012

Although much of this festival involves carnival rides, cotton candy, and other ubiquitous fair foods and activities, we did come home with a flat of some very sweet and delicious strawberries from Wheeler Farms.  It would have been nice if more of the food booths (all of which are run by volunteers and benefit various community organizations) served homemade foods actually featuring local berries, but only a few did.  We got some awesome preserves– Strawberry Fig and Strawberry Habanero– from Uncertain Farms.  We walked around taking turns carrying this flat of berries.  I had to use the berries right away (or else freeze them, which I did with half), so here are the results.  I present this post in two parts: 1. Shortcake, and…

Categories: recipes, travel, vegetarian, Where food comes from

Tagged: ancho, food, guajillo, poteet strawberry festival, recipes, salsa, strawberry, strawberry shortcake

6 Comments

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Pandering

Meredith

Posted on April 3, 2012

One of my new rules about sugar is not to eat sweets unless I make them from scratch. This excludes chocolate Easter bunnies, ice cream, and M & M’s. It’s important to put a few obstacles in front of sugar. Unfortunately, I discovered this lovely, simple, and indulgent treat. So put away the Cadbury eggs… If you’ve never made candy (like myself until now) these are a great thing to try, as they are a cinch to make. You do have to stand a around and wait a bit, stirring and watching. So many of the Mexican candies sold at the local eateries and shops are made of corn syrup, and they are so sweet and gooey I cannot bite into them. These beauties…

Categories: recipes, Uncategorized, vegetarian, Where food comes from

Tagged: brown sugar, candy, food, mexican candy, pecans, piloncillo, piloncillo candied pecans, recipe

5 Comments

Ensalada de nopalitos

Meredith

Posted on April 1, 2012

This salad made from tender young cactus is a favorite in South Texas during Lent.  Nopales are also commonly cooked with scrambled eggs, and added to breakfast tacos.  They are one of the most important native plants in our diet here.  Some people say they taste like a tart green bean, but I think they are much more similar to okra. I have a cactus next to my front porch that grows so fast it is a bit of a nuisance.  I should be eating this every day if I was trying to keep up with the growth. Make sure to pick the young bright green pads, not the larger thick ones. Use a big fork or skewer to catch them, while cutting them…

Categories: recipes, vegetarian

Tagged: cactus, ensalada de nopalitos, food, mexican, nopales, nopalitos, recipes, salad, vegetarian

2 Comments

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they will turn into princes

Meredith

Posted on March 26, 2012

I know we have already sprung forward with fresh strawberry season here, but I needed to embrace our winter crops a little longer.  Winter is so plentiful here.  In particular, our Rio Grande Valley Citrus is very special. Orange zest may be my all time favorite ingredient in baking.  And although you can walk around massive tables at Central Market (aka the Gucci-B) of literally dozens of varieties of citrus from all over the world, the small and kind of ugly scarred little oranges from Texas are superior in flavor, sweetness, and juiciness in any contest.  This is in part because they are not shipped around the world, and citrus loses a lot of nutritional value the longer it sits around, endures changes in…

Categories: recipes, vegetarian

Tagged: coriander, edna lewis, food, honey, orange custard, pie, recipe, texas citrus, tyler pie

3 Comments

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Dinner Party

Meredith

Posted on March 18, 2012

It is starting to warm up here. I had the AC unit in the living room window removed for some restoration of the old double hung panes, and haven’t put it back yet. It isn’t too hot to go without it, but I only mention this because it caused me to make a pot roast the morning of a dinner party. I highly recommend this, in part to keep your house cool in the afternoon, but mostly because you get to smell the pot roast all day long. Especially if it is Italian pot roast made with lots of red wine and porcini mushrooms. I love a good dinner party, with guests that arrive at dusk on bikes with bells ringing through the screen…

Categories: recipes, vegetarian

Tagged: dinner party, Endive, food, maroon carrots, pesto briw\e canapes, porcini mushrooms, recipes, stracotto, sun-dried tomatoes

7 Comments

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