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May Charcutepalooza Grinding Honey Biscuits and for Real Homemade Sausage Gravy

My Charcutepalooza project is late. I don’t really care, though, because I was just eating biscuits and sausage gravy, and that’s all that really matters in life. This month’s challenge was a saga, which seems to be the story of the Charcutepalooza in general. I have doubts…  I think I lack the intense love of meat that…

Winter Salad with Butternut Squash Greens Chicken and Candied Pecans

This salad! I should have taken more pictures of it. This isn’t even really the finished salad, just the almost-finished salad. The finished version disappeared too fast to take pictures.  (The finished salad has chopped nuts and dressing on it). This is the perfect winter salad, and the perfect antidote to the cookies, cakes, cocktails, and candy…

Chicken Tikka Masala Because I Miss All The Restaurants in San Francisco

I am a country girl, through and through.  I love living wayyyy out in the sticks. I love it that if I want to wear my work boots with manure on them and dirty old jeans and carhartt jacket into town, no one looks at me funny.  My mud-covered pickup truck fits right in here….

I Love Winter Gardening: Greens & Sausage Gravy

When I first started keeping a vegetable garden, years ago, I was mistakenly under the impression that you only can grow things in the summer, between the frosts.  Once I realized that you can grow vegetables year-round here in Northern California, I really fell in love with winter gardening.  There’s none of the concern about…

Corned Beef Hash

corned beef hash March Charcutepalooza Challenge: Brining MARCH 15, 2011 ~ 3 COMMENTS For the March Charcutepalooza challenge, we made corned beef, which then ended up in a whole bunch of dinners: Corned Beef and Cabbage This dinner pairs slices of corned beef with gently simmered vegetables right out of the garden.  That cabbage in the picture is the…

Make This Now: Tomato Jam

I haven’t posted many jam recipes recently.  Mostly, I hate writing down recipes.  Then, I end up feeling like I really prefer simple jams anyway and that the magic isn’t really about my recipe so much as the fruit itself.   Great jam isn’t because of my recipe, it’s because of the farmer/mother nature/ the…

Citrus-Quince Marmalade with Fresh Rosemary

I’ve been having a bit of trouble finding inspiration for preserves this winter.  I went a whole month without canning a single thing, which I think has to be a record since I started canning.  I realized that the reason this had happened is that I started getting my fruit sourcing really dialed in last…

Ginger Orange Smoked Salmon Tacos with Avocado Tomatillo Salsa and Roasted Sweet Meat Pumpkin

I’m about to embark on a few weeks of travels, which somehow means that I’ve actually planned in advance and finished the April Charcutepalooza challenge a whole week early. By this point of the Meat Festivities, I pretty much sit next to the computer like a crazy person waiting for the next month’s challenge to be announced….