A little how-to and recipe on making ricotta gnocchi (gnocchi di ricotta) using our whole milk ricotta, as well as some perfection pondering. The answer is eluding me. There is this concept of grace I can’t quite grasp. I can feel it, invading my chest cavity and taking up residence there, pulsing along with the beating of my heart. However, when I reach out towards it and try to hold it in my hand, it dissipates, falling through my fingers like mist on a cold, wet morning. I tend to dwell... more

How to make homemade pasta dough with basil from scratch using a Blendtec Twister Jar (plus, I’m giving one away). The basil here is used similar to how you would make spinach pasta dough rather than just mixing in minced herbs, which results in a green-colored pasta and a strong but not overwhelming basil flavor. This past Sunday we headed off to the farmers market to find the vendors are slowly starting to clear. It happens every year around this time when their particular items are done... more

A recipe for ginger plum preserves turns into tasty crostini appetizers with thinly sliced and toasted baguette, capricho de cabra goat’s cheese, and fresh plums. Stone fruit season is one of my favorites. Coming at the end of summer, I wait patiently all year for its arrival. As the heat of summer reaches its peak, the stone fruits turn and ripen. They promise the arrival of fall. You can almost hear them singing a farewell to the searing summer sun and welcoming the cooler autumn air. They... more

How to make crisp and evenly cooked bacon in the oven without all the grease splatters and mess of frying it on the stove. Pin It Bacon. Have you ever noticed that bacon has the ability to instantly trigger a response in your brain? Its salty goodness reaches to the recesses of your mind, and you are transported to a time other than the one you’re in. My personal bacon memory sends me back to six years old. I’m sitting in my grandma’s kitchen at the breakfast bar, knees tucked... more

An easy way to get fresh, roasted squash butternut (or any other) purée to use in recipes at home. So, as evidenced by my insistence on making my own pumpkin purée, you can probably imagine that I did not purchase a can of squash earlier this week for the butternut squash soup with bacon and sage. Instead, I roasted a butternut beauty that had been sitting and waiting patiently for me to finish making desserts and to start making dinner for the family again. I purchased it way back at the beginning... more

The last of the everbearing strawberries and groundcherries from the market find love as a sweet jam. It’s been warm here, the kind of warm that makes you want to take long bike rides through the trail system that runs just east of your house, stopping to enjoy the view of the lakes and swamps in the area. Swamps are magical. The sun has been shining. Blaring, really. It’s like August in October at the moment, but with golden leaves on the trees and pumpkins on the menu for dinner. Rather... more

I have a confession. I don’t remember ever buying pumpkin in a can. Ever. I know my mom did when I was younger a few times, but generally, our pumpkin came from, well, a pumpkin. For years in high school I avoided pumpkin pie with it’s brown, creamy texture. Then I realized it was because I’d always had my pumpkin fresh. Fresh as in orange. When I started cooking with pumpkin on my own, I naturally went for the fresh pumpkin, but the grocery stores sell by the pound, and... more