recipes

Have you ever tried making salsa from scratch? I’m not talking about pico de gallo, the chopped up tomato-onion-cilantro combo that sometimes gets mistaken for salsa. Nope, I’m thinking of Mexican salsa that comes in endless varieties and has as its base dried chiles.

Fear your greens no longer! These smoky green beans go right alongside your smoked meats and make a favorite dish extraordinary.

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes (depending on your green bean prep skills)

Cook Time: 3 Hours

Ingredients:

3 lbs green beans
1/4 large onion
4 - 8 oz bacon
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt

I'm so happy to share an extraordinary new book with you today! The Iberian Table: Healthy Cooking Secrets from the Land of Longevity, by award-winning author Robin Keuneke, takes home cooks on an unforgettable journey through northern Spain’s delicious food culture.

We are so happy to share with you a recipe from an extraordinary new cookbook, Gather & Graze (click here to read our review and author interview!). It's peak blueberry season here in Michigan, and we've already picked almost 100 pounds over near South Haven (and almost a month left in the season to go!). I thought to save some from our picking Monday (in the rain, but oh so worth it) to make these. They are SO delicious. 

When I was in college at Michigan State University, we used to go to El Azteco Restaurant for our Sunday dinners, when the cafe was closed. El Az offered bean and cheese burritos at a fair price for a college student in the late 1980s: $1.50 each. Since I graduated many moons ago, they’ve moved to a better location – and I’m able to afford more than a bean and cheese burrito.

Over the holidays, my mom would often give away jars of homemade raspberry jam. Now I fully admit I didn’t inherit my mom’s gift for gardening or canning (I’m working on both though, mom, promise!). Thankfully, though, I did pay attention when she was giving me cooking lessons.

My kids raved about a dessert we tried at Peppermint, a nearby Thai restaurant (actually, they devoured everything they had, but the dessert was the easiest one to figure out all the ingredients:).

We decided to recreate it at home. Truth be told, my oldest had to bring in a food to share in one of her classes, so we thought it was a good excuse to give it a try.

These were simple to put together and really tasty. If I were making this to serve, I’d pair it with some vanilla ice cream drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce, and pop these along the side.