Author Archives: Vanessa

A Shrub that Looks Nice

Every time I hear a reference to the trendy drink syrup called a shrub,” a high-pitched British voice interrupts my brain mid-thought and says, “Brrrringg me a shrubberrrry….one that looks nice.” I always have to stop myself from saying it out loud, because if you haven’t seen The Holy Grail (I mean the cinematic, not [...]
Posted in DIY, Uncategorized, book events, community, from the market, fruit | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Haphazard Strawberry Jam

I’ve always been a by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of home cook. When I’m not working and thus don’t have to write down or follow a recipe I am happy not to. Last weekend, I set out to make strawberry jam. I knew just what I wanted…the purity of fruit without too much sugar; a spoonable preserve with [...]
Posted in DIY, Uncategorized, from the market, fruit, pantry staples, preserving | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Antipasti-Style Calamari Salad

When done right, calamari can be a seductive, tender, delicately ocean-flavored vehicle for bright, pungent, spicy, and otherwise bold flavors. For example, I love the Thai-style calamari salad with fish sauce, lime, cilantro, chilis, and garlic in Paul Johnson’s Fish Forever. One recent night though, I had a craving for traditional southern Italian (or American) [...]
Posted in healthy, seafood | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Chickpea and Salmon Salad with Spring Vegetables

Usually I’m planning at least four meals ahead in the part of my brain especially reserved for such musings. However, once in awhile, I find myself sitting at my desk, starving and uninspired at 12:30 or so. On one such occasion I raided the pantry and the vegetables from my CSA box to create a [...]
Posted in from the market, healthy, pantry staples, seafood | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lamb with Pistachio, Feta, & Preserved Lemon “Salsa”

I created this recipe for a couple of different friends who sell local lamb and wanted some new recipes to share with their customers. Below you’ll find instructions for a small sirloin roast and also for sirloin chops, but you can make this salsa and use it on roast leg of lamb, rack of lamb, [...]
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Amazing Brown Rice Bowl & Real Food All Year

I took one bite of this salad and shouted to the empty room, “It’s like Café Gratitude but with pork!” I kind of couldn’t believe how good it was. Seriously. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Café Gratitude serves up some mighty fine cooked grain bowls with various healthy items tossed in. This [...]
Posted in food sustainability, from the market, healthy, hearty | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Farro, Lentil, Porcini, and Greens Soup

With more rain in the forecast, I wanted to share this hearty, healthy soup that I created recently. Lately I’ve been enjoying cooking down the pantry (my version of spring cleaning) and utilizing the vegetables from my beloved Eatwell Farm CSA box to make simple meals. This one was inspired by a recipe in the [...]
Posted in from the market, healthy, hearty, pantry staples | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

7 Simple, Seasonal, (Nearly) One-Pot Meals

After a flurry of inspiration and posts over the cooking holidays, I’ve been remiss about updating my blog lately. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating (and cooking!), it just means I haven’t been cooking anything I’d consider to be necessarily ground-breaking. But yeah, I cook and eat every day, as we all have [...]
Posted in Food and Drink, Latin American, from the market, healthy, hearty, seafood | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Christmas Food Story: Father’s Nuts

Last Christmas I posted about orevnitza, the Serbian bread we eat at Christmas…What I didn’t mention was that there’s a back story to orevnitza from my childhood. A story about foraging (or stealing), mortification, and class difference. I wrote it down about ten years ago and never published it. When I finally went public with [...]
Posted in DIY, Food and Drink, breads and pizzas, foraging, holidays | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Turkey Chile Soup with Rice and Winter Squash

I first made this soup a couple weeks ago with a small, Soul Food Farm stock bird. I used a technique I use often that provides me with a light but full flavored broth to freeze and use for soups and also a good amount of shredded chicken meat to use for enchiladas, tacos, salad, [...]
Posted in Latin American, Uncategorized, healthy, hearty, holidays | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
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    The recipes and images on this site belong to Vanessa Barrington. Feel free to link here and if you’d like to use a recipe or image, please ask permission first. Thank you.