Rosie and Tucker

Beef Burgundy: Streamlined (Boeuf Bourguignon)

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This was taken before the pot went into the oven. More photos later!

For Election Day 2016, I’m spending my time making my streamlined Beef Burgundy. It’ll take my mind off what’s going on, keep me from checking my phone or computer too often, and give Dave, the dogs, and me something great to smell.

Tucker and Rosie in family room

Tucker and Rosie in family room waiting for dinner

Even my streamlined Beef Burgundy takes a good bit of time (I started yesterday) and should be shared. Who needs friends more than on election night? We invited a couple of really close ones for the meal and for the duration–whichever comes first. Continue reading →

Tuna-Cado Dinner: No-Cook White Bean Salad with Avocado and Tuna

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If you’re like me, there are some days you will not be going to the grocery store. Maybe it’s Sunday and you know how crazy the parking lot is or perhaps it’s a warm Thursday night and you’ve had it.  (What is “it?”)  Could be you’re too busy enjoying the irises blooming for the first time in eleven years – below.  Or you’re avoiding the mama robin nested outside your back door so you can work in the garden without her defecating on you. (Second photo below: Yes, she did this to me.)

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In reality, you unthawed nothing because you were, uh, working, reading a sleazy novel at the pool, running kids, on a hike, at a meeting, or watching movies. Could be you’re lazy, which is an admirable once-in-a-while quality. Do cultivate it.  You are not lighting the grill and you’re not opting out by ordering pizza or Chinese. You could eat a green salad. Again.

Tucker and Rosie in family room

                      Our dogs always hope I go with the pizza idea as they get the crust.

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Whole Meal on the Grill

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Last December, these good cooking friends came to take a short Italian class with me and liked it so well (ah, gee) they returned en masse to redeem the class gift certificate one gave to the rest for a Christmas gift–on the condition that we attempt a grilling class. Onward, upward.  “Sure,” I said.  I also said, “I’m not a big outdoor griller. I grill inside.  A lot. I have at least 3 stovetop grills.  Dave, however, grills outside. I eat.” (Why should I learn to grill outdoors?!)  But I figured between Dave and I, we could come up with a full grill menu everyone would lust after.  Or, rather, I’d come up with the menu, and Dave would light and “man” the behemoth gas grill we bought to try and keep up with all his grilling love.

Often, on the blog, you see Dave thus:

Rotterdam-Dave at De Ballentent

Rotterdam-Dave at De Ballentent

And while, to you, it might appear his typical pose, he actually works very hard at his daily job, practices trombone as much as possible, takes excellent care of me, and then, in good weather, looks like this at home:

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Did I say he cleans the kitchen quite a bit?  All right, he walks on water.

If you’re looking for an entire meal on the grill for Memorial Day or any other day, this one just might be it. It’ll feed 6-8 people generously and could provide a few leftovers at the end of the day.  First are a long slew of happy pictures, beginning with an overview of the menu; the recipes follow. At the very end is a link to click so that you can view the recipes in a printable form.  ENJOY YOUR GRILL!

                                                               (Basic grilling technique link here.)

Try this:

MENU:

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Grilled Mini-Naan Pizzas with Caramelized Onions and Gruyere Cheese  (Prosecco)

 

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Grilled Caesar Salad (Chardonnay)

 

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Grilled Lemon Salmon and Tinfoil-Packet Vegetables with Avocado Mayonnaise (Oregon Pinot Noir or Chardonnay)

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Grilled Pineapple with Ice Cream and Maple Syrup (Sparkling Rosé)

 

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Spring Lamb Stew

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Here in Colorado, our biggest claim to food fame may be western slope peaches. Oh, August…2d209-food-peach-afm

Unless, that is, you’re crazy about lamb like I am. You might remember I once ordered Colorado lamb in London and was very glad to get it.  I really did do bangers and mash the rest of the time.  (Read about American lamb here.)

I adore Colorado lamb (and love eating locally!), but it’s not always readily available or reasonably priced, so….

Once in a while, I just do the expedient, less expensive thing and buy a big boneless leg of lamb at Costco with the rest of the crowd.  Why not?  Continue reading →

Smoky Green Chile-Shrimp Corn Chowder

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I worked on a fresh pea clam chowder while I lived in the great city of St. Paul, Minnesota.  There, on any given beautiful early spring Saturday, the St. Paul Farmer’s Market would proudly boast a gorgeous array of pea shoots and tendrils…and not long after that, the peas themselves. That soup ended up in my soup book, Soups & Sides for Every Season and is a favorite with or without the fresh peas! (Fresh peas are often available year round at Trader Joes, as well.)

Fresh pea shoots–leaves, shoots, and tendrils from pea plants.  Yummy greens.

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Squash-Parsnip Soup with Tarragon Sour Cream or Parmesan and Toasted Almonds

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My friend Mary Pat’s September birthday is always a reason for celebration. I often cook her a birthday dinner and find it a happy excuse to make a fallish meal after a long, long summer.  (Is it fall YET? The garden’s dying, but it’s still in the 80’s. We sat out last night on the deck at 8 o’clock with a drink watching the blood moon.)

below: my front walk milkweed grown for the monarch butterflies

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Here’s the menu that included her favorite dessert (after Cherries Jubilee, Baked Alaska, and Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie):

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I like six people for dinner, eight at the most, so that I can truly pay attention to and hear each person. Otherwise, it’s a party–cacophony– and I approach it very differently.  I also like to cook a lot of recipes that only serve eight.

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Quick Provençal Summer Vegetables on Rosemary Couscous

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I try to eat as many meatless meals as I can. It’s hard; I love meat.  My husband Dave is perhaps even more of a carnivore, but snarfed this down as fast as he could the other night out on the deck. In Colorado, our al fresco dinners are numbered.  Within a couple of weeks, lunches outdoors will work wonderfully, but dinners will simply be too cold.  In the meantime, we’re loving every meal we can get at the patio table with something fun on Pandora going and the dogs running around enjoying the breeze.

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BBQ Pork Chop Salad

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Our rainy Colorado summer continues. Each day, not all day long, but typically in the afternoon or evening, we’re nearly overwhelmed by lightning storms and great, heavy rains we are unaccustomed to. Most years, a desperately needed now and then drizzle qualifies as a Colorado summer rain.  Instead of that sweet pitty-pat every couple of weeks, there are regular and torrential downpours creating gullies and near-ditches where none have gone before. Streets are closed due to flooding; cars are stuck in rising water.  Potted plants float and are emptied repeatedly and still rot.  My two precious pots of rosemary (brought in over the winter and taken outdoors in the late spring) don’t know how to act; one has nearly expired.

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While Rosie, our labradoodle puppy, has no trouble with the rumbling, grumbling, crashing, thunder or the moaning or beating rain, Tucker is a wreck–a new behavior for him.  I can barely console him and often find 75 pounds of golden retriever in my lap. I know; he needs a thunder blanket. Sometimes I’ll “kennel” them together. We don’t use a real kennel but have our mudroom baby-gated and that seems to comfort him. Poor puppy.

One of the gorgeous things about near-mountain life (we live in the Front Range of the Rocky mountains up on the mesa on the west side of Colorado Springs), is the plethora of rainbows. We have many each year even with just a little rain; this year, we have bookoo displays weekly.  The above beauty –they’re so hard to photograph– was snapped just off Highway 24 up near Cascade by my husband Dave while I was a church board meeting. Faithful Christian folk call rainbows, “God’s promise.” (Think Noah.) I can never help but think it.  Right after I think about the pot of gold, that is. (Think Fred Astaire in “Finnian’s Rainbow.”) Continue reading →