CHEESESLAVE

I didn’t make my first trip to Italy until I was 37. It was worth the wait.

I went on a once-in-a-lifetime dream vacation with my mother and sister. We started out in Tuscany, where we took cooking classes, went truffle hunting with a real truffle hunter and his dogs, and toured wineries. After that, we headed down to Rome, where we ate way too much pasta and gelato, drank Negroni cocktails on rooftops, drank bottle after bottle of vino, and sipped cappuccinos.

If you don’t have time to break away on your own Roman Holiday anytime soon, make this pasta. It’s like a mini trip to the Eternal City. Whip up a few Negronis and you are there.

I found some dried Christmas Lima beans at the farmer’s market and I wanted to try something different for dinner: Creole Succotash with Christmas Lima Beans. This dish is full of flavor, and it’s super nutritious. And since it’s a one-pot meal, it’s easy to make without a lot of fuss or extra pans to wash.

This is the first in my series of frugal and nutritious recipes. Since my goal is to cut my food budget in half, I am going to be making meals that are less expensive but still very nutritious.
Hamburger meat is a classic budget-friendly staple. Of course, I only use organic grass-fed beef from local farmers, [...]

I’m finally getting around to posting about the fantastic meal we had the other night at a 14-acre dairy farm on Vashon Island, Washington.
These dinners are held every Sunday night and most everything on the table is grown or produced on the farm (with the exception of coffee and sugar and flour and salt [...]

Tonight we had a last-minute dinner guest (my husband’s business partner). Luckily, when I got the call, I was already making a big batch of risotto.
I wanted to incorporate some leftover shrimp from a Christmas party the night before. Risotto is fast and easy and fancy enough for dinner guests. It’s also highly [...]

This was a really good dinner: Wild Alaskan Salmon, Caprese Salad, Buttered Corn and Rice Cooked in Homemade Chicken Stock.
This is a post I still had in draft form that I meant to post before I left for the WAPF conference. But then all hell broke loose getting ready for the trip so it [...]

OK so here’s what I ate today on my first day back on the GAPS Intro Diet:
Before Breakfast:
Detox herbal tea with 2 Biokult
Breakfast:
Rocky Canyon nitrate-free antibiotic-free organic pork sausage cooked in duck fat, then served in a cup of homemade chicken stock (made from pastured organic chickens)
1 cup black coffee (I don’t think it was [...]

We missed Shellfish Night last night because I didn’t make it to the farmer’s market yesterday. I took Kate to the gym instead. She played with her friends while I lifted weights, rode the exercise bike, and read the first chapter of Senator Obama’s book, “The Audacity of Hope”.
I was craving shellfish for dinner last [...]

Tonight was shellfish night. And what a shellfish night it was!
Three words: bacon-wrapped scallops. I ask you, does it get any better than that?
Yes, it does, because those scallops were dabbed with butter. And served with a side of shrimp cocktail. Plus a caprese salad.
And for dessert: homemade peanut butter cookies (made with “crispy peanuts”, [...]

This was such an easy dinner to make. It’s perfect for a summer evening — and it’s GAPS legal (if you are at the point where you can do cheese, that is — if not, skip the cheese).
The pork is from Rocky Canyon Farms here in Southern California and the tomatoes and basil are from [...]