Lentil Soup for a Small Planet

Lentil Soup topped with melted Swiss Cheese - in this case a reduced fat Lorraine.

I've been cranking out a lot of soup lately - partly because it's so darn cold, and partly because Dave is a soup junkie. If you give him an option, during the winter months, he'll pick soup first. If you ask him for suggestions as to what he'd like for dinner, he pops up with soup as first choice - invariably.

Of Cones, Cabbages, and Kale

The kind of thing I shoot when I'm working...

For the past three weeks the 2010 World Equestrian Games kept me hopping. In my other life, I'm and equine photographer and writer - someone who concentrates on the equine industry as their photographic and journalistic specialty. Obscure to be true. So for the past three weeks I've worn my other hat exclusively.  I've shot over 6000 frames and posted 230 times on my other site.  I've been working -- working my tail off -- just not here. That's what I love about cooking -- it's not horses...

For Love of the Spud! Potato Pancakes

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In light of the fall potato harvest fast approaching, I decided to repost this recipe for the glorious potato -- and the best potato pancake you've ever tasted.  Also, my big laptop is in the shop with most of my images on it.  That means that I was bad and didn't back-up my Mac.  So, I'm forced to use my old powerbook which is slow and has a much older operating system on it.  My oldie but goodie has its limitations. I'll just re-hash (pun intended) a few posts -- at least until I get my fast baby back...

Ah, the potato.  That globe of goodness. That versatile tuber that readily lends itself to so many culinary interpretations.  From baked or mashed with butter and cream, to simmered in soups; from gratin to chips, hash browns and home fries to candy -- the potato rules as the culinary starch of choice -- at least in the western cultures (with the exception of the Southern Italians, who are very partial to their pasta - for good reason).

Last of the Summer... Beans

The days grow shorter.  The sun rides lower in the southern sky. No more birdsong cacophony in the morning.  All that breaks autumn's silence is the chirping of a multitude of crickets - more background noise than nature's song.  No more cicadas droning on... Summer is past. It's time to harvest the last of the summer garden.  Time to finish off the beans.

Last Chance to be Corny

With all the High Fructose Corn Syrup rants out there, it's hard to know what to do.  I believe the research that says that HFCS does not provide sweetness satiety to the human brain.  When people doubt this, especially those who knew me as a child, I like to remind them that never was there enough pecan pie to satisfy me!  And, pecan pie is LOADED with corn syrup.  While my Pecan Pie gluttony has abated over the years, this year's Thanksgiving Pecan Pie is going to be made with Lyle's Golden Syrup.  It's a pure cane syrup (no this is not a plug).  It's my own little experiment.  I wanna see if it makes a difference in sugar satiety. Not that I can eat whole pies any longer -- probably shouldn't even eat a single wedge.  At this point if I don't lose some pudge there won't be any pecan pie around here at all. But that's another story...

Artichokes - Three for a Dollar at the A&P

There's an old joke about a low rent hit man named Artie who accepts a one dollar contract, gets confused, and chokes three shoppers at the A&P. It's one of my husband's favorite jokes. It hails from long ago when he taught physics.  He always liked to use those groaner jokes to lighten up the mood before a test. The students always groaned and the tests were always excruciating.  The only person in the room who seemed to be having a good time was my husband who enjoyed himself heartily -- mainly because he didn't have to take his own test.