baked oats green chile chicken enchiladas chow mein bakery-style butter cookies


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archive for dinner

solstice kicked my patootie (lot of pics)

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Recipe: vietnamese spring rolls

I know it seems that I was MIA here, and I was… but I wasn’t. I was completely in action all weekend which was why I had nary a minute to sit down and write anything coherent (although that assumes what I typically write is coherent…). But it was a lovely weekend and I’ll tell you why: my eye doctor had a last-minute cancellation and asked if I could come in last week instead of July 28, 2036. I have new Oasys contacts for dry eyes on and life has become a lot happier. A lot happier.


wildflowers fully underway in our yard



Just a few of the highlights with lots of pictures, okay? I finally got myself to the Boulder Farmer’s Market on Saturday. Seems trivial enough, but Saturday mornings for us are typically spent UP in the mountains, not DOWN on the flats.

fresh picked lettuce

itty bitty strawberries

boatloads of colorful radishes



The reason I wasn’t in the mountains was because I had a shindig at The Cup, which lovely Gwen organized for Denver/Boulder bloggers. Lady bloggers. Kickass lady bloggers. It was actually a pre-meet for Blogher 09 goers and a great opportunity to network in person with local women who move in different circles. Fascinating, but more importantly, fun. All of the photos from the pre-meet can be viewed here.

these two = definite trouble (manisha and dana)



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daring cooks: chive dumplings

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Recipe: chive dumplings


daring cooks – you got the onions chinese chives?



This month I’m not just a Daring Cook, but I’m the host of the Daring Cooks June challenge! First, let me pay homage to our most revered founders: Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, because we love them and they make the world a better place. I chose a recipe that was versatile enough for all manner of Daring Cooks: Chinese dumplings and potstickers. The recipe I gave for the challenge is a family recipe that I’ve blogged before. However, I wanted to push myself beyond the familiar and attempt a gluten-free version.

[EDIT] So there have been a few folks making noise about wheat starch and how it is not gluten free. Sources give conflicting conclusions on whether or not wheat starch is safe for consumption if you are celiac. So let’s be clear here – you need to make your own decision and you need to be responsible for that decision. If you think there is ANY risk, then you probably shouldn’t use it unless you enjoy playing with fire. If you aren’t affected by gluten, then you can probably safely consume wheat starch. This is a traditional recipe, it was not developed as a gluten free version – it is a type of dumpling that people make in Chinese cuisine. [END EDIT]


use wheat starch (not wheat flour!)

chinese chives (garlic chives)



If you’ve ever had dim sum, you have probably feasted upon many different kinds of dumplings. My favorite to order when I’m in a good dim sum joint is the chive dumpling. While I was looking up a gluten-free version of the Chinese potsticker for our alternative Daring Cooks, I ran across several recipes for chive dumplings and knew I had to try these at home.

chop the chives

sauté



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the familiar

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Recipe: pasta with summer squash, sausage, and goat cheese

There has been quite a bit of instability in that part of the atmosphere sitting over my house. It makes for interesting weather: sun, rain, hail, winds, cold, warm, frost and one of my favorites:


lightning



But today we are back to sunshine, although our afternoon thunderstorms are pretty much here to stay for the summer – and I welcome the rain and cooling off they bring each day. Kaweah has a knack for finding the very edge of the shade and then parking her furry self just outside of it.

too bad she isn’t a solar panel



School is out. I can tell this from the tent that my neighbor’s kids have pitched on their deck and the happy screams zooming past our windows, Doppler effect and all, every evening. It gets dark around 8:30 and we don’t eat until 9 or later. Kaweah petitions for dinner when the sun goes down, so Mother Nature fools her big time in summer (it’s a pain in the ass come winter when she starts begging around 3:30). The pine tree pollen orgy has not peaked yet, but my itchy eyes indicate the party is getting started. The foxes and the coyotes will be facing off and staking out their territory in our front yard, soon.

green gentian



We’ve lived here long enough that the trails we hike are recognizable even under 8 feet of snow. I know where the columbines will bloom. I know which scree fields the pika live in. I know when the stream flow will peak. I know what the light looks like in July versus October versus March. I know what the air smells like as the snowpack thaws from under the pine forest canopy. I know which cornices remain into late summer. I never thought I would treasure this sense of the familiar, but I do. I relish it and it feels like home. It may be a sign of getting older… I don’t really care. I rather think of it as a sign of happiness.

**Jump for more butter**