Back to the Kitchen

Happy end-of-summer!

I know, I know, summer doesn’t actually end until mid September. But my students are back-to-school tomorrow, so I’ve been lesson-planning and bulletin board-making and bidding adieu to summer.

Fortunately I was able to do it in delicious style. Now, I’ve been mostly sharing sewing recently, but I have still been cooking and baking. Just not blogging about it.

But this week, one of my co-workers gave me a lovely bunch of home-grown tomatoes, so I made bruschetta to take to a concert at a local park.

I didn’t follow any one recipe. Just blanched, peeled, and gutted the tomatoes, and then chopped them up with half an onion and some chopped basil. I added a generous splash of balsamic vinaigrette and some course salt and ground pepper, and was good to go!

I had some garlic bread on hand, so thin sliced it, brushed it will olive oil and toasted it under the broiler. Topped with the fresh bruschetta, it was perfection!

Frankly Box-worthy

Hand up here!

How many of you actually use a recipe box? Like, with cards and everything?

I never used to have one. I mean, I thought they were a nice idea, but I have several cookbooks, and several pinboards, to organize my recipes. Why use a box too?Well, a few years back, my grandmother gifted me a collection of her recipes, all handwritten on cards. It was a touching gift and allows me to carry on with family baking. But I had nowhere to put the cards! So I got a box. Since then, I’ve slowly built up my recipe collection, saving my favorite recipes from books and online, taking the time to write them out long-hand and make my own little notes and adjustments. My fiance knows that if I declare a dish to be box-worthy, it’s super tasty, super easy, or both.

Last night, I found my latest box-worthy recipe, from Green Valley Kitchen.  It’s a ravioli asparagus dish with a lemon-butter sauce and topped with walnuts. It tasted super fancy, but only took about twenty minutes to make 🙂

If it looks like something you want to add to your own recipe box, head on over to Green Valley Kitchen and try it out! You won’t be disappointed.