Just looking for recipes?  Check out this page to see all the concoctions I have put together – some with the help of the internet, cookbooks, and magazines and some because I just thought it might be good… Or I had to use up the leftovers in my fridge.

Recipes – Not quite a list to spend hours on yet, but it is growing!

Breakfast
Breakfast Apple Crisp
Citrus Salad
Poached Eggs
Poached Eggs on Artichoke Toast
Yogurt Parfait

Appetizers
Beet and Goat Cheese Tower
Creamed Mushrooms on Toast

Soups
Hungarian Mushroom Soup
Potato Soup
Gazpacho

Entrees
Asian Short Ribs
Asian Wrap with Peanut Sauce
Bok Choy Saute
Grilled Ahi Salad
Halibut with Wasabi Pea Crust
Hazelnut Pork Chops
Honey Glazed Ham
Mini Meatloaves
Portobello Mushroom Burgers
Shredded Pork
Squash Risotto
Stewed Lentils
Vegetable Cassoulet

Sides
Brussel Sprouts
Easy Potatoes Au Gratin
Warm Red Cabbage Salad

Desserts
Chocolate Pudding
Raspberry Sauce

Homemade Dairy
Butter
Goat’s Milk Chevre
Lemony Compound Butter

For the last few weeks, I have been avoiding one task in my garden because it seemed too big to think about.

What on earth was I going to do with my mint plant gone wild? I asked around and people kept telling me, “Make mojitos!” Or, “Make an Asian salad!” Which is all well and good, if I planned on eating ten meals a day consisting of just mojitos and salads. Unfortunately, I like a little more variety than that in my diet…

So, in lieu of eating nothing but mint for a week straight, I decided to try to preserve it in three ways.

1. Freeze individual mint leaves and store for future salads/mojitos/whenever I fancy some…

I simply rinsed my mint in a salad spinner, spun to dry, and laid in a single layer on a pan for an hour. Once frozen, they didn’t brown or do anything funky. Actually, it was very successful and now I have a baggie of mint in my freezer.

2. Method two involved more freezing – but this time in ice cube trays.

Each tray was filled halfway up with mint leaves and water. I let them freeze for about an hour, then filled up the rest of the tray – making sure the mint didn’t poke out the top (like it is in the photo above).

When I want to use the mint, I can either melt down the cubes or create fancy mint-flavored drinks.

3. The last thing I did with my mint was make a mint simple syrup. Well, actually, I made a sugary mint water, since I didn’t follow the typical one-to-one ratio with sugar and water. It isn’t my fault we ran out of sugar! I used three cups of water to one cup of sugar and brought it to a boil. Then, I added 2 cups of mint and allowed to steep for about ten minutes. It had a strange smell, not gonna lie; a little like collard greens. Luckily, once I strained the mint leaves the syrup doesn’t taste quite so vegetable-based.

In order to celebrate my mint adventures, I decided to concoct a beverage. I added two mint cubes, 2 T of lemon juice, 2 T of mint simple syrup, and sparkling water. The mint-lemonade was zesty and yummy. Plus, it is interesting to have the mint cubes slowly melt into your drink, allowing preserved leaves to float to the top.

Maybe this never happens to anyone else, but do you ever learn a new word and all of a sudden it is everywhere? On TV, in the book you just finished, overheard in a conversation… This happens to me all the time. When it does, I am shocked that my brain has the ability to completely turn off my hearing when it comes to words I don’t know – is it because I learned a word it is suddenly, magically everywhere? No, I just didn’t pay attention to it before. Selective hearing at its finest.

This is a little how I felt when I learned people made their own cheese. Did you know people do this all the time? I had no idea. Then, all of a sudden, I meet people who do it, I finished a book where the author made homemade mozzarella, and get an email about a DIY cheese group. I felt it was a sign that I should try it. Pretty bloody local.

I wasn’t exactly sure where to start, but decided the DIY cheese group might be an interesting meeting to attend. I roped in my sister, Allison, who was very easily convinced. (She thinks she is going to save millions of dollars.) It was held at a wonderful cheese shop in town, Foster and Dobbs. The group meets once a month or so and a member demonstrates making a cheese.

We showed up early and decided to have a taste of cheese and a glass of wine while we waited.

After about fifteen minutes of building excitement and cheese enjoyment, we wondered why we were the only ones there. Hmmm… Is it possible we both read the date wrong?

Apparently, it is.

Fast forward 24 hours later. We take our seats and the situation looks a lot more promising.

The presentation on Farmhouse Cheddar – a quick cheddar that only needs to sit for 1 month after it is made – begins and we are very glad we showed up to the meeting. A lot of questions get asked and answered that I never thought to ask. Actually, I was so out of my element I didn’t know half of what the people were talking about. No matter, the deliciousness of cheese can drive learning and I was soon convinced that I could make my own cheese. I bought this packet from New England Cheese Making Supply Company that contained everything I needed to make Mozzarella and Ricotta (this costs, in case you are wondering $25 – and makes 30 batches of cheese, all you add is milk). Everyone who makes it kept saying, “Oh, this is not complicated. Believe me, it is easy, you can do it.” And then they would talk about proteins denaturing, the use of rennet in tablet or liquid form, or how to build a press that will apply 50 lbs of pressure. Sure, easy!

But, don’t worry, my friends. Allison, our friend, Erica, (who comments on this here blog, but has never been mentioned officially. Hope you get the most out of your fame!) put our heads together and made two cheeses. Haloumi and Mozzarella. We actually made cheese. And giggled a lot.

Follow up post with details of the first meeting of our cheese club: Curds and Whey. Believe to A-Cheese.