Rhubarb and zucchini are in season! Pleasantly surprised at the Natick Farmers Market yesterday, I bought some of each, and then I sat for 20 minutes trying to think of how to use them both. Rhubarb is usually used in sweet dishes, but it has a nice, naturally tart flavor. I really wanted to spend the…
Tag: Freitas Farms
Baked Apples Stuffed with Quinoa, Mushrooms, and Dried Cranberries
A couple of weeks ago I visited Fungi Ally, a local mushroom grower in Western Massachusetts, and I picked up about 3 lbs of assorted mushrooms. That probably sounds excessive, but let me explain. Over the last couple of years that I have been sourcing almost exclusively from farmers markets, I’ve noticed the lack of…
Panzanella Salad with Fresh Summer Tomatoes and Basil
It’s tomato season! And it’s garlic season. And basil, and, well, everything good basically. Panzanella salad is the ultimate way to combine the best summer ingredients. Panzanella, or panmolle, is a salad originating from Tuscany that has a base of bread and tomatoes. Other cultures have a similar salad, like the Mediterranean dish fattoush, that build a base from…
Creamy Spinach Polenta with Roasted Summer Produce and a Fried Egg
I’ve professionally cooked in a variety of restaurants: a small cafe serving breakfast and lunch made from locally sourced ingredients, a yoga retreat center with an all-vegetarian menu using ingredients grown right outside of the kitchen, a high-end restaurant and a number of private catering events. I share this information not to boast or intimidate, but to share the…
Salmon Nicoise Salad
I finally filled my basket this late spring season with leafy greens and colorful carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes and radishes (not pictured, because I ate them immediately). All of the recent cold weather made me think that we were skipping spring and going straight into summer, but not to worry. It’s all growing now! While I did…
Asparagus and Potato Flatbread
Two months ago, I traveled up to Southwest Harbor, Maine to film a vendor to be featured in a new The Clean Food Club video (video drops in a couple weeks!). I had never visited that part of Maine before so I did some exploring. I stayed at the Aysgarth Station, which prepared a beautiful…
Acorn Squash and Spinach Salad
A couple of weeks ago my husband and I visited the Natick Community Organic Farm for Maple Magic Day. On a cold and windy day, we huddled up with other kids and adults eager to visit the farm to see how maple sap is collected and cooked down to make syrup. Even though in the weeks…
More Orange Roughy, Please
I grew up in a family of self-proclaimed “foodies.” They watch cooking shows, read cookbooks for fun, and eat like it’s their job. My mother is an incredible cook, and her talent seems to have been handed down to each of my siblings in a different way. One of my brothers is a master chef…
Cleaning our Plates
On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln established the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Most people associate the USDA with nutritional standards and food safety regulations, but the department also created the first federal food stamp program at the end of the Great Depression. Food was scarce during the Great Depression, and even before that,…
The Clean Food Club 