With the Summer fruit and vegetable supply in full swing and abundance, Mark Bittman’s 101 Simple Salads for the Season is perfect timing. After getting a good haul of tomatoes, watermelon and peaches from the farmers’ market, we decided to start at the top of the list with two salad recipes that combine all of [...]

After roasting 10 pounds of second tomatoes and making soup, we used the rest of the tomatoes to make a meat sauce for lasagna. Instead of the two 28 ounce cans of tomatoes that the recipe calls for, we used about 3 pounds of roasted tomatoes.

A while back we tried baked eggs and found a versatile dish that was a keeper. The only drawback with our original version is that you have to turn on the oven, even if you just baking two eggs. Sort of seems like a waste, doesn’t it? Luckily we have a toaster oven and the ramekins [...]

This is a quick and easy recipe for eggplant Parmesan “light.” It’s light because it’s not coated in breadcrumbs and fried, not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s quick and easy because all you have to do is stack the ingredients and pop it in the oven. We topped ours with a little homemade [...]

While studying abroad in Cordoba, Spain, I fell in love with gazpacho…a light tomato soup made simply with tomatoes, bread, olive oil, vinegar and garlic. There are many different recipes for gazpacho out there; I got this one from a postcard I found at a little bodega in Spain. This recipe is the real deal…I [...]

Our farmers’ market is finally back in full swing. Right now it is mostly young greens and root vegetables, but they also have some hot house tomatoes that beat the cardboard versions we were getting from Safeway. Purple Scallions – Deep Purple Bunching (I think)

We had a bunch of cream left over after making Kim’s Yummy Pasta and we were trying to come up with some ideas for dinner. After poking around our recipes we came across this recipe for a Vodka Cream Sauce. Instead of using boxed pasta we went for some fresh pasta. I read somewhere that [...]

What if I was to tell you that there a tomato that was fuzzy? Well it is true! I got a few of them yesterday. The are small, yellow and have a fuzzy skin. We simply sliced them and added a little salt and olive oil. They have a mild flavor, but they contrast nicely [...]

So truth be told, heirloom tomatoes would probably be wasted on a salsa, and not worth the extra cost of a regular plum tomato. Of course this is only true if you don’t live next door to a farmers market where they sell a 3 pound bag of slightly bruise tomatoes for $2. If you [...]

Good haul from the Farmer’s market… again! I don’t know what we will do in the winter. There is a chance we will start to get sick of having a wide variety of fresh tomatoes and squash almost at our doorstep, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.

Nothing taste more like summer that fresh tomatoes. We picked up a couple huge, not so pretty, but pretty tasty, heirloom tomatoes at the farmer’s market. These tomatoes are so good that it only takes a little salt and oil to make them shine. I add some balsamic and chives just for a little extra [...]

Being able to walk out the door and around the corner to get to my local market has been a real treat. It is always a bit of an adventure, you are never quite sure what will be peaking. This week the tomatoes were king. One farm was quoting that 10 different types were available. Organic [...]

Last summer Carolyn and I grew a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes off of our balcony. Unfortunately this year we were not able to plant any because our new condo (yea!) does not have any growing space (boo!). Anyhow I was reminded of this great crop of tomatoes while I was combing through my photo [...]

You know summer is just around the corner when the quality of tomatoes picks up. We have been getting and eating lots of tomatoes from the farmers market that is right around the corner from us. We have done some complicated things with them… but if you have good tomatoes, you just can’t beat a [...]

Cream of tomato soup is irresistible when it is good, and pretty disgusting when it is bad. It is the perfect soup to chase away the end of winter blues. It is rich and tomato-y and the cream gives it a great body and silky texture. It is best to [...]