spread

Special thanks to Cindy and Julia, 2 awesome women with lots of canning experience. They walked me through the process, giving me lots of tips to pass along to you, plus some delicious jam and zucchini bread to take home. This post is dedicated to all of you out there who are intimated by...

Not too long ago I posted about how my friend Sarah and I attended a wine event out in the wilds of Winters and on the way home stocked up on lots of fresh juicy jam berries. The following day we spent damn well close to nine hours in her cute ret...

We had a pretty good crop of apricots this year. I have eaten many whole; also, I froze a big bag of them, roasted them and topped them with honey marscapone, and made an apricot crisp. This week found me with a bag left, many of which were on their la...

This easy jam is a staple in my house and does double duty- a great filling for desserts. Best part, it's low sugar (but you'd never know it!)

My husband is gifted in many ways.  But the two that come to mind most often are 1. his ability to imitate almost anyone after hearing them speak just once (it truly is incredible), and 2. his ability to schmooze customer service agents.  He has the “aww shucks, ma’am, if you could just help...

Summer is my favorite food time of year. I can do without the crazy heat, but I love all the amazing produce that it brings. Northern California is an especially wonderful place for fresh fruits and veggies. While browsing the farmer’s market last Saturday, I found a nearly endless supply of cherries mixed in...

I think that strawberries may be my very first fruit memory. I've always loved berries of all sorts, but strawberries seem to be one of my oldest childhood memories. Snippets from here and there. I remember going to small farms where you could go and p...

Jalapeno Apricot JamI went to the Davis farmers market because I was out of some of the toppings for my Bolani. If you read my post about Bolani Afghani bread, you know they have a selection of toppings for their stuffed flatbreads. I went to get the c...

There’s a lot of hype around eating locally and eating seasonally, and I’ll admit that I try to do just that. Eat seasonally, that is. Because if you eat with the seasons (that you live in) you’ll likely also be eating from reasonably nearby farms. So this past weekend while tooling around Yolo County...

Many schools and family events are peanut-free or completely nut-free due to allergy concerns. There are several alternative nut butters, like almond and cashew, but if you want or need to avoid all nuts, the only options I know of are soynut and sunbutter. Soy is another relatively common allergy in young children, so it...