I was alone, sitting near the wood stove, feeling like Cinderella, but rather than wishing for a prince with a glass slipper, I was wishing for dinner.

I wanted comfort food that celebrated autumn, a dinner with complex flavors and one that was low in calories. Since the pumpkin carriage was out of service, dinner had to be created without a trip to the market. Wishing wasn’t working. I needed to think.

A baked potato dinner was a possibility. Preparation would be simple – washed and baked, the potato would be ready to top with yogurt. It was a low calorie meal but not wonderful. I wanted a dinner that looked as if my fairy godmother had been hard at work.

I considered macaroni and cheese but that required too much preparation, too many pots and I didn’t have a magic spell that would make it delicious AND low in calories. Microwaved popcorn and a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich came to mind. But, even the mice in the kitchen expect more for dinner than that.

It was getting late and I was hungry. I looked for inspiration in the refrigerator and found carrots, turnips, a small butternut squash, half a cauliflower, a couple of parsnips and a handful of washed lettuce.  If a single pumpkin could be magically transformed into a carriage, surely this collection of vegetables could be transformed into dinner.

The clock chimed seven and a wizard idea occurred to me. I could roast the vegetables with potatoes, onions and garlic, season them with olive oil, butter, dried rosemary, salt and pepper and dine like a princess in less than an hour.  Here’s how I did it:

… read more

Persimmons have been eaten for a long time, the Greeks called the persimmon the ‘fruit of the gods’ but I had never used them in my kitchen.

The orange Fuji persimmons at the market were the inspiration I needed to make a non-chocolate cake. In the past, the unpalatable astringency of unripe persimmons had kept me away from them.

But, the combination of a pot-luck dinner party, the memory of Nancy’s amazing persimmon cake and having both a food blog and newspaper columns that need posts, I decided to practice what I preach – “Be brave, take a chance, experiment and tell me about your success!”

I created a persimmon cake filled with apricot mousse and topped with whipped cream and it was a success! – Here’s how I did it: … read more

Lynda came yesterday afternoon so that we could hear Judith Jones speak about her new book in Norwich, Vermont.

Judith Jones was Julia Childs’ editor and she was talking about her new book, The Pleasures of Cooking for One. I enjoyed her earlier book, The Tenth Muse and look forward to learning from her new book.

I was delighted that Lynda spent the night and that we had time to play today before she returned to her home and husband in the Northeast Kingdom. Breakfast this morning was simple, we sat in the sun and had pears and clementines, tea, English muffins, homemade marmalade and fig jam.

I made the English muffins yesterday afternoon while Lynda was traveling on the interstate. Like so many other things, homemade English muffins are so much better when you can pronounce all the ingredients used to make them and count the ingredients on one hand and a finger if you count water.

Here’s how I did it:

… read more

When I see a sweet potato I think of my friend Pen who replaced her usual morning bagel or donut with a baked sweet potato. She wrapped a roasted sweet potato, still hot from the oven, in a thick layer of newspaper and tucked it into her pocket – it was ready when she was, a perfect breakfast on the run without crumbs or empty calories.

Sweet potato salad is another way to add this healthy vegetable to your diet and is great alternative to white potato salad.

It’s easy to transport and eaten at room temperature – a terrific addition to a potluck supper. Here’s how I made it:

… read more

For a more casual meal, sweet potato fries are the perfect side dish with a juicy burger.

Not wanting a cauldron of boiling oil in my kitchen. I made oven-fried sweet potatoes. Here’s how I did it: … read more

A plant on the windowsill in my second grade classroom was my introduction to the sweet potato. I was seven and on the lookout for interesting experiments.

I had already perfected growing salt crystals on a chunk of coal and was confident that a leafy, green sweet potato plant would be more warmly received by my family than the garish blue and orange, ammonia scented salt crystals had been.

Sprouting the sweet potato was easy. I used three toothpicks to suspend a sweet potato, pointed end down, in an empty pickle jar and added enough water to cover about a third of the sweet potato. Then I put the jar in a dark closet. Roots appeared in less than a week and I brought the sweet potato out to meet my family. The jar sat on the kitchen table and it wasn’t long until it sprouted and the table was graced with heart shaped leaves on tangled green vines. In the dark days of winter, the sweet potato vine was a reminder of the promise of spring.

The sweet potato is a tropical plant that has been grown in South America for more than five thousand years. It is used in Japanese tempura, the edible leaves and vines are steamed and served with soy sauce and garlic in Taiwan, and sweet potato starch is used to produce Korean cellophane noodles.

Ranked number one in nutrition by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, sweet potatoes can be baked, boiled, fried or steamed, and seasoned in a variety of ways. I put sweet potatoes on the table, in a serving bowl rather than sprouting in a jar, at least once a week and hope you will be inspired to do the same without falling into that nutritional black hole of marshmallow and brown sugar.

Smoky sweet potatoes offer a welcome contrast to traditional Thanksgiving fare. Here’s how I did it: … read more