Vermont food from a country kitchen

Ketchup from my Vermont Kitchen

December 14th, 2011 / comments 3

When I was a child, one of my jobs was to refill the large, red plastic tomato with ketchup. My sister and I squeezed that tomato to squirt ketchup on French fried potatoes, grilled American cheese sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs and scrambled eggs. When I moved to Washington, DC, I wanted to be sophisticated and cosmopolitan. I listened to classical music, read the articles as well as the cartoons in the New Yorker and banished ketchup from my kitchen. … read more

e Book Cover

December 12th, 2011 / comments 9

The top image is the most current one. I’d love your thoughts.

Cover 3

Cover 2

Cover 1

What do you think?

I’m looking for your feedback – ideas, compliments or criticism. Please leave a comment. Do you like it better with a larger, blue title?

Classic New England Steamed Brown Bread

November 30th, 2011 / comments 3

Making sour dough bread from scratch is a long process. Gathering wild yeast and cultivating a sour dough starter takes a week and then it takes another twenty-four hours to make the bread. Active dry yeast from the grocery store reduces the time to a more manageable three to four hours plus the extra half hour it takes to cleanup after kneading the dough and forming the loaves. Breads leavened with baking soda or baking powder, are quicker, but baking bread in the oven requires that I not stray far from the kitchen so that the bread can be taken out of the oven at precisely the right moment. If all these facts make you unwilling to make bread at home, consider the ease and freedom of steamed brown bread. … read more

Thanksgiving Leftovers Make Sweet Potato Rolls & Turkey Gumbo Soup

November 25th, 2011 / comments 5

Last November, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I opened the fridge to get a slice of lemon for my morning cup of tea and was overwhelmed by bowls, containers and aluminum foil wrapped packets of leftovers. Charles had been in charge of clean up the night before and, with the help of a couple of other non-cooks, had done a splendid job but the overstuffed fridge needed immediate attention.

The turkey carcass was precariously perched on a jug of gravy and a bowl half filled with roasted cranberry sauce. Mashed sweet potatoes flavored with chipotle peppers and mashed white potatoes rested side by side in one container and a forlorn slice of pumpkin pie wrapped in plastic sat on a small bowl of gingered whipped cream. After I found the lemon for my tea, I began to deal with the wealth of leftovers by topping the piece of pie with the whipped cream and eating it.

I made run-of-the-mill turkey sandwiches dinner-worthy by making sandwich rolls with the leftover sweet potatoes. These yeast rolls are not difficult to make but need to rise twice before baking so I got started as soon as I’d read the paper and emptied the dishwasher. Here’s how I made them:[/donotprint] … read more

Free Thanksgiving Card & Place Cards

November 21st, 2011 / comments 2

Decorating a holiday table is fun. I use flowers, leaves, candles, small sculptures, beloved toys, photographs, even stones or shells when I’m setting a table for a holiday meal.

I also use place cards so everyone can find their place at the table. When everyone is seated, I ask that the place card be turned so that names can be seen by the other guests. It works like a charm, new friends names are no longer a mystery. If you’re not sure who Squanto is, Google him and you will find a bit of Thanksgiving trivia to share at dinner.

I’ve created a place card that can be down loaded and printed and with a minimum of effort on your part it can be on your holiday table.

Download Place card Here.

Download a Thanksgiving Card here.

Toffee Sticky Pudding comes to a Vermont Kitchen

November 16th, 2011 / comments 3

A recent trip to England reminded me that America and England may have a common language but there are times when we don’t understand each other. I know that a lift is an elevator, a flat is an apartment, and although lorry may be a momentarily confusing term for a truck, those differences are inconsequential, compared to what I found on British dessert menus and in cookery books.

There are many desserts, called puddings in Britain, with names that are charming and inscrutable enough to require translation.
Here’s my guide to British Puddings: … read more