Spring brings wonderful strawberries to the markets. Honey goat cheese pairs beautifully with strawberries and with a hint of honey drizzle, you have a very simple, delicious appetizer (or dessert). Yummy!
1 dozen large strawberries
8 oz. package Honey Goat Cheese (I use Haystack)
Honey
Cookies with oatmeal have a wonderful chewiness that I love. This recipe came from the package of Craisins I purchased at Costco. They were a wonderful treat shared with friends and family.
2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats (I used quick cooking)
1-1/2 cups flour (I substituted 1/2 of the flour with almond flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups Craisins (Dried Cranberries)
2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips
Adapted from Ocean Spray Oatmeal Craisins White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
The first day of Spring brings to mind our favorite things: flowers, sunshine, rain showers, sounds of children playing outdoors, and baseball. Iowa Springs means crops being planted, morel mushroom hunting in local Timbers, and one of my favorite flowers, Bluebells. Bluebells grew wild in the timbers of Iowa, but they grow in the shade of my Colorado home now. In Colorado, the first day of Spring could find 36″ of snow on the ground or summer-like temperatures. Crazy as it sounds, it’s one of the many things I love about Colorado.
Springtime in Colorado also brings back memories of the old song ‘When Its Springtime in the Rockies‘ recorded by Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and many more. The song was written by Robert Sauer /Lyrics by Mary Hale Woolsey in 1929. I’ve included the lyrics below and hope you enjoy the link to YouTube above.
When it’s springtime in the rockies
I am coming back to you
Little sweetheart of the mountains
With your bonny eyes of blue
Once again I’ll say “I love you”
While the birds sing all the day
When it’s springtime in the rockies In the rockies, far away
The twilight shadows deepen into night,
The city lights are gleaming o’er the snow
I sit alone beside the cheery fire dear
I’m dreaming dreams from out the long ago
I fancy it is springtime in the mountain
The flowers with their colors are aflame
And ev’ry day I hear you softly saying
I’ll wait until the springtime comes again
When it’s springtime in the rockies
I am coming back to you
Little sweetheart of the mountains
With your bonny eyes of blue
Once again I’ll say “I love you”
While the birds sing all the day
When it’s springtime in the rockies
In the rockies, far away
Corned Beef and Cabbage is an Irish-American tradition, not one commonly found in Ireland. None the less, it is a tradition many of us treasure and cook only 1 time a year. I prepare this dish in my trusty Crock Pot and it’s perfect every time. This time I chose to omit the carrots and go with a basic beef, potato, onion, and cabbage meal.
Pair this dish with Irish Soda Bread and a beer (green) and have yourself a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
1 raw corned beef roast (3-4 pounds)
1 head cabbage washed and cut into wedges
8 red skinned potatoes, washed
3 carrots (optional)
2-3 medium onions (optional)
1 cup water
salt and pepper
My beloved Czech cookbook given to me by my Mother many years ago had this wonderful recipe. I added leftover prime rib pieces to mine and loved it. It’s easy, it’s hearty, and it’s healthy.
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms
4 cups chicken, beef or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup barley
Optional: chopped cooked beef or chicken
Gluten-free eating means I rarely eat toast, breakfast pastry, etc. Sometimes, I just need a carb ‘fix’ and this recipe sounded delicious. I slightly altered the original recipe and loved the results. The second time I made this recipe, I substituted blueberries for the Craisins and baked in muffin paper/tins. I’ve shared both versions with good feedback. I’ll even admit that I didn’t eat all of it soon enough and the last piece was a bit dry. I thought, ‘why not put almond milk on it?’ like a bowl of oatmeal. It was delicious.
A new favorite for my gluten-free recipe box!
2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
3 single-serving packets of Pure Stevia
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup egg whites
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 small tart apple, chopped
1/2 cup Craisins (original recipe called for cranberries)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Recipe adapted from Briana-Thomas
One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to prepare meals primarily from my pantry and freezer until I had whittled down the food on hand. A large bag of black rice, from Costco, has been sitting there with no great recipes, until now. I swear I hear Angels sing when I read this recipe. It is a great salad, side dish and good enough for dessert, too. Black rice has a nutty flavor and texture which pairs beautifully with the other ingredients. Also check out the history of black rice.
Recipe by AmbitousKitchen.com
Valentine’s Day is a day we cherished as children, exchanging Valentines with our classmates, carefully choosing cards for each person. We would spend what seemed like hours on our Valentines for our parents.
Our Mothers would bake cookies to bring to class and we would have a big ‘sugar high’ before our sweet teachers would watch us leave the classroom for one crazy ride home on the bus. 
As I got older, Valentine’s Day became more about romance, setting expectations of what we should give and receive of this day full of cupid, hearts and roses. More often than not, this day was a let-down. This week on CBS Sunday morning I saw one of my favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan, share his thoughts on Valentine’s Day. He captures it well!
With children, Valentine’s Day would bring me back to my childhood, helping the girls pick out their favorite cartoon-themed Valentine’s, baking heart-shaped cookies, and often receiving the precious Valentines from their sweet little hands.
Today, Valentine’s Day is a day to show love by sharing a gift of food with family and friends, calling a lonely friend, and being thankful and full of love for this precious gift of life….today!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I was craving green beans and our book club was meeting to discuss ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn. Our hostess served Tom Yum Koong Soup, favored by one of the characters in the book when fighting off a cold. Others brought bar food and I brought green beans…never mentioned in the book but satisfied my craving.
This is a simple and absolutely delicious recipe. I’ll be making it again, and again, and again.
2 lb. fresh green beans
5-6 shallots, peeled, and cut into thin slivers
5 large cloves garlic, peeled and cut into thin slices
3 T olive oil
1 tsp. salt (or more to taste)
fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, very finely chopped
1/2 cup almonds, sliced or chopped
1 tsp. lemon zest
Recipe adapted from KalynsKitchen.com
Ham Bone Soup was a recipe I found in a great cookbook given to my by my brother-in-law, Ron, and his wife, Cathy, many years ago. I was use left-over ham bones to make the broth, just like my Mother taught me. This particular recipe was a favorite of the entire family and I was sad when my cookbook and this recipe disappeared from my kitchen.
Many years later, my sister-in-law, Betty, found the recipe copied down by my late Mother-in-Law on a recipe card and gave it to me. God bless them! It was great to make the soup again, although I substituted Quinoa pasta for regular pasta. I cook the pasta separately and add to the soup when ready to serve, otherwise the pasta tends to fall apart.
Without the pasta added, the soup freezes well.
3 quarts water
1 ham bone
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 package (10 oz.) frozen whole corn
1 package (10 oz.) frozen lima beans
1 16 oz. can black-eyed peas
1 16 oz. can chopped tomatoes
2 cup macaroni or pasta of choice
salt and pepper
Fork Lore 