Sides

Herb and Apple Stuffing

February 18, 2016 by Charles 1 Comment

I wouldn’t consider myself a stuffing man. It’s not something I usually think to have or make with a meal. And I am definitely not bold enough to try putting the stuffing in any raw bird. That’s just not something I am willing to try.

But this past Thanksgiving (yes, this recipe is looong overdue) I was willing to try a stuffing recipe. And I am glad that I did. This recipe turned out great. It was absolutely delicious and the leftover stuffing was the first of the Thanksgiving leftovers to bite the dust.

We had actually tried to make cute stuffing muffins from this recipe, packing the mixed stuffing into buttered muffin tins. The stuffing cooked fine, but it did not hold together in a muffin shape. Instead, it quickly came apart the minute we removed it from the tins. In the end, it was probably for the best. I liked…

CSA Corn and Black Bean Salad

September 12, 2015 by Charles Leave a Comment

We are now in the second year of our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from the La Vista farm in Godfrey, Illinois. Every other week, we pick up our bounty of fresh vegetables and herbs. In recent weeks, we have been enjoying La Vista’s tomatoes, okra, summer squash, basil, and other similar items from our farm basket. We have also supplemented from our herb garden, replete with rosemary, thyme, and dill, giving us the full array of summer flavors.

This recipe comes together…

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

July 10, 2015 by Charles Leave a Comment

I am not a huge meat-eater, and red meat is particularly rare. Though I still do enjoy the occasional burger and roasted chicken. Caitlin is almost exclusively vegetarian. So the hunt is often on for a new twist on vegetarian cooking.

I came across this recipe while flipping through our copy of the Vegetarian Times (that, by the way, is not a sentence we’re likely to hear around town). The potato chips offer a fun and crunchy twist on the standard stuff vegetable recipe.

With our CSA in full swing, these zucchini boats …

Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chili Sauce

April 27, 2015 by Charles Leave a Comment

I have a resolution of sorts. We have all of these cookbooks around the house. Cookbooks on grilling and baking. Italian, Greek, and French cookbooks. New Orleans and Sante Fe cookbooks. And nearly every cookbook written by Ina Garten. And yet, more often than not, when I look for a recipe, my first instinct is to look online.

My resolution is to break that habit, even if ever so slightly. It seems only logical. Recipes online are often unreliable and hard to reproduce. Even my own recipes …

Cajun Spiced Almonds

October 13, 2013 by Charles Leave a Comment

As I noted last month, Caitlin painstakingly prepared a beautiful array of signs, favors, and gifts for the guests of our wedding. Among the items, she created over twenty-five welcome bags, each adorned with a hand-painted welcome tag and boasting a sixteen-page booklet of our favorite recipes.

The booklet featured line drawings of several photos from this blog, and guided our guests through meaningful recipes that the two of us had shared. Among the recipes, there was one for Gooey Butter Cake, a St. Louis original, and an ode to the city where we first met; Lemon Yogurt Cake, a recipe that featured that lemon flavor I love; Sea Salt Caramels, a reminder of our trip to San Francisco together; White Peach Italian Ice, a summer treat that capped the end to a barbeque Caitlin and I hosted, and a tribute to an ice served by one of my favorite dessert shops growing up; and this recipe …