Man has used salt to brine or fermenting vegetables for millennia. It is one of the easiest ways to preserve the goodness of vegetables all year long. Sauerkraut is one of the easiest foods you can preserve. There are two ways to make sauerkraut: in a big batch that you later process in a water…

My son made this dish for us for our New Year’s celebration. It was gone in just a few minutes–it was SO delicious! It is amazingly easy to prepare with simple ingredients and so, so yummy! Ingredients: 24 Babybella mushrooms 4 oz blue cheese 8 oz cream cheese a few dashes of sri racha or…

You thought radishes were just a garnish for salads and vegetable plates, didn’t you? Think again. This creamy, spicy soup is the perfect way to use up the radishes from your garden on a cold fall day. Ingredients: 1 C red lentils 3 C water ¾ – 1 lb radishes ½ onion 1 Tbsp olive…

Don’t throw that Easter ham bone away! Even if it has just a tiny bit of meat left on it, there’s still plenty there to make a nice soup. I especially like ham cooked with navy beans, but any variety will do. This makes 6-8 servings of soup and each serving has 2½ servings of…

The first of this month my second son turned 20 (can you believe that!?) and for his birthday dinner I made (among other things) fried squash blossoms. What?!? You haven’t tried this yet? What are you waiting for? Here’s the recipe. These are really so very, very tasty and a wonderful way to use the zillions…

The joke is “Leave your car windows rolled up in the summertime or someone will deposit a bunch of zucchini in your car.” But the truth is, there is no such thing as “too much zucchini.” Honestly, there are so many amazing ways to use zucchini, why would you ever want to give away this…

In 2016 my husband’s Type 2 diabetes was out of control. The doctor said he needed to go onto insulin. Today, his A1C is 5.9 and he takes no medication at all. He’s done this by drastically limiting his carbs. Everyone is amazed at how well my husband has done with just diet. So I…

Every year I plant way too much Swiss chard. In my defense, it’s such an easy vegetable to grows and I forget how much just a couple rows will produce. Then I work all fall chopping, blanching and freezing dozens of bags of Swiss chard, only to have the family complain about it. Then I…

How many times have you complained about having too much zucchini? If you want to curb your zucchini production a bit, why don’t you eat the flowers? The flowers are tender and very tasty. The most common dish for them is fried, although there are lots of recipes for soups, pastas and quesadillas made with…

This dish is the perfect combination of spicy and crunchy, a great way to use some of the zucchini in your garden. Ingredients: 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 lb zucchini, diced 1 med onion, diced 1 small bell pepper, diced 1-2 jalapeno pepper (depending on taste), seeded and diced 3 C tomatoes, peeled, seeded and…

Radishes are a great first crop for children to start learning to garden. They grow quickly and are fool proof. I plant radishes with my carrots. They are quick growing, so they help define my carrot rows long before the tiny carrot seedlings emerge. But then I’m left with a hug radish crop. What to…

Once you’ve tasted pumpkin pie made from scratch, you’ll never want the canned stuff again. The flavor is so much better than anything from a can. If you planted pumpkins this year in your garden, you’ll have plenty to make wonderful pies. If you didn’t grow any yourself, you can buy pie pumpkins at the…

Nettles are one of the first weeds to emerge in the spring and can quickly take over your yard if you turn your back on them. Now you can make good use of them. They are a very nutritious food: high in trace minerals and more nutritious than spinach. They have a diuretic property, so…

This is a wonderful way to use all the tomatoes and cucumbers coming out of your garden. Fresh, light and colorful, it is a good companion to sea food and chicken. For added color, I like to use a variety of different colored tomatoes. Ingredients: 2-3 large tomatoes, about 3 C diced 1-2 large cucumbers,…

There is nothing food-storagey at all about this soup, but I have to share this recipe from my friend Laura Dallman, because it is such a good, hearty soup. It is commonly served during the holidays here in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Laura brings it each year for our Thanksgiving dinner and we LOVE it.…

It’s asparagus season and hopefully you have more than you know what to do with and are able to share with family and friends. I use only the very top 5-6” of the spears. If any of the remaining stem is still tender, I save it to either dehydrate or make Cream of Asparagus Soup.…