Tarragon and Chives

  further explorations into the zen of making potato salad  I never know where my love of mustard and dill will take me but playing together in a potato salad is a nice selection on the road of top ten hits headed to mealtime.  It's summertime and that's a time for potato salads and homemade pickles but showing up together in a salad -now we are talking about good stuff.  Dijon mustard and fresh dill in a creamy tartar sauce combined with warm lemony virgin olive oil coated  red potatoes cut with the likes of fragrant pickle brine, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar -waking up all those acidic taste zones.  I'm happy with my potato salad concoction and will serve it with just about anything we grill these days, like tonight's butcher made chicken and beef kabobs- yes bring on a bowl of potato salad straight from the fridge-all the work is done ahead in the morning while the house is still cool.  I may have to slice up a cold watermelon, throw together...

  Romano beans braised in heirloom tomato sauce, shallots and garlic make an easy summer side dish -excellent served with grilled fish and potato purée.  I know because that's what we had for dinner last Saturday night.  I happily used purple basil from my own herb pots that are now watered with leftover shower water.  We have many more months of drought ahead of us in California and apparently mask wearing when in public, no not in the car. I appreciate our farmers markets more than ever, thank you farmers for romano beans and heirloom tomatoes and also myself for the fresh purple basil. Such a treat to find fresh romano green beans at the farmers market; they hold up to a fairly long, about 20 minute braise and become tender in the tomato broth from the heirloom tomatoes.  🍅 This is one of those simple good veg recipes. Ingredients and Recipe for Romano Beans with Heirloom Tomatoes and Purple Leaf Sweet Basil Serves 2-4 1 pound fresh romano beans, washed...

  It's not a secret that blueberries and cheesecake in any form, even no-bake, go wonderfully together for a summer dessert. I'm going to make this dessert again tomorrow using blueberries, raspberries and sliced strawberries on top, just to change things up for the holiday weekend.  My refrigerator is packed with food and just now we decided to drive out to the coast, Point Reyes area, for lunch.  Of course my husband wants seafood when I have beef and chicken in our fridge, such is life in our Bay Area suburban bubble. Just a quick note on this recipe from the NYT, I love using Bellwether Farms Basket Ricotta made in Petaluma, maybe we will wave to them on our drive out to the coast.  The recipe calls for 1 cup of ricotta so you have some leftover to use in pasta or wherever your creative mind takes you, it's wonderful delicious stuff. ps, I like sweet desserts so when a recipe calls for the possibility to increase sugar -nine times out of ten I increase that sugar...

  Great things about this beet 🥗 salad My salad inspiration came from lunch in Point Reyes after a beautiful hike in the woods.  This beet salad can be prepared earlier in the day before serving, it tastes great, the colors are striking, there is some nutty crunch involved, plus avocado and I believe my salad is healthy.  The following recipe for beet salad will feed two people generously or double it for a larger group.  I also like to steam extra beets, one bunch of golden beets and one bunch of red beets, for use in salads later in the week Ingredients and Recipe for Golden Beet Salad with Avocado Green Goddess Dressing Serves 2 1 bunch of golden beets, steamed and peeled when cool enough to handle 1 bunch of red beets, steamed and peeled when cool enough to handle Blood orange infused extra virgin olive oil for the beets Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup chopped roasted salted cashews 1/4 cup Bulgarian feta  3-4 cups fresh arugula avocado gre...

A simple baked fruit dessert comes together nicely with both nectarines and blueberries nestled in an all-butter pie crust.  I like making two pie crusts at a time for this galette, slipping one into my freezer for later, yea the hard part is done.  I served this with vanilla ice cream and that's the way to go with any fruit pie, open faced or not.  My grandfather loved pie, I always thought that was his generation, but now I see that pies are back in style with many varieties and he would have loved all of them.  I mean my grandfather really loved pies, for him- a week didn't go by without a slice of pie 🥧  served with a coffee ☕️ and his love of pie made a big impression on me as a young person.  I remember he loved fruit pies, berry pies were his favorite.  I'm sure he would have liked this galette with nectarines and blueberries, I wonder if he would have liked a double espresso with his pie? Ingredients and Recipe for Nectarine and Blueberry Gale...

  Garlicky heirloom cranberry beans simmered with tomatoes, lots of garlic and fresh herbs is a summertime treat around here, especially with a generous amount of pesto spooned over the top of each bowl.  I like a grating of Parmesan cheese on top of my soup along with a few shredded leaves of fresh basil, then I'm a happy camper.  Yes, fresh homemade pesto gives extra deliciousness in every spoonful of this cranberry bean soup. Rancho Gordo heirloom beans are my cranberry beans of choice and fresh sweet basil is in just about every outside container in my garden.  The elbow pasta, carrots, zucchini and cranberry beans make one of my favorite soups a hearty meal that can be made earlier in the day and served later, anytime you like.  I made my pesto a few days ahead and kept it in the refrigerator until I was ready to put the soup together for dinner.   Ingredients and Recipe for Garlicky Cranberry Bean Soup Serves 6 8 ounces heirloom dried cranberry beans,...

 It's been so windy and cold here lately so I decided that we needed bowls of comfort food for dinner;  arroz con pollo~healthy style chicken featuring my favorite long grain brown rice simmered in diced tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and chicken broth.  I love all the add-ins in this recipe, like green olives, roasted red pepper, capers, radishes and cilantro.  Definitely a favorite dinner with leftovers for lunch the next day, so good.  It's also attractive, with the strips of roasted red peppers radishes and bits of cilantro strewn over the top.  We'll be enjoying this recipe for arroz con pollo again very soon, with or without the wind.  The recipe is simple and with a small amount of early preparation it makes a fairly quick one-dish dinner.  I would also double this recipe for a crowd, ie:game night. Ingredients and Recipe for Arroz Con Pollo~Healthy Style~Comfort Food Serves 4 6 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 1 tablespo...