We were just visiting my mom over in Western Montana, she loves food too and, has a great garden. She ended up kind of “Iron Chef” challenging me to cook her dinner. She brought in her big basket of kale from the garden, added some other stuff from her fridge and wished me luck making dinner! When I finished – there was a consensus that this meal was excellent, and should be shared – so, here goes: Summer-veggie Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms with Polenta This yummy summer dish

With the 4th of July indicating that summer and summer vacations are officially on in full-force, this presents some challenges to local eating, but some great opportunities as well! We explored several of these opportunites during our recent vacation around Washington State One highlight was the chance to give a workshop about local and seasonal eating on a budget, while at the Conscious Culture Festival in Tonasket, WA. During the workshop, we talked about when different fo

This should be my last morel-specific post for awhile. If you are interested in morel preservation and general mushroom hunting make sure you check out the previous posts. Also, this great article from WSU news, on the “Shroom Boom” of the PNW, can attest that we are not the only ones obsessed with these amazing fungi this year! Stuffed Morels – these recipes to me feel like they are approaching some pretty serious gourmet decadence. At the same time, they were actually prett

“Believing is Seeing – Mushroom hunting can teach us a lot about the larger world. A common experience of mushroom hunters is not being able to see a particular kind of mushroom when they first try to collect it. One woman wanted to find morels… and spent an entire morning looking, without finding a single morel… Just as she was about to give up, she saw one morel just a few inches away, and picked it. Clutching it triumphantly, she looked up and saw hundreds of them scattere

The days are getting longer and warmer and it sounds like the local chickens (at least those at Link’d Hearts Ranch) are starting to ramp up production again. I call this the “Spring Cleaning Breakfast” because eggs, mushrooms, cilantro, green onions and the vitamin C in strawberries are all supposed to support the body in its natural detoxifying processes. This recipe is a pretty simple one – for each serving you will need: 1/2 c sliced mushrooms 1/4 c chopped asparagus 1/4

As we count down to the first Farmer’s Markets and experiencing the uncertainty of dressing appropriately for the Palouse spring weather – I keep digging into the remnants of my frozen and dried foods from last season. This soup is perfect for a rainy spring day, and was inspired after inheriting some wonderful (super-authentic) Chinese pork sausage dumplings made by my good friend Quiping Peng. I paired them with a base of chicken broth I made from the delicious Link’d Heart

It is now April and the daffodils have been transitioning into tulips. I even saw some lilac buds beginning at the WSU campus. Things are feeling a bit lean on the local food scene these days and I confess I went to my favorite warehouse store last weekend. It was a busy week and unfortunately our own food scene suffered a bit. With a busy weekend coming up I wanted something that could go beyond Friday night dinner. At the core of the meal is ground beef from Palouse Prairie

Just a bit of inspiration today! Quick and easy for two or at the core of a larger brunch for family and friends. Bacon bits, carmelized onions, and mushrooms with spring asparagus and seasonal grapefruit with some bread on the side. This can easily be made vegetarian or vegan, it can be pumped up with other things, like eggs and/or parmesean cheese, and even adjusted for most special needs diets like dairy-free, gluten-free and paleo #lunch #brunch #Grapefruit #asparagus #pa

I’m busy! Grad school is demanding and feeding myself and my hubby every day, three times(!), can be a real challenge. Especially because we like to eat well, and are on a budget. It seems like most of us live in a time (and money) deficit these days. Not having enough time to cook can be a real obstacle to eating in alignment with your values and can drain your wallet as more convenient options are found. One of the ways we attempt to overcome this obstacle, is by cooking a