I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the return of the light, and what it means to wait in darkness, closed in, caught in long moments of obscurity, almost forgetting that there was anything but stagnant midnight, longing for and trying to believe in the first ray of morning. I have been trying to sleep…
Tag: Desserts
Grain-free Pecan Chestnut Ginger Cookies
I started with roots this time in the garden. Flowers, herbs and roots. It’s not like me at all. I usually like to get a healthy selection of greens going, and drag my feet on the radishes, carrots, beets, parsnips, and salsify. They grow slowly and need extra soil amendments, and it usually feels daunting,…
Chocolate Chevre Cheesecake with a Chocolate Cookie Crust (grain-free)
The high days of summer have brought the rains at last, the grey and sandy days broken by the tropical sun. Nothing is gentle here in summer. The rolling thunder and pounding rain, the blinding sun and baking heat all work an alchemy and draw the green and the sweetness out of the earth for…
North Florida Pecan Pie
The first of the winter frosts came through last night. We spent yesterday chopping cassava stalks, making a shelter for the goats, and moving flats of tiny lettuce into the cold frame. It got later and later in the day and by the end of the afternoon we realized we didn’t have enough cover or…
Wild Muscadine Meringue Pie
Suddenly everything seems to have changed. New flowers are blooming bright yellow in the weedy ways, Bidens and Sida, partridge pea and golden rod. Ripe poke and beauty berries bend the slender branches waiting for the birds. The golden and gossamer webs of the orb weavers stretch high up between the trees, and the weavers…
Return Of The Light Grain-free Lemon Cake
It’s been unusually cold lately, cold enough to snow although we weren’t so lucky. Hard frosts for several days in a row left everything sparkling with minute crystals in the early mornings, the ground hard frozen, and we marveled at the layers of ice on the water troughs that had to be broken through. The…
Old-fashioned Pumpkin Pie
I was lugging a wheelbarrow full of hay and manure into the garden when the weather changed. The air was warm and still, and seemed to hang like a muggy curtain around the pea trellis and rows of young cabbages, lettuce, and broccoli as i trundled clumsily along the narrow path. A sound almost like…
Wild Persimmon Tartlettes
The wild persimmons are ripe, hanging from the fall-tattered branches like small ornaments. Wild persimmons are, at best, a gamble. They are rather like how my brother’s girlfriend once described my mother’s cooking – either really good, or really bad. It all depends on the particular tree. Some trees bear fruit that will…
All-Raw Ice Cream Season
The every day summer rains have been hard on the garden, but the pastures are lush and green. The hay season is over, and the cows knew it as they watched us in a huddle around the empty hay ring as we set up moveable electric fencing for the week’s grazing. Loud mooings, some plaintive,…
Grain-free Cookies N’ Cream Ice Cream Cups
This is the next instalment of Frozen Summer Treat Goodness Experiments that have been going on in the kitchen lately! The cows have been eating bales of just-cut oat hay that smells like oat porridge with honey, and the cream line on the milk has been increasing – the top shelf of the fridge is…
Mulberry Pie
We have a huge mulberry tree growing in our front yard. My parents planted it when we first moved into the neighborhood, when I was 10, which makes it more than 20 years old. Every spring it is covered with flowers – which look like tiny green mulberries with white curls all over them. We…
TARTE AUX FRAISES: Strawberry Tart
Happy Valentine’s Day! Fresh strawberries and rich pastry crust make this delicious and simple recipe a perfect way to celebrate! This recipe starts with the crust. Adding the strawberries is simple and is translated below, along with US measurements for the ingredients. I didn’t have enough strawberries to make a large tart, so I made…
