It’s Easy Being Green

By Lori Powell

I‘m definitely on a veggie streak these days! I’m a huge fan and have been since I was a kid – a veggie geek from way back. So excuse me if I don’t understand why people are just discovering them now. Part of the reason, of course, is that we are now more aware than ever of how nutritious and life-extending vegetables are…extending our own lives, that is.

I’m not saying that I am off meat. I still have regular hankerings for a good steak or juicy burger! Growing up, my dad preferred his meat lifeless and overcooked, which resulted in a dry piece of jerky (not that I have anything against jerky) that took monumental effort to chew so that you could actually swallow the nuggets (sorry mom, not your fault).

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Talkin’ Pumpkin (and not the Carving Kind....)

By Lori Powell

Not too long ago, I shared my story about the pumpkins growing wild in my backyard. I promised I would tell you how I cook them.

Well, the pumpkins did grow but they would not have won any national pumpkin prize for size. That was A-Okay by me.

It was a first-time thrill to have kind of raised my own. (To tell the truth, they grew by themselves. I was just an observer.)

I so enjoy squash of all kinds and now is the time cook with them, with the first chill of autumn in the air. So reluctantly, I picked my orange globes and none too soon, since I noticed the vines were shriveled and dying, I think due to all of the monsoons this summer.

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In Love with Cranberry Beans

By Lori Powell

This past weekend, I went upstate to visit with friends and neighbors that I hadn’t seen in a while. But truly, the other real draw was to visit the farmers’ market two miles up the road from my house in uptown Kingston, New York.

Much devastation was brought upon the farmers in that area. All the flooding and high winds destroyed crops to the point that they were completely washed out and their wares were found tumbling over the falls in High Falls, New York.

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Last Chance: Watermelon Salad

By Lori Powell

The last dog days of summer…humid, hot and in this case, very wet with rain. I start thinking of fall but then again I decided that we should wait just a bit more and savor the last of summer produce.

I’m not sure about you but in my neck of the woods it has been hotter than…. Standing in a sauna, but fully clothed and cooking. Makes me want to consume things that are laden with juice, such as the lovely watermelon, and that doesn’t require fire to eat. So many great things can be made with any of the varieties that you might find at your local farmers’ market, from yellow to red, from large to small, from salsas to cooling drinks.

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What to Eat when Irene Comes Calling

By Lori Powell

While on vacation in Maine this year we had an unexpected and uninvited guest, “Irene.”

I have rented a house on the coast of Maine for many years now and just love it there for so many reasons – the food, the people, the gorgeous landscape, the lobsters and how peaceful it is…well every year but this one!

Irene arrived with bluster and some rain. But really, I can’t complain since the rain was minimal and considering what happened up at my house in the Hudson Valley (third worst flooding in the area’s history), this was just a lot of cool wet wind in my part of Maine.

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