Author Archives: Virtual Farmgirl

End-of-summer fun in the kitchen. As busy as we’ve been in the back-to-school scramble, I’ve still been able to find peace in my kitchen. The ritual tying of the apron, doing an inventory of ingredients in stock and choosing recipes is relaxing; it puts me at ease. Then, of course, there’s the eating part. NoContinue reading “Zucchini & Tomato Quiche, Yogurt Pie Crust and a Refreshing Garden Cocktail”

Melanie from Oliver’s Creekbed Vineyard thins the crop. Oh, the beautiful sound of rain. My son may have had to endure a wet practice yesterday, but there were no complaints about the consistent rainfall then or now. The summer’s been painfully dry. And the future’s not looking so bright either. The more I read aboutContinue reading “Rain Rain, Please Don't Go Away”

Zucchini Lasagna Before I forget what I did with these recipes, I need to chronicle last week’s zucchini experiment. The week started with zucchini lasagna, always a family favorite. The zucchini isn’t quite a star ingredient here. It’s pretty stealth actually, grated up and mixed in with the ricotta.  Next up: zucchini bundt cake withContinue reading “Daily Dose of Zucchini”

Future Farmgirl with young Brownie Scout Over the weekend we had a lovely visit to The Farm and finally had a chance to see all the progress that these hungry little goats have made this summer. Back when I was a kid, there was no view of the fields from this hill. In fact, IContinue reading “Girl and a Crew of Work Goats”

One of the best parts of the kids’ summer has been the weeks they’ve spent with my niece watching over them. That’s because she’s not really content to just watch over them. She always has some sort of activity planned or adventure to go on. Yesterday, she took the kids to a thrift store, pickedContinue reading “Abracadabra! A Wand in 11 Simple Steps”

With an early day at work and the kids free for the afternoon, we headed out for some errands. The only problem: We were all starving. Sim hadn’t had lunch and I’d only had cucumber soup to chase down a light beat/goat cheese salad. And the kids, well, they’re growing. So we got our bearingsContinue reading “Where Burgers are The Boss”

Considering I forgot a spoon the last two times I took this refreshing, chilled cucumber soup to work with me, I’ll go with drink. My co-worker simply refers to it as soup crack. It certainly is addictive, so you may want to double up the recipe, especially if you plan to share. I’ve tried severalContinue reading “Cucumbers, Mint & Yogurt: Do You Drink it or Eat it?”

I’m not much of a dancer, but I got plenty of salsa in this weekend. Only instead of the dance floor, all my moves were in the kitchen. Motivated by my children’s sudden love of all things salsa and almost complete disregard for what’s in it (or so I thought), I jumped at the chanceContinue reading “Practicing My Salsa”

I’m always on the hunt for easy-to-make meals that don’t require me to turn on the stove in the summer. No surprise I was immediately drawn to this recipe for slow cooker chicken tacos. I made a few modifications to the recipe I found here at Pass the Sushi. In the crock pot: 1 1/2Continue reading “Weeknight Family Meal: Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos”

I’ve been dying to take a trip like this with my kids, the kind of vacation that isn’t marred by over-thinking and over-planning. I’ve found lately that too much planning leads to too many expectations that are too easily crushed by, well, life. This from the woman used to planning daily itineraries, down to foodContinue reading “Road Trip 2012: Chicago to Savannah”