Sour Cream Blueberry Pancakes

Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue

Recipe Tweaked from Advertising Flyer

According to Ma in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, no great evil occurs without also bringing some bit of goodness. Thus, when one autumn I mail ordered frozen blueberries that arrived rotten and smashed, I was also graced with this recipe. Sort of. The recipe left out important ingredients and steps, but gave me the idea of adding yogurt or sour cream to pancakes. This makes the pancakes light and fluffy, and makes it easier to tell when to flip them. With the wonderful local blueberries that are available for the near future at the farmers’ market, plus a few seasonal strawberries, I whipped up a brunch that was fun, satisfying, and patriotic.

Persimmon Pudding (Bread) with Lemon Sauce

Celebrating Year of the Wood Horse with Pudding

Recipe from "Orange County Fair Centennial Cookbook" and Dave Wilson Nursery

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Let’s welcome the Chinese Year of the Wood Horse. According to Bay Area astrologer and feng shui consultant Susan Levitt, we can expect fast victories, unexpected adventure, surprising romance, and success in travel off-the-beaten path this year.  Since China produces almost 75% of the persimmons in the world—and because I still have a goodly amount from my friend and super-realtor Bill, I’m celebrating the new year with an award-winning persimmon pudding recipe from the 1920s, topped with in-season lemon sauce from a longtime California-based fruit grower.

Christmas Holiday Potluck and Recipe Ideas

My Neighbors' Rosehips

Suggestions by Robin

Here in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice arrives this Saturday. Christmas will be here in a week, followed by the last week of the year and New Year’s. It’s a magical time of year, when days are short and hearts are bright. It’s a time to share food and fun with friends and family, a time when charity towards others is easy—ideally speaking. But what if we’re stressed, overwhelmed, and can’t balance our obligations? What if we’re estranged from our families? And OMG, what if we’re working retail? How can we best enjoy the holiday season as it builds inexorably to its conclusion?

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Mini Winter Squash from my Garden

Giving Thanks and Menu Ideas

Regardless of how you feel about the upcoming holidays, giving thanks can inspire you to be happier. If you’re eagerly anticipating spending time with loved ones indulging in holiday rituals, appreciating this makes you feel even more blessed. If you’re feeling stressed about getting things done and how guests will get along, taking some time to appreciate the good aspects of your life and your to-do list will help you feel more relaxed and level-headed. In fact, you just might decide to trim down those obligations—or your guest list. Get a jump on Thanksgiving by giving some thanks now.

Natural Egg Dyes Recipes and Tips

Easter Egg Experiment Results

Methods by Staff of Life and Robin

For many years I’ve wanted to color Easter eggs with natural vegetable dyes. I’d heard that preparation is more work and takes longer than dropping a few tablets into a cup. I’d heard that the colors are more subtle and that eggs take longer to dye. I’d heard that results are not predictable. All that is true. Still, the act of making dyes from common seasonal vegetables, with all of its unpredictability, is a fun and intriguing science, provided that you and yours can allow some time to play with it.

Christmas Pie Fail

I Don't Know from Pumpkin Pie

Recipes in Process

Merry Christmas, All! You might imagine that a food blogger’s Christmas fare would be unfailingly delicious and cooked to perfection. That is true…in our dreams and on a good year. This year, not so much. My lofty idea of having a captive audience rate pumpkin vs. squash pie suffered from beginner’s no-luck. Bruce has gently hinted numerous times before numerous events that cooking something for the first time doesn’t lead to predictable results.  “You’ve made this recipe before?” he asks optimistically. No answer. Unfortunately reason plays a very small role in the creative process.

Thanksgiving Thanks

Hometown Visit 2007

Happy Thanksgiving All! Although we think of the tradition of Thanksgiving commemorating a meal shared between Native Americans and Pilgrims,  according to weather.com’s feature today, the story is a bit different. President George Washington proclaimed that the first Thanksgiving Day be celebrated on November 26, 1789 to give thanks for the US Constitution, “now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed.” Let’s give thanks for our lives and our liberties, as well as for bountiful foods shared with each other today. 

While we’re giving thanks, I’d like to appreciate each and every Seasonal Eating reader, with a special shout-out to followers and subscribers. You make this journey of seasonal exploration more fun and fulfilling. Thanks for your interest and your comments. May your Thanksgiving Day be blessed with fun, food, family, and friends. Enjoy!

Maple Glazed Delicata Squash

Perfect for Late Autumn Dinners

Recipe by Robin

Delicata squash is another of those veggies that I wouldn’t have known about if it weren’t for receiving them in our CSA share. It looked so intriguing that I bought some extra from Live Earth Farm at the Farmers’ Market. Then, of course, we received more the following week. Delicata is unique in that it’s the only winter squash whose skin is tender enough to eat. Its flavor is also (quite logically) delicate, and easily overpowered by other flavors. For that reason I eliminated the idea of adding orange juice, apple juice, or bourbon as I might in a yam glaze. I might have skipped the cinnamon also, being a lover of all squash flavors, but my husband (lukewarm on most squashes) likes it with winter squash. With or without cinnamon, you could also use this simple glaze on yams.

Easter Fail: 8 Ways to Fail-proof a Recipe

Easter Promise of Regeneration

He is Risen, but Cake has not…

Happy Easter, everyone! During both attempts to make this Easter cake yesterday, I pondered: will I post a new apple cake, or will I post a Fail? My husband said that either way, I would be able to perfect my cake making method. At this point the methodology contains more “do nots” than “dos.”

April Fool’s Blue Food Exploration

Blue Food

In the immortal words of George Carlin, “Why is there no blue food? “ According to The Straight Dope, it’s because leaves are green. If they were orange, we’d have plenty of blue fruits and vegetables. It seems that Mother Nature wants to set up the maximum color contrast between foliage and flowers or fruits. This contrast helps animals find flowers to pollinate and fruits to eat. Plants actually benefit when animals eat their fruits. Since plants can’t move much, they rely on animals to transport seeds and "plant" them in other locations.

Butternut Squash Blondies

Butternut Blondies for Spring

Recipe by Robin

Happy spring to you and happy blogiversary to Seasonal Eating! It’s been one year and one day since I started writing this blog, and I’d like to re-welcome Seasonal Eating readers. What better way to do this than to publish a recipe by readers’ request? These particular readers also taste-tested the “maiden voyage” of this recipe at a recent potluck. So here you go, folks, it’s Butternut Squash Blondies!

Vegetarian Spinach Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

Jae's Potluck Idea

Recipe by Jae and Robin

A few years back, I was completely socially inept. Not only was I unable to make conversation at parties, I was absolutely clueless about what kind of food to bring to these gatherings. So many foods seemed unacceptable: chips and salsa were brought by too many people already, anything with meat was a faux pas if a vegetarian accidentally ate it, shellfish was suspect by individuals who thought it might not be cooked sufficiently, beer was assumed to accompany something else, and the ramen and veggies that I largely subsisted on rapidly deteriorated in texture as the evening progressed.  Because I wanted to mingle with others, I asked my few girlfriends what to do.

Ginger Tea

With Honey from Bruce's Cousin's Apiary

Recipe by Robin

Happy Groundhog’s Day! It’s the middle of winter, yet a time to look for renewed growth and signs of spring. In Pagan tradition, today is Imbolc, the first of the year’s fire festivals, which celebrate the growing of the sun’s light. In Catholic tradition, this is Candlemas, celebrated with lighted candle processions and blessing of candles, commemorating Jesus’ first public appearance at temple. My own ritual is lighting a candle or two to celebrate the returning of sun and renewal of growth.

Persimmon Bars: Persimmonies

Twelfth Night Tea for Two

Recipe by Robin

It’s the very last day of the holiday season, the feast of the Epiphany. I’m happy to see that some of my neighbors still have the holiday spirit, and have lit their Christmas lights again tonight (one household lights theirs year-round, but let’s disregard that for the moment). This night, also known as Twelfth Night, celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem. Twelfth Night is also a Pagan holiday, a time for masquerades, practical jokes, and for turning the usual social order upside down. Agricultural customs such as wassailing the fields to drive out evil have been traditionally observed on this night.

Cranberry Sauce with Wine & Spice

Cranberry-Cabernet Sauce

Recipe by Robin

“This is the worst cranberry sauce I’ve ever eaten in my life!” exclaimed my (former) brother-in-law about the first cranberry sauce I ever made. “Dear, we MADE that!” said my sister, using “we” diplomatically even though it was my idea, my recipe, my cooking. He made it clear that he preferred the canned jelly pillar to anything involving whole cranberries and oranges. He'd thought my sauce was store-bought because I had served it out of a recycled brown Ovaltine jar. I never got too creative with cranberry sauce again…until now.

Mom’s Apricot Yams with Spice

Apricot Yams

Recipe by Mom and Robin

Happy Thanksgiving, All! The first thing that I do every Thanksgiving, before I’m even out of bed, is to think of 10 things for which to give thanks. Top of the list is always my husband, friends, family, home, and having plenty to eat. It’s everyday things--like a bountiful harvest that puts food on the table--that Thanksgiving celebrates.

Lemon-Ginger Green Beans

Green Beans to Celebrate New Year

Recipe from Cooking By Moonlight

It’s the Celtic New Year and a beautiful fall day in the Santa Cruz mountains. A fresh breeze is combing the redwoods, blowing small branchlets of russet needles everywhere. It’s cool but sunny, invigorating weather for outdoor forays, and a perfect day to start a new year. For those of us who like playing with numbers, 11/1/11 is a particularly fine and symmetrical day to begin the year.

Strawberry Sauce for Shortcake or Ice Cream

Classic Strawberry Shortcake: Before

Recipe by Mom

Happy July 4^th, Everyone! Here in the States, one of our most traditional foods on our Independence Day is Strawberry Shortcake. This is a natural, since strawberries are ripe and ready just about everywhere in the country. Strawberry shortcake is one of those rare desserts that just about everyone loves. It practically says "summertime." It's easy to make and employs locally grown fruits plus lots of decadent whipped cream to enhance the celebratory aspect of the day. What could be more American?

Easter Wishes

Fragrant lilacs grace our yard

Happy Easter, Everyone! I sincerely hope that you’re enjoying your day.

Although my Easter was not at all traditional, and I didn’t make any Easter foods this year, Easter is still my favorite holiday of all. Do you have favorite Easter traditions? I would love it if you’d post a comment about your Easter including any food you prepared or ate. I have many Easter memories from Easter egg hunts to singing in church to colorful indoor-outdoor potlucks. Let’s share our joy about Easter and spring, and inspire each other with ideas for next year!