Peach Mojito !

Ingredients:

6 mint leaves, plus additional for garnish

1 small or 1/2 large ripe peach

2 ounces* white rum

1 ounce lime juice

1 ounce simple syrup or maple syrup

4 ounces soda water

Instructions:

Cut the peach into slices. In a cocktail shaker, muddle the mint leaves. Add the peach slices and muddle again until all the juices are released. Add the rum, lime juice and simple syrup and fill the cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until cold.

Strain the drink into an ice-filled glass. Top off the glass with soda water. Garnish with additional mint leaves and sliced peaches.

Image by Sonja & Alex Overhiser, A Couple Cooks

This article was not sponsored or supported by a third-party. A Cocktail Moment is not affiliated with any individuals or companies depicted here.

UP THE VEG-HEADS! -- THEY REALLY KNOW HOW TO BRING OUT THE COLOR IN A PIE.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on Greek-style pizza with Feta cheese by "A Couple of Cooks," husband-and-wife cookbook authors Sonja & Alex Overhiser.

OVERVIEW: "Here’s a pizza topping idea that always gets rave reviews, with its smattering of colorful vegetables and hearty flavor: this Greek Pizza with Feta! There’s nothing better than the combination of tangy artichoke hearts, refreshing bursts of tomato, garlicky spinach, and salty olives and feta. We love a great veggie pizza, and this one is what we turn to most often. It’s destined to be the smash hit of your pizza night!

Greek pizza is not authentically Greek, but the classic Italian pizza pie dressed up with Mediterranean-style toppings. Many restaurants and pizzerias serve a version of this pizza and use different toppings. This one we’ve customized to the ingredients we love seeing on a Greek pizza, but feel free to customize it to your tastes if there are other topping you prefer such as sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, cured meats, or chicken."

-- A COUPLE OF COOKS (home-cooked diet website/blog)

Source: www.acouplecooks.com/greek-pizza-feta.

Ready cooking: 13 ingredients to keep on hand

Ready cooking: 13 ingredients to keep on hand

Photos by Sonja Overhiser at A couple is cooking Editor’s Note: Originally published in January 2021, this post is here to solve your last-minute meal problems. Keep these ingredients on hand and you’ll never again wonder what’s for dinner. This is the strangeness of being a cookbook author and recipe writer. I rarely follow a recipe for everyday cooking. Yes, my husband Alex and I are…

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Quick Smoky Red Lentil Stew

From: Pretty Simply Cooking: 100 Delicious Vegetarian Recipes to Make You Fall in Love with Real Food by Sonja & Alex Overhiser

SERVES: 4

NOTES: Sonja and Alex suggest topping this stew with some plain Greek-style yogurt, chopped cilantro or parsley, and a squeeze of lemon. I didn’t have either of the herbs or any coconut milk yogurt on hand, so I just tore up some dill, added a sprinkle of Aleppo pepper, a drizzle of good olive oil, and the little lemon spritz.-I went completely by the book for this recipe! Just added one packed cup of chopped kale at the end and let it wilt into the stew.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 large carrots, small dice

1 medium yellow onion, small dice

2 stalks celery, small dice

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons smoked paprika

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 ¼ cups red lentils, rinsed

4 cups vegetable stock

sea salt & ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from ½ a large lemon)

chopped fresh herbs for serving (see headnotes)

Instructions

In a large pot or deep braiser, heat the olive oil over medium heat. 

Add the carrots, onion, and celery. 

Stir and saute until the onion is translucent, about 5-6 minutes.

Add the garlic to the pot and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. 

Then, add the balsamic vinegar, smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, and lentils, and give everything a big stir.

Add the vegetable stock, salt, and pepper to the pot. 

Stir and bring the stew up to a simmer. Cover the pot halfway with a lid and let the stew simmer for about 7-10 minutes, depending on your preferred doneness of the lentils. I went the full 10 minutes because I was aiming for a creamier texture.

Serve the stew hot with chopped fresh herbs and extra lemon.

Mr. Food Test Kitchen Recipes

I've loads for you to select from right here. We take each reasonable step to ensure that your Person Info is barely Processed for the minimal interval necessary for the purposes set out on this Coverage. The factors for figuring out the duration for which we will hold your Consumer Info are as follows: we are going to retain copies of your Consumer Data in a type that allows identification solely for so long as is important in connection with the needs set out in this Policy, unless applicable legislation requires an extended retention period. Except there is a particular legal requirement for us to maintain the data, we plan to retain it for no longer than is necessary to fulfill a official business want. Sonja Overhiser is author of Pretty Easy Cooking, named among the best healthy cookbooks of 2018. She's host of the food podcast Small Bites and founding father of the food blog A Couple Cooks. Featured from the AS WE SPEAK Show to Bon Appetit, Sonja seeks to inspire adventurous consuming to make the world a better place one chunk at a time. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large saute pan on a medium-excessive flame, then fry the shallots, stirring, until they begin to color - about six minutes. Add the mushrooms, pepper, garlic and a superb pinch of salt, and cook dinner, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the vinegar, sugar and 200ml water, cover and cook dinner gently till all the things is soft - about 10 minutes. Stir in the rice and turn off the heat. Get recipes, suggestions and NYT particular offers delivered straight to your inbox. Choose out or contact us anytime. The first Internet Usenet newsgroup devoted to cooking was internet.cooks created in 1982, later becomingcooking 23 It served as a discussion board to share recipes text recordsdata and cooking strategies. I'm a skilled Personal Chef of almost 10 years. I love cooking for household and friends and sharing simple, flavorful recipes. How can we get these outcomes? Simple. We offer wholesome, household-friendly recipes, meal plans, workouts, and daily help - all designed for mums such as you. Going vegetarian is a good way to eat fresh, seasonal and vibrant meals. Our vegetarian recipes are bound to encourage you, with every part from meat-free alternate options and classic vegetarian dishes to colourful salads, warming soups and hearty mains. We might interact third occasion providers to help with the collection, storage and segmentation of Online Data and the providers are required to keep up the confidentiality of this data. check these guys out These third get together providers could acquire User Information from our Services for their very own functions, including however not limited to monitoring fraud across the net.

Pretty Simple Cooking | Sonja & Alex Overhiser

Jungle Bird !

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) dark rum

1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) pineapple juice

3/4 to 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) Campari (to taste)

1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) lime juice

1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) simple syrup or maple syrup

For the garnish: Pineapple wedge, pineapple leaves (optional)

Instructions:

Add the dark rum, pineapple juice, Campari, lime juice, and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker and fill it with ice. Shake vigorously until cold.

Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a pineapple wedge, pineapple leaves, or fresh mint.

Courtesy: Sonja and Alex Overhiser

This article was not sponsored or supported by a third-party. A Cocktail Moment is not affiliated with any individuals or companies depicted here.

Homemade pizza recipes for your next night in

Homemade pizza recipes for your next night in

Image by Sonja & Alex Overhiser, A couple is cooking Editor’s Note: We’re sharing this post, originally published in November 2020, to help you kick your next pizza night up a notch. Go ahead, try one of these homemade pizza recipes… you won’t regret it! Pizza delivery is now ready at the push of a button. But what’s the fun in that? The ultimate evening for me is a cozy pizza evening in† Your…

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https://www.acouplecooks.com/chocolate-banana-muffins/ Chocolate Banana Muffins 4 A Couple Cooks / by Sonja Overhiser Wow is all we can say about these chocolate banana muffins! They’re dark chocolaty with a light crunch on top and a moist interior. Imagine: a bite that’s perfectly chocolaty, crunchy on the top and moist on the inside. Yes, these chocolate banana muffins are calling you! They’re the perfect texture, not too rich and just sweet enough. This recipe happened by . . . Chocolate Banana Muffins (9 votes, average: 4.56 out of 5) 4.6 from 9 reviews Author: Sonja Overhiser Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Yield: 10 muffins Diet: Vegetarian Description Wow is all we can say about these chocolate banana muffins! They’re dark chocolaty with a light crunch on top and a moist interior.  Ingredients 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2large bananas or 3 medium bananas) 1/2 cup unsalted butter (or coconut oil, for vegan) 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 large egg (or flax egg, for vegan) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling Instructions Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place muffin liners in a muffin tin. Mash the bananas in the bottom of a large bowl, enough for 1 cup. Melt the butter, then whisk it into the bananas along with the brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, Dutch-process cocoa powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Add to the bowl with the bananas and stir together with a spoon until a sticky dough forms. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar (or lightly with brown sugar). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the muffin tin, then move to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature before serving. Category: Muffins Method: Baked Cuisine: American Keywords: Chocolate banana muffins . . . #recipesofinstagram #recipesofkitchen #recipesofinstagram #cooking #kitchen #quarantine #quarantinelife #recipes #easyrecipes #bakery #bread https://www.instagram.com/p/CALfc4xFttp/?igshid=1h1wumf9m3ics

Arplis - News: This crusty French baguette recipe is easier to make than you think! Here’s a video tutorial showing how to make this classic crusty bread.

What’s better than a crunchy fresh French artisan baguette? (Almost nothing.) Well, here’s an easy baguette recipe you can make at home! It’s simple to make: there’s no special equipment required! The only ingredients you need are all-purpose flour, yeast and salt. You will be absolutely amazed at the crunchy texture, tangy flavor, and beautiful long loaf. We have a long list of bread recipes (including our “famous” sourdough bread), but Alex and I agreed this one is our new favorite. The flavor is out of this world. Here’s what to do! How to make this baguette recipe: an overview! Here’s the basic outline of what you’re getting yourself into with this baguette recipe. The process spans 3 days! Day One takes 1 hour (just a few minutes of hands on time) and you’ll need about 3 hours on Day Three to shape and bake it. In between, you’ll rest the dough in the refrigerator for 2 days. This is the secret to the very best baguette flavor! Here’s an outline of what you’ll have to do: Day 1 Mix the dough, proof 1 hour, refrigerate (15 minutes active) Day 2 Refrigerate dough Day 3 Proof and shape dough (30 minutes active, 2 hours inactive) Bake (40 minutes) Cool (20 minutes) French baguettes and no knead breadEquipment list for making a baguette (nothing special needed!) This baguette recipe requires no special equipment! Compared to other artisan bread recipes like our sourdough, artisan, or even no knead, it’s got the smallest list of required tools. There’s no Dutch oven and no proofing basket needed. Here’s what you need! Required tools for this artisan bread recipe Parchment paper Baking sheet Sharp knife or lame for scoring the bread Kitchen scale for measuring (optional) All you need is all-purpose flour Another feature of this baguette recipe is that all you need is all-purpose flour! Our other bread recipes use flour blends like whole wheat and bread flour. Baguettes are surprisingly simple: requiring only all-puprose flour, salt and yeast. This recipe makes 2 loaves: halve it if desired! This baguette recipe makes 2 loaves of bread. If you don’t think you’ll eat two in a few days, here are some options: Make half the recipe. It works just as well with half the quantities: you can follow the recipe to a T. Freeze the second baguette. You can freeze the second baguette for several months, then reheat it from frozen. It comes out a little crustier but the flavor is just as good! See the “Storage” section below. Think ahead! A 2 day rest is required. We said it once, but we’ll say it again. This bread requires thinking ahead a few days. You’ll need to rest the bread dough for 2 days in the refrigerator. Why? The 2 day rest makes a complex, tangy flavor. Resting the dough in the refrigerator is also called “fermenting”. As the dough ferments, it develops a naturally tangy and complex flavor. (We also suggest this with our best pizza dough.) You can truly taste the difference! It doesn’t have to be exactly 48 hours. There is some wiggle room, so don’t worry if you do about 1.5 days instead of a full 2 days on the rest time. How to shape a baguette (video!) The part of making this baguette recipe that requires the most technique is folding and shaping the dough. It’s easiest to learn how to shape the dough by watching. So, we made you a video! Here’s Alex demonstrating how to shape a baguette. We highly recommend watching this video before you start! How to score a baguette See those beautiful lines on the top of the baguette? Those are called score lines. Scoring is slashing the top of the dough with a sharp knife to allow it to expand when baking. Here are some things to know about scoring the baguette (also watch the video above): Use your sharpest knife, or a lame. You’ll want the knife to be ultra sharp. We purchased a lame for this, since we make lots of bread recipes. But a knife works just as well! Make shallow, diagonal overlapping cuts. You want to cut just the surface — if it’s too deep it collapses, if it’s too shallow it bursts. Make the pattern look like the one in the video above, where the cuts overlap diagonally. Storage & reheating info for this baguette recipe This baguette recipe has no preservatives, so the storage is different from a bread you might buy from the store. Since this recipe makes two loaves, you can freeze the second one and eat it later! It comes out a little crustier than the day of baking, but it’s still fantastic and the flavor is perfectly preserved. Here’s what to do: Room temperature storage (2 days): Once you’ve baked your French baguette, it is best eaten within 48 hours. Store it wrapped in a towel at room temperature. Frozen (3 months): Let the baguette cool to room temperature, then wrap it in aluminum foil and place it in a plastic bag. Freeze for several months. Reheating: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Unwrap the baguette and add directly to the oven grate (from frozen!) and bake about 15 to 20 minutes until warmed through. Ways to serve this baguette There are so many ways to serve a baguette! Likely you already have ideas. Here are some of our favorites, including some ways to use stale bread: On a cheese board. See above! Add a variety of cheeses, olives, nuts, and jam and you’ve got one incredible cheese board for entertaining. With salted French butter. One of the very best taste treats: this baguette with salted French butter. Look for French or European-style butter at your local grocery. With dips. Try it with our Spinach Artichoke Dip: it’s delightful. Crostini. When it’s starting to go stale, turn it into Toasted Baguette or Easy Crostini and top with toppings, or make Goat Cheese Crostini. Garlic toast. Another idea for Day 2, make it into this insanely garlicky Garlic Toast. Breadcrumbs or croutons. If you get to the point where it’s pretty stale, make it into breadcrumbs or croutons! You can also use it for panzanella or bread soup. This French baguette recipe is… Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy free. Print Baguette Recipe (Easy with Video!) (9 votes, average: 4.78 out of 5) 4.8 from 9 reviews Author: Sonja Overhiser Prep Time: 3 hour 30 minutes Cook Time: 40 minutes Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes Yield: 2 large baguettes (about 40 slices) Diet: Vegan Print Recipe Pin Recipe Description Ingredients 500 grams all-purpose flour (4 cups)* 8 grams instant or active dry yeast (2 teaspoons) 12 grams kosher salt (2 teaspoons) 350 grams warm water (1 1/2 cups) Instructions Day 1: Make the dough (15 minutes active, 45 minutes inactive) Mix the dough: Combine the flour, salt, and yeast in a bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Stir to combine. Add the water and stir until a raggy dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough: Knead the dough by pushing with the base of your palm, then reforming it into a ball. Continue kneading for 8 minutes until the dough feels pillowy and has a smooth, stretchy exterior. If the dough is very sticky, add a small amount of flour while kneading. Resist the urge to add lots of flour. Alternatively: attach the dough hook to a stand mixer and start the mixer on medium-low speed, then allow the mixer to knead for 8 minutes. Proof 45 to 60 minutes: After the kneading is finished, form the dough into a ball and return to the bowl. Proof until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes. Divide dough into two equal pieces. Gently shape each half into a boule (ball shape) by folding the dough under itself. Place each dough into a separate covered container, with room for the dough to double in size. Refrigerate 2 days: Place containers in the refrigerator for 2 days to ferment (this is where all the flavor comes from!). Day 3: Shape & Bake (30 minutes active, 2 hours inactive, 40 minutes bake, 20 minutes cool) Proof 1 hour: When ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Place dough onto lightly floured counter and pull ends under dough to form a boule shape (watch video for this and all following steps). Repeat with second dough. Cover with towel and rest 1 hour. Fold the dough & rest 10 minutes: After an hour, flip the dough over and pull out the left and right ends. Fold the ends into the center of the dough and gently roll into a log. Pinch the seams on the sides. Be careful not to press too hard while rolling to avoid deflating the dough. Repeat with second dough. Cover with a towel and rest for 10 minutes. Pre-shape the dough & rest 5 minutes: Sprinkle the doughs with flour. Flip the dough and pat it gently into a rectangle. Fold in half and use the heel of your hand to pinch the seam and form a log shape. Flip and repeat the process. Repeat with second dough. Cover with towel and rest 5 minutes. Shape the dough & proof 45 minutes: Place a clean towel on a baking pan and dust it heavily with flour. Starting from the center of the dough, use your hands to roll the dough into a long baguette shape the almost the length of your pan. Make sure to roll your hands all the way past the ends of the dough to create the tapered point. Carefully transfer the dough to the floured towel and tuck it on both sides to provide support. Repeat with second dough. Cover with a towel and proof for 45 minutes. Preheat the oven: Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a cast iron pan or your thickest baking sheet on the rack just below and off to the other side of oven. You’ll pour water into it later to create steam. Score the bread: After proofing, carefully move each dough out of the towel and transfer it directly onto the pan. Ensure the dough is straightened and dust it lightly with flour. Use a sharp knife or lame to score each bread 4 times at a slight diagonal, just overlapping pattern. Bake at 475 degrees: Place the tray in the oven and add steam: cover your hand with a towel and very carefully pour 1 cup of water onto the cast-iron pan or baking sheet, then immediately close the door. Bake 16 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake at 400 degrees: Open the oven door and fan it a few times to release moist air. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack at least 20 minutes before serving. Storage instructions: Store at room temperature wrapped in a towel for up to 2 days. To preserve the second loaf, you can freeze it: wrap in foil and place in a plastic bag. Store for several months in the freezer. To reheat, bake from frozen for 15 to 20 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Notes *If you’d like only 1 loaf, cut the quantities in half. The recipe works just as well! Category: Bread Method: Baked Cuisine: French Keywords: Baguette Recipe, French Baguette, Did you make this recipe? Tag @acouplecooks on Instagram and hashtag it #acouplecooks A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes #Baguette #Baked #Recipes #Vegetarian #French

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/this-crusty-french-baguette-recipe-is-easier-to-make-than-you-think-here-s-a-video-tutorial-showing-how-to-make-this-classic-crusty-bread

A Couple Cooks | Small Bites - Alex and Sonja Overhiser https://ift.tt/37wmyA6

5-Minute Tacos by Sonja & Alex Overhiser (A Couple Cooks).

REVIEW

Smoke, Roots, Mountain, Harvest

by Lauren Angelucci McDuffie

Recipes and stories inspired by my Appalachian Home

This is a book I can see on a coffee table or by a favorite chair so that it is easily available to read or just to look at the beautiful photographs. I love a book that tells a bit of a story and provides insight about the author and the recipes within the book – this book does just that. I was wondering how Appalachian food would be presented thinking that it would be rather bland and Southern but instead it was a bit more in that it took the ingredients of the area and turned them into so much more. As I looked through I thought about making s��mores long ago and then thought about making all of the ingredients from scratch. Putting moonshine in recipes...something I had never thought of. Some of the flavors reminded me of gourmet restaurants while others were more like spiffed up comfort food. When I hit Persinamon crisps I thought, “Could I make those with our persimmons?”

Some of the words I wrote down as I read and looked through this book were:

* a book to take your time with

* pretty on a table

* entertaining from this book would be interesting

* Rich

* Intriguing

* blend of old and new

* stories

* anecdotes

* blend of old and new

* variety

* Play on traditional recipes

Would I like to have this book in my library? Yes

Would I try any of the recipes? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41423209-smoke-roots-mountain-harvest

BLURB

Go deep into the heart and soul of American southern cooking.

Smoke Roots Mountain Harvest by Lauren McDuffie, writer of the award-winning food blog Harvest and Honey (and a Saveur Best Blog finalist for Best New Voice), captures the flavors and modern cooking techniques of Appalachia and the Blue Ridge Mountains in this evocative cookbook.

70 recipes and 80 photographs organized by seasons. Each chapter opens with storytelling that echoes the folklore and tall tales of the region, centered on rediscovering the unique food culture of the region. Menu suggestions and wine pairings encompass a variety of meal occasions, from small plates to soups, salads, mains, sides, drinks, dessert, along with tips and techniques on canning, pickling, and preserving.

Appalachia is a treasure trove of fresh produce and time-honored recipes. You can learn a lot about the culture of a place if you pay attention to what its people eat, and the food traditions that are rooted deep in local American cultures are a large part of what makes America the melting pot that it is.

A Note From the Publisher

Includes recipes for • Shaved Summer Squash Salad with Pickled Pepper Vinaigrette • Slow-Roasted Onion and Golden Apple Soup • Baked Pork Chops with Cran-Apple Moonshine Compote • Drunken Short Ribs with Smoky Gouda Grits & Mountain Gremolata • Pan-Seared Carrots with Bourbon-Maple Glaze • Triple Orange Cake with Honey-Lavender Buttercream ...and much more!

Advance Praise

"Smoke, Roots, Mountain, Harvest is a brilliant ode to the Appalachians. Lauren's storytelling and dazzling photographs are only eclipsed by her inventive, sumptuous recipes. A true masterpiece!" —Sonja Overhiser, Author of Pretty Simple Cooking and creator of the blog A Couple Cooks

"Lauren calls Smoke, Roots, Mountain, Harvest the ultimate homecoming to her Appalachian roots, but these pages are far more potent; they're an open door into a Narnia of the American South, told through lyrical storyand seasonal, medicinal foods. I couldn't put it down." —Lily Diamond, Author of the Kale & Caramel cookbook and creator of the blog Kale & Caramel

How to Host a Simple Backyard Party

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Hosting a backyard party is the perfect way to embrace seasonal eating and community! Here are our backyard party ideas, based on a simple dinner party on Leelenau Pennisula, Michigan.

All photos by Mike Gilger, The Fresh Exchange

“I have always loved setting the table, cooking, and gathering ingredients to share with people. But when I think about what matters the most it rarely comes down to the uniqueness of the table setting and more on the ability to leave space for community and connection. Even the simplest meal can feel special, intimate, and beautiful even if it is just white tablecloth and napkins made from spare fabric. The simplest things when gathering are usually the greatest.” -Megan Gilger, The Fresh Exchange

Related: A Pretty Simple Dinner Party with A Couple Cooks — Megan’s post about the evening!

The magic of gathering

A few weeks ago, Alex and I drove up to Leelenau Pennisula, Michigan for a simple backyard party based on our cookbook, Pretty Simple Cooking. Our friends Megan and Mike of The Fresh Exchange generously offered to host the gathering in the backyard of their white modern farmhouse in Traverse City. Driving north from Indiana, the moment you hit the Michigan state line you can sense a change. There’s a certain magic to the Michigan ecosystem, with its blueberry bushes, sand dunes and clear blue green waters. Alex’s great grandfather used to be a fruit farmer in Michigan, so he has it in his blood. Both of us can feel the pull of this land.

Have you ever sat at a dinner table so intimate it felt sacred? This is the reason we love gatherings so much. It’s not just about the food. It’s about an open space for connection with other humans. The table is a place to feel fully known. It’s a place to feel heard. This is why we gather—not just to eat, but to engage in community and connection. Delicious, seasonal and nourishing food is just a bonus.

Have you ever been part of a dinner party to celebrate seasonal food and community? For this backyard party, Megan and Mike created an incredible yet simple space to enjoy company and the fruits of summer. We spent quite a bit of time preparing for it, but the overall concepts and approach was simple. Here are some tips that we learned for hosting your own backyard party, our menu from Pretty Simple Cooking, and the gorgeous photographs of the day captured by Mike Gilger.

A HUGE huge thanks to Megan and Mike for hosting this incredible gathering! Make sure to follow along for inspiration from their simple Michigan lifestyle at The Fresh Exchange and on Instagram. 

Curate the menu from one cookbook, and all pitch in.

Have you heard of a cookbook club? It’s a gathering where people all bring dishes from the same cookbook. This way, the menu all has the same vibe and goes together using the same author’s touch. What we love about this approach is two-fold. Having dinner party guests bring a dish helps everyone to feel like they’re a part of the gathering, and it lessens the burden on the dinner party host. And, you avoid the randomness of a potluck, where you end up with small piles of vastly different dishes on your plate instead of a cohesive meal.

For this backyard party, we did a cookbook club based on our cookbook, Pretty Simple Cooking! As the host, Alex and I chose the menu and then each dinner guest signed up for a different item. Our tradition for a cookbook club is to have the host make the main dish, since it’s usually hardest to transport. The dinner party guests then bring appetizers, sides, salads, and desserts.

Our simple Backyard Party menu

From the Pretty Simple Cooking cookbook

Goat Cheese & Honey Thyme Crostini with Plums Rosemary Olives Vegetarian Lentil Gyros Tangy Cucumber & Onion Salad Grilled Corn Peaches & Greens Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette Vanilla Orange Strawberry Shortcakes

Shop the farmer’s market.

Alex and I get this question all the time: How do I actually do seasonal eating? How do I shop my local farmer’s market to create a meal? As with most of cooking, it’s all about practice, practice, practice. Learning what’s in season and how to fit seasonal produce into recipes comes with time. When Alex and I curated the menu above, we selected recipes where we knew there would be opportunity for seasonal food in the Leelenau Penninsula: peaches, plums, salad greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, and berries. Knowing the rhythm of food that comes with the seasons is specific to your region. Our best recommendation is: don’t use Google search to see what’s in season. Actually GO to your local farmer’s market and start to observe when you see different foods appear.

Most times Alex and I will go to the market, grab a bunch of foods and THEN Google search to find recipes that use the various foods we’ve picked up. This is the right time to use Google! It’s a great resource to see how to use your new seasonal produce (and we hope you’ll find our recipes!). But in the case of a planned dinner party like this one, we chose the recipes in advance. If you’re doing it this way, our best tip is to learn to improvise recipes based on what’s on hand! See below.

Improvise on recipes as necessary.

Another place we get a lot of questions is how to improvise when cooking. How do I know when I can substitute one ingredient for another? How do I customize recipes based on seasonal eating? How do I adjust for dietary preferences? Again, this is a place for practice and trial and error. It’s easiest explained in an example, so here’s the example from our dinner party:

Peaches & Greens Salad: We found local peaches and greens at the local Sarah Hardy Farmer’s Market, but Megan had also picked blackberries from the bushes on her property so we added them here. We also substituted feta crumbles for the goat cheese (due to a personal preference), and crunchy pumpkin seeds for the hazelnuts (due to a nut allergy).

Vanilla Orange Strawberry Shortcakes: Strawberries were not in season, but we had gone blueberry picking at a local Leelenau Peninsula blueberry farm. So, we made Blueberry Shortcakes instead by subbing in blueberries! They were just as delicious.

Goat Cheese & Honey Thyme Crostini with Plums: For this appetizer, our dinner guest made the crostini with plums AND a variation with blackberries. The blackberries paired perfectly with the goat cheese.

Grilled Corn: Often improvising has to do with time management! We were running short on time, so instead of the planned grilled corn we made a snap decision to boil it and slather it with smoked butter from the farmer’s market. Making quick decisions to improvise on the fly is what hosting a dinner party is all about!

Go simple on decor.

The decor for this backyard party was elegantly simple, put together by Megan and Mike. Hanging a few strands of outdoor lights transforms a space from modest to magical. For this setup, there was some manual labor involved in setting up poles to hang the lights from. If you’re not up for that sort of work, you could use a tree to suspend the lights, or have the table near a deck, fence, or structure to use for hanging.

For the tablescape, Megan went super simple: a blueish gray tablecloth, white dishes, simple patterned napkins, a few candles, and some flowers. She is talented at flower arranging and grabbed the flowers from a local farm, Loma Farm. However, many times your local farmers market will sell bouquets already assembled! Or, you could place all of one type of flower in a ball jar.

Cultivate space for community and connection.

Once you’ve gotten everything prepared for your backyard party, now’s when the fun begins! It takes some practice, but we have learned how to let go of any challenges that happened during the preparation and focus on our guests. During mingling with appetizers, we like to make sure everyone has met each other and knows a few things about each other. Our favorite type of dinner party is inviting old friends and a few new people into the fold, so we try to make sure connections are made during mingling time.

When the meal begins, we like to welcome everyone to the table and describe a bit about the meal we’ll be having. This way, the floor is open for all the dinner guests to experience and enjoy the meal together. To foster deeper connections, at some meals we’ve also chosen some questions to discuss: a way to even further get to know each other! This meal was a lovely mix of Megan and Mike’s friends and neighbors in the Leelenau Pennisula. Though we had just met, we were able to delve into deep topics because of the willingness of the others around the table to be real with each other. This is what we love about gatherings: experiencing seasonal foods together and chatting until the sky is dark and the moon is bright.

Related links

This was the second gathering of our Pretty Simple Dinner Party: a virtual worldwide dinner party to celebrate good food and good people!

Here’s how to order Pretty Simple Cooking. And How to Start a Cookbook Club.

Megan Gilger runs The Fresh Exchange website and Instagram, where she has tons of resources around gathering and seasonal eating. Follow her there!

Megan is also opening a new venture, a shop called Shop Fresh Exchange with products made by her and other local artisans! The online store will open in October and in March 2019 she’ll launch a large collection of products. Her dream is to launch a brick and mortar store in the Leelenau Peninsula in the next few years.

Want to hear from Megan? She was a guest on our podcast Episode 57, The Art of the Dinner Party.

About the Authors

Sonja Overhiser

Cookbook Author and writer

Sonja Overhiser is author and recipe developer of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the “best vegetarian cookbooks” by Epicurious, and a recipe developer and healthy & sustainable food advocate behind the award-nominated food blog A Couple Cooks.

Instagram Youtube

Alex Overhiser

Cookbook Author and photographer

Alex Overhiser is photographer and recipe developer of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the “best new cookbooks” by Bon Appetit, and a recipe developer, photographer, and technical expert at A Couple Cooks.

Instagram Twitter

CookbookDinner PartyEntertainingPretty Simple Cooking

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We’re Sonja and Alex and we believe in Pretty Simple Cooking!

We’re a writer and photographer who love to cook. This website is a collection of the whole food vegetarian recipes we cook in our kitchen.

Read more >>

Subscribe & Follow

Our Cookbook is here!

Order today:

Amazon

IndieBound

B & N

Source: https://www.acouplecooks.com/seasonal-simple-backyard-party-leelanau-penninsula/

6 Podcasts for Living with a Chronic Illness

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/6-podcasts-for-living-with-a-chronic-illness/

6 Podcasts for Living with a Chronic Illness

As I was reorganizing and restructuring my blog, I realized how many of my podcast guests are living with a chronic illness. Each of these women are living (and mean truly living!) with their chronic illness. For many of them, it is what launched their passion for food and the power of a healthy lifestyle. I’m so excited to share their stories with you!

1 | Endometriosis + Healing Your Body With Food with Jessica Murnane

I was so excited to get Jessica on the podcast. We chat about her endometriosis diagnosis and how her experience has changed since transforming her diet. She is the founder of the One Part Plant movement and has an incredible story!

Click here to learn how to heal your body with food.

2 | Detoxing with Chronic Illness with Amie Valpone

Amie’s health story is nothing short of inspiring. Over the last decade, her body has been through quite a lot and she has had to become the #1 advocate for her health. She talks about things you have never heard of (did you know there’s such thing as a detoxing gene?) and how she’s learned to heal her body holistically.

Click here to learn how to be an advocate for your own health.

  3 | POTS + Overcoming Chronic Illness with Ella Mills from Deliciously Ella

You may know her as “Deliciously Ella”… she is a huge inspiration to me! On this episode, we chat about Ella’s journey and her health struggles with Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, why she launched Deliciously Ella and how she never imagined it would grow into what it’s become.

Click here to learn about overcoming chronic illness.

  4 | Navigating Cancer + Infertility with Sonja Overhiser

Sonja is one half of the blog “A Couple Cooks” and has such an incredible story. We chat about her cancer diagnosis, how that changed her perspective on health, miscarriage and struggles with fertility… and more! It’s a jam packed episode and a must listen.

Click here to learn more cancer, infertility and finding strength.

  5 | Living With Lyme + Unexpected Weight Loss with Cassie Johnston

Cassie Johnston, the blogger and entrepreneur behind Wholefully started developing some strange symptoms last summer. After many months of tests and new symptoms, she was finally diagnosed with Lyme Disease. It’s been a long road since then. On today’s episode we’re chatting about her diagnosis and some of the lessons she’s learned along the way.

Click here to learn about the diagnosis, challenges and myths of Lyme Disease.

  6 | Chronic Lyme + Advocating for Your Rights

Adrienne Nolan-Smith has had her own series of health issues in her lifetime and has dedicated her work to helping others navigate their own health struggles as a certified patient advocate. Today on the show we’re discussing her journey to take control of her body and get the resources she needed and how you can do the same.

Click here to learn about navigating the healthcare system as a patient advocate.

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How to Host a Simple Backyard Party

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Hosting a backyard party is the perfect way to embrace seasonal eating and community! Here are our backyard party ideas, based on a simple dinner party on Leelenau Pennisula, Michigan.

All photos by Mike Gilger, The Fresh Exchange

“I have always loved setting the table, cooking, and gathering ingredients to share with people. But when I think about what matters the most it rarely comes down to the uniqueness of the table setting and more on the ability to leave space for community and connection. Even the simplest meal can feel special, intimate, and beautiful even if it is just white tablecloth and napkins made from spare fabric. The simplest things when gathering are usually the greatest.” -Megan Gilger, The Fresh Exchange

Related: A Pretty Simple Dinner Party with A Couple Cooks — Megan’s post about the evening!

The magic of gathering

A few weeks ago, Alex and I drove up to Leelenau Pennisula, Michigan for a simple backyard party based on our cookbook, Pretty Simple Cooking. Our friends Megan and Mike of The Fresh Exchange generously offered to host the gathering in the backyard of their white modern farmhouse in Traverse City. Driving north from Indiana, the moment you hit the Michigan state line you can sense a change. There’s a certain magic to the Michigan ecosystem, with its blueberry bushes, sand dunes and clear blue green waters. Alex’s great grandfather used to be a fruit farmer in Michigan, so he has it in his blood. Both of us can feel the pull of this land.

Have you ever sat at a dinner table so intimate it felt sacred? This is the reason we love gatherings so much. It’s not just about the food. It’s about an open space for connection with other humans. The table is a place to feel fully known. It’s a place to feel heard. This is why we gather—not just to eat, but to engage in community and connection. Delicious, seasonal and nourishing food is just a bonus.

Have you ever been part of a dinner party to celebrate seasonal food and community? For this backyard party, Megan and Mike created an incredible yet simple space to enjoy company and the fruits of summer. We spent quite a bit of time preparing for it, but the overall concepts and approach was simple. Here are some tips that we learned for hosting your own backyard party, our menu from Pretty Simple Cooking, and the gorgeous photographs of the day captured by Mike Gilger.

A HUGE huge thanks to Megan and Mike for hosting this incredible gathering! Make sure to follow along for inspiration from their simple Michigan lifestyle at The Fresh Exchange and on Instagram. 

Curate the menu from one cookbook, and all pitch in.

Have you heard of a cookbook club? It’s a gathering where people all bring dishes from the same cookbook. This way, the menu all has the same vibe and goes together using the same author’s touch. What we love about this approach is two-fold. Having dinner party guests bring a dish helps everyone to feel like they’re a part of the gathering, and it lessens the burden on the dinner party host. And, you avoid the randomness of a potluck, where you end up with small piles of vastly different dishes on your plate instead of a cohesive meal.

For this backyard party, we did a cookbook club based on our cookbook, Pretty Simple Cooking! As the host, Alex and I chose the menu and then each dinner guest signed up for a different item. Our tradition for a cookbook club is to have the host make the main dish, since it’s usually hardest to transport. The dinner party guests then bring appetizers, sides, salads, and desserts.

Our simple Backyard Party menu

From the Pretty Simple Cooking cookbook

Goat Cheese & Honey Thyme Crostini with Plums Rosemary Olives Vegetarian Lentil Gyros Tangy Cucumber & Onion Salad Grilled Corn Peaches & Greens Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette Vanilla Orange Strawberry Shortcakes

Shop the farmer’s market.

Alex and I get this question all the time: How do I actually do seasonal eating? How do I shop my local farmer’s market to create a meal? As with most of cooking, it’s all about practice, practice, practice. Learning what’s in season and how to fit seasonal produce into recipes comes with time. When Alex and I curated the menu above, we selected recipes where we knew there would be opportunity for seasonal food in the Leelenau Penninsula: peaches, plums, salad greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, and berries. Knowing the rhythm of food that comes with the seasons is specific to your region. Our best recommendation is: don’t use Google search to see what’s in season. Actually GO to your local farmer’s market and start to observe when you see different foods appear.

Most times Alex and I will go to the market, grab a bunch of foods and THEN Google search to find recipes that use the various foods we’ve picked up. This is the right time to use Google! It’s a great resource to see how to use your new seasonal produce (and we hope you’ll find our recipes!). But in the case of a planned dinner party like this one, we chose the recipes in advance. If you’re doing it this way, our best tip is to learn to improvise recipes based on what’s on hand! See below.

Improvise on recipes as necessary.

Another place we get a lot of questions is how to improvise when cooking. How do I know when I can substitute one ingredient for another? How do I customize recipes based on seasonal eating? How do I adjust for dietary preferences? Again, this is a place for practice and trial and error. It’s easiest explained in an example, so here’s the example from our dinner party:

Peaches & Greens Salad: We found local peaches and greens at the local Sarah Hardy Farmer’s Market, but Megan had also picked blackberries from the bushes on her property so we added them here. We also substituted feta crumbles for the goat cheese (due to a personal preference), and crunchy pumpkin seeds for the hazelnuts (due to a nut allergy).

Vanilla Orange Strawberry Shortcakes: Strawberries were not in season, but we had gone blueberry picking at a local Leelenau Peninsula blueberry farm. So, we made Blueberry Shortcakes instead by subbing in blueberries! They were just as delicious.

Goat Cheese & Honey Thyme Crostini with Plums: For this appetizer, our dinner guest made the crostini with plums AND a variation with blackberries. The blackberries paired perfectly with the goat cheese.

Grilled Corn: Often improvising has to do with time management! We were running short on time, so instead of the planned grilled corn we made a snap decision to boil it and slather it with smoked butter from the farmer’s market. Making quick decisions to improvise on the fly is what hosting a dinner party is all about!

Go simple on decor.

The decor for this backyard party was elegantly simple, put together by Megan and Mike. Hanging a few strands of outdoor lights transforms a space from modest to magical. For this setup, there was some manual labor involved in setting up poles to hang the lights from. If you’re not up for that sort of work, you could use a tree to suspend the lights, or have the table near a deck, fence, or structure to use for hanging.

For the tablescape, Megan went super simple: a blueish gray tablecloth, white dishes, simple patterned napkins, a few candles, and some flowers. She is talented at flower arranging and grabbed the flowers from a local farm, Loma Farm. However, many times your local farmers market will sell bouquets already assembled! Or, you could place all of one type of flower in a ball jar.

Cultivate space for community and connection.

Once you’ve gotten everything prepared for your backyard party, now’s when the fun begins! It takes some practice, but we have learned how to let go of any challenges that happened during the preparation and focus on our guests. During mingling with appetizers, we like to make sure everyone has met each other and knows a few things about each other. Our favorite type of dinner party is inviting old friends and a few new people into the fold, so we try to make sure connections are made during mingling time.

When the meal begins, we like to welcome everyone to the table and describe a bit about the meal we’ll be having. This way, the floor is open for all the dinner guests to experience and enjoy the meal together. To foster deeper connections, at some meals we’ve also chosen some questions to discuss: a way to even further get to know each other! This meal was a lovely mix of Megan and Mike’s friends and neighbors in the Leelenau Pennisula. Though we had just met, we were able to delve into deep topics because of the willingness of the others around the table to be real with each other. This is what we love about gatherings: experiencing seasonal foods together and chatting until the sky is dark and the moon is bright.

Related links

This was the second gathering of our Pretty Simple Dinner Party: a virtual worldwide dinner party to celebrate good food and good people!

Here’s how to order Pretty Simple Cooking. And How to Start a Cookbook Club.

Megan Gilger runs The Fresh Exchange website and Instagram, where she has tons of resources around gathering and seasonal eating. Follow her there!

Megan is also opening a new venture, a shop called Shop Fresh Exchange with products made by her and other local artisans! The online store will open in October and in March 2019 she’ll launch a large collection of products. Her dream is to launch a brick and mortar store in the Leelenau Peninsula in the next few years.

Want to hear from Megan? She was a guest on our podcast Episode 57, The Art of the Dinner Party.

About the Authors

Sonja Overhiser

Cookbook Author and writer

Sonja Overhiser is author and recipe developer of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the “best vegetarian cookbooks” by Epicurious, and a recipe developer and healthy & sustainable food advocate behind the award-nominated food blog A Couple Cooks.

Instagram Youtube

Alex Overhiser

Cookbook Author and photographer

Alex Overhiser is photographer and recipe developer of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the “best new cookbooks” by Bon Appetit, and a recipe developer, photographer, and technical expert at A Couple Cooks.

Instagram Twitter

CookbookDinner PartyEntertainingPretty Simple Cooking

Share Tweet Pin it

We’re Sonja and Alex and we believe in Pretty Simple Cooking!

We’re a writer and photographer who love to cook. This website is a collection of the whole food vegetarian recipes we cook in our kitchen.

Read more >>

Subscribe & Follow

Our Cookbook is here!

Order today:

Amazon

IndieBound

B & N

Source: https://www.acouplecooks.com/seasonal-simple-backyard-party-leelanau-penninsula/