Last year, while trolling a local farmers market, I discovered some curly green shoots that were unlike anything I had ever seen. Vibrantly green and mostly firm, save a slight grassy portion at the top, I took a few garlic scapes home and cooked with them … and promptly fell in love.

What were they strange, unfamiliar things? Garlic scapes. But since garlic scapes have a sadly short season (they are, after all, the flowerings shoots that come off of young, immature garlic and are cut off on purpose), I didn’t get a chance to have them again last year.

So, I waited. And waited. And waited. And when the farmers market that I used to go to didn’t open earlier this month (it seems that a lack of popularity has shuttered the hit or miss event), I though I had missed another round of my delicious garlic scapes discovery all together.

But I didn’t.

Last week, when Will and I hit the farmers market in the pouring rain, the first thing I spotted as we snuck in between two booths was … bunches of garlic scapes. Of course, I immediately purchased some, with visions of this garlic scapes recipe already dancing in my head. Last summer, I was playing around and crafted a Garlic Scape Carbonara pasta. It was delectably creamy with lots of garlic taste (but without the bite of matured garlic).

I’ve literally been waiting for a year to share this. It’s divine, delicious and delovely. I suggest you try it too.

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One of my goals for this year is to extend our local eating for as long into the winter as we can. I’ve done this hear and there in the past, putting up jams and relishes and freezing pestos and sauces, but this year I want a more comprehensive effort. As fruits and vegetables hit their peak, the kids and I will be gathering them, making some for the family to eat now and processing the rest to be stored for the winter months. First up: strawberries.

After picking strawberries last weekend, I quickly set about to use all the berries we brought home. When you pick as much as I did (somewhere between 10-12 lbs of berries … mmmm!), you have to do something with them quickly so that they don’t go to waste.

I immediately started work on jam for the winter (and a little for the summer too), which is a two-day process for my favorite canned version. About 12 cups of strawberries went into jam making using two recipes — four half-pints of my favorite fresh strawberry jam recipe and about a cup of fresh strawberry jam using a Cooking Light recipe. The Cooking Light recipe cooked way faster than it was supposed to, so that came out much thicker than I anticipated. But it’s still very tasty.

Next came some strawberry sauce, which we’ve been eating on pancakes and waffles all week. In fact, the picture above is the kids eating waffles with strawberry sauce on the front porch. Mmm.

Finally, I froze about eight cups of berries for the winter months. Locally grown strawberries taste so much better than the ones you buy in the store, so freezing local berries means that we can have fantastic tasting berries all year wrong … and not settle for what’s available. At first blush, I questioned whether this would be enough berries to last through the winter — and truth be told, I am still playing with the idea of picking some more — but I realized that we will also be storing peaches, apples, raspberries, blueberries and more (if all goes according to plan!), so we will have a big variety to eat from and don’t necessarily need tons of one type of fruit.

What do you think? Would you store more than eight cups of strawberries, given the opportunity?

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Earlier this week, I mentioned that my birthday was coming. Thank you to everyone who left nice birthday wishes on that post — they made me smile big! Today is the big day, so the kids and I are taking it easy. Shawn will be home later and we will go to my parents’ house for dinner and cake (and presents!).

This morning though, I wanted a special breakfast. Being that Shawn had to work today, and the kids are a bit young, I was left to my devices to make it. At first, I thought it would be bacon and eggs. But really, aside from the bacon, that isn’t that special. We eat eggs for breakfast a lot around here … But crepes, those are a whole different story.

The first time I ate crepes was in Paris when I was 20. My friend, you know her as Virtual Frolic, had flown in from New York and I flew in from London and we met in Paris. Hungry one rainy afternoon, we stopped at a street vendor and got some delicious chocolately crepes. They were amazing and warmed us right up. I think we must have eaten different variations of crepes at least a half-dozen times in our four-day trip. They were just so delicious … and cheap too. But really, it was the tastiness factor that kept drawing us back.

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This month certainly feels like it’s been one rain storm after another. Ok. Maybe it feels that way because it has been that way. We’ve had so few opportunities to get outside and enjoy our yard and work on creating more edible areas. But when we have had the opportunity, we’ve capitalized on it – whether that means a game of chase with the kids or weeding a little area that desperately needs it. I don’t know about you all, but I am ready for some serious summer weather.

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See those babies? They are the reason I left my full time job last year to work from home as a full-time freelance writer. And now you (or someone you know) has the chance to hire me!

A recent long-term writing contract is coming to an end and I have empty freelancing spots to fill – get ‘em while they’re hot! I am a freelance writer with experience writing about technology, parenting, pregnancy, food, politics and more.  I’m an expert at meeting deadlines and am extremely reliable.

Interested? Drop me a line at sarahATsarahscucinabella.com.

Nope, I didn’t make this. Virtual Frolic made it as a special surprise for my birthday (which is later this week). The colors were so alluring and vibrant — it’s almost too pretty to eat! Flavored with lemon, it was both refreshing and satisfying. It made for a delish dessert after strawberry picking.

Mmm. Good cake.

(Want the recipe? Head over to Virtual Frolic’s blog and let her know! Hopefully she will post it soon.)

Somehow, photos of risotto just never do it justice.

The other evening, after strawberry picking, my friends gathered in the kitchen while I cooked dinner: a salad with fresh strawberries, feta and Candied Almonds, steak and Artichoke and Herb Risotto. For the risotto, I was running a little behind and asked my friends to retrieve some fresh herbs from the garden.

I continue to relish in the fact that I can serve garden to table food in my own kitchen. Fresh spinach was mixed in the salad with romaine and lettuce grown at the organic farm next door. The herbs grew just feet from my front and back door. I know every thing about these foods since I have been so involved in their growing … or, in the case of the organic lettuce, know the people who have that knowledge. It’s taking my close relationship with food and making it more intimate than I ever imagined it could be.

As for the risotto, it’s creamy as can be. The artichokes add a richness to the rich that just fills your mouth. The onions bring a tinge of sweetness. And the fresh herbs bring a bright freshness to it . . . oh, it’s just so good. Try it.

I think I have found cooking bliss …

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The kids and I and two of my friends went strawberry picking yesterday afternoon. So what that it was raining? So what that the skies clued us in that this was a rain that wasn’t going to just pass … It just didn’t matter. We all wanted the berries and nothing was standing in our way.

In past years, the coming of rain would have  (and did) scared my friends and I away from the strawberry fields. But perhaps we are just older and wiser now. Or maybe we were just too fixated on our plans. Whatever the case, when two of my friends arrived from New York on Saturday afternoon, it didn’t matter a smidge that it was starting to drizzle. We packed into the car and headed to Jones Family Farm, a local pick-your-own farm.

When we arrived, we found that we weren’t the only crazy folks taking to the fields for some speed picking (seriously, how else would you do it in the rain?). I can’t tell you exactly how much we picked, but I can tell you that the big, red, rosy berries have the sweetest, juiciest, most luscious flesh … They are beauties. Read the rest of this entry…

Tomatoes! Tomatoes! There are real, albeit tiny, tomatoes on our vines! And tons of blossoms just waiting to burst into more tomatoes. The funny thing is that it’s the sungold cherry tomatoes that are growing at lightning speed, while the early tomatoes I planted are ho-humming along. Go figure.

The broccoli is flowering big now, so I am going to pick some to put into a bouquet with daisies and other flowers from around the yard. I am so not a flower arranger, but I will do my best. And of course, I will share a photo soon.

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I first learned about snickerdoodles when I was about seven and read the recipe in my elementary school’s fundraiser cookbook. As much as I wanted to try to make them then and there, they were a little intimidating (partially because they were unlike any cookie I had ever had and partially because the only cookies I’d made to that point were from a roll in the refrigerator section).

Fast forward 22 years and I can now say that I have finally had my first snickerdoodle … and I made it myself. Although I was drawn to the recipe originally because of the unusual name, it was the cinnamon and sugar crust that ultimately pushed me to give these cookies a try. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with cinnamon and sugar. And can I just say YUM!

I know it seems like a lot of steps, but these come together at lightning speed. I made them for my kids and their same-aged cousins … and they all devoured them.

Sounds like a keeper.

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