Over the past few weeks we have been absolutely inundated with sweet potatoes from our CSA. While there are all kinds of recipes out there for a wide variety of mashed potato and sweet potato casserole kind of things, we really wanted something different. After looking at all kinds of options, I decided on another “mash-up” kind of thing: with all of the sweetness of the potatoes, I thought it would be nice to mix it with something kind of hot and spicy.…

Ragoût is derived from ragoûter, which is french for “revive the appetite.” It is also the name of a thick, winter-time stew (of sorts) similar to the ragù that is made in Italy. Ragoût can be served as a main course dish, or it may just be used as a thick sauce to accompany potatoes, noodles, or some other form of starch. We had one last package of curried lamb sausage left in the freezer, so last night I prepared a spicy Ragoût…

In our CSA box last week we received a number of items in the “from a little further afield” category. Included were several oranges and a grapefruit from northern Florida. As you can see in the photograph, the fruit has suffered a little damage from all of the unseasonably cold weather we have been enduring for the past month or so in the southeast. I also just recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal about how orange futures are way…

My dad always said that there were two kinds of yankees: those that came south and left and those that came south and stayed. The latter is what he refers to as “Damn Yankees” and his most-favorite daughter-in-law is exhibit A in this category. Yesterday it was snowing like crazy outside (for once the weather prognosticators got it right) and I had a freshly thawed sirloin roast and a whole bunch of winter root vegetables fresh from our CSA. JT had a busy…