Seasonal Hospitality: Ch. 2 - Cooking with Caitlin (& Bacon!)

This next example of Seasonal Hospitality is a very delicious one indeed!

Do you know this team of fun foodie professionals - Cooking with Caitlin - who we are so pleased to partner with for Foodies' Night In (#FNIchat) every Monday?

If this is your first introduction to this dynamic team of charming culinary creatives, here's how they describe who they are and what they do:

Discussing Good Food Pantry Essentials with Robyn Webb

Have to introduce you to the delightful and ever-so-savvy Robyn Webb, and her blog, Fabulous Food Finds.

Her creativity in cooking - her knowledge of nutrition - and healthful food preparation - have been a go-to resource for our entertaining.

We have the pleasure of discussing Good Food Pantry Essentials with Robyn today as a featured guest on her blog, Fabulous Food Finds.

Following the wisdom shared by Julia Child, 

you don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients, 

we explore 12 essential pantry items to have on hand to play up the freshest of ingredients, ensuring the mouth-watering success of many Good Food Gatherings.

Beets - Ruby Jewels for Fall Good Food Gatherings

Think the bright colors have departed with the summer wind?  Guess again.

Baked Eggs by Any Other Name | NO-FAIL Brunch Idea

Shirred eggs...baked eggs...Oeufs en cocotte...no matter which name you prefer (or think sounds most delicious), we must share our new favorite NO-FAIL brunch dish – Baked Egg Cups.

SO versatile, SO tasty, SO presentable, and so EASY to make.  Just a few basic ingredients and then let your creativity take over!

Dress them up with brie, chevre, asparagus, chorizo, prosciutto and fines herbes…OR keep them casual with cheddar, bacon or sausage, and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.  Serve individually - at table - or from a buffet.

This is one dish that has become a permanent replay in our brunch repertoire.  And we're sharing this recipe for brunch success!

Eggplant. Scorpacciata. GodBlessYou. Good Food Gatherings (Menus #18-#20)

Scorpacciata.

Don’t get offended – we didn’t just invoke some old Sicilian curse.  As we learned from friends at Eatocracy – and as Chef Mario spoke of today on CNN - scorpacciata refers to consuming large amounts of a particular local ingredient while it's in season. (Jill Billante, Scorpacciata – Farm Stands, Eatocracy). 

Good Food Gatherings starring ZUCCHINI (Menus #15 - #17)

Maybe we’re the last to know, but zucchini is one vegetable that gets around!  From savory to sweet – from brunch to dinner – we’ve decided to focus an entire Good Food Gathering feature – including 3 new GoodFood Menus (#15 - #17) - on this veggie that has a pizzazz of its own.

Think we’ve wandered a little too far off into the vegetable patch with our enthusiasm?

Snack Attack? Break with us at Foodies Night In (8/16)

It's been a long MONDAY already...just enough time to share our inclination to take a munchie break with you - our fellow foodies - this afternoon at Foodies' Night In.  We celebrating foodie fun with a Snack Attack for #fni today at 3pCT/4pET!

From treats to power bites to mid-morning munchies, we’re talking snacks, snacks, snacks.  Think you can handle it? Crunch away and join us ;-) 

Our special sponsor today is newcomer, Nuts About Granola.

Nuts About Granola is dedicated to providing fresh, wholesome, natural granola, from local ingredients to satisfy your hunger. We offer unique flavors, handmade in small batches and served fresh from the oven. This unique treat can be found in our beloved café or through our many outlets. Our simple recipes are full of flavor and made with love. We are truly nuts about granola.

Our emphasis is on building a local, sustainable economy. We support our local community by sourcing local ingredients, sponsoring local events and donating to local charities. We take pride in our affiliation Buy Fresh, Buy Local and the Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network. We only sell to independent retails with an emphasis on Farmer’s Market to encourage our customers to buy even more local products.

Adding Saucy to your Entertaining Style

Versatility is a secret weapon we use to combat dreary, dull entertaining in so many ways.

While traditions can be wonderful, it's the "same old, same old" ho-hum that needs to be avoided at all costs.  We're going to explore versatility in dining decor, in Good Food Gatherings, in cocktail basics, and in holiday hostessing more in the coming weeks.

Today, we're suggesting a delicious way to accommodate diverse tastebuds and add a little zing at the table.  When our menu for a simple Good Food Gathering includes a traditional favorite such as Roast Chicken, grilled meats, turkey meatloaf, chili, or hamburgers, we add a few extras to the table - enter CONDIMENTS.

Eco-Entertaining: How Green is Your Coffee?

Introducing a very special guest contributor in the Savvy Experts in Entertaining series - Christopher Burke of Morning Glory Coffee & Tea Inc.  A savvy host or hostess understands the important role that coffee or tea plays in capping off an exceptional gathering.  


The Savvy Host is a big fan of the coffee and tea traditions supported by Morning Glory Coffee & Tea and proud to share this interesting perspective.

Specialty, gourmet, single origin, organic, shade friendly, fair-trade, the list seems to be endless, but where do the coffees we love, actually come from.


A new shipment of green (unroasted) coffee arrived at our location in West Yellowstone, Montana yesterday. Receiving a shipment always seems tantamount to a miracle considering the distance and intensive labor it takes to grow, process, cup, grade and ship coffee. Almost every day and especially days when we receive a shipment of coffee, I will be asked the same simple (with a complicated answer) question. “Where do you get your coffee?” I am sure that every coffee roasting company in the world will at some point be asked this question. 

Initially, I will smile and say “from around the world” hoping that this will suffice and the questioner will enjoy a cup or purchase a bag and move on. Unfortunately this is not the answer that most people are seeking and I then must do my best to shrink the entire coffee industry from tree to cup into a few sentences that will most certainly not do it justice and at the same time confuse and confound my customer. So having said that, I will now try and explain where we get our coffee without getting into too much trouble.

7 Gift Ideas for the Foodie Host

Secret Stash Salt Chorizo

Heading to a dinner party or other occasion where the host is a gourmet or fellow foodie?  Practicing the art of being a gracious guest, and looking for an appropriate host gift? (See prior post, The Art of Being a Gracious Guest as needed.)

Not interested in offering them the "same old same old"?

Here's a quick list of hot hostess/host gift ideas (around $25 and some conveniently available ONLINE) sure to please their palate!  We added a few of our favorite examples...but don't hesitate to share a few of your own!

Relaxing into the Spa Kitchen: Foodies Night In (7/19)

Join us for a Foodies' Night In focused on the ultimate spa kitchen along with dynamic & vibrant Cooking with Caitlin gals, Girlfriendology, Cozi Family and this week's special host, Art of the Spa. 

A little about this special perspective from the founder, Candy - 

We’re taking spa out of the  bathroom and bedroom & spreading it around your entire home.   Take a tour on our website of each of our rooms to find design & living tips for every place in your abode .  

Or take your own Spa Around the World trip by exploring “In-spa-rational Spas”.  For an instant break check out Virtual Escapes.  Enjoy & stop by often.  

So, this Monday's FNI will focus on how to turn your house into the haven it should be beginning with the heart of your home - the kitchen.

Which experts will be joining the fun this week?
~ @cupboards - Home-grown Southern Kitchen & Bathroom Design/Consultation- Musings and activities from our day.
~ @NoirBlancDesign - creatively obsessed Social Media Evangelist. Luxury, Style, Beach, Historical Pres.,cause. Creator #IntDesignerChat. 
~ @Susanserrackd - Certified Kitchen Designer, Cert. Aging in Place Specialist.
~ @countertoplady - an interior designer/sales manager for the largest countertop fabricator (all types of solid suface, granite and quartz) in the southeast.

~ @sieguzi - registered interior designer, certified kitchen designer, writer,public speaker,mom, karaoke queen.

Do you know Chuck? 3 Recipes Worth a Taste

We don't believe that exceptionally delicious tastes only result from very expensive ingredients.  Admittedly, there are foods and drinks we enjoy that are both extraordinarily tasteful AND pricey (we'll leave this to your imagination...the list is too long...BIG sigh).

But there are also very expensive foodstuffs that we wouldn't offer a penny for - in fact, you might need to pay us a GREAT deal to even get close (happy to share that we're thinking sea urchin here...got the picture?).

Some of the most mouth-watering, satisfyingly delicious comfort foods require a minimal budget.  You have your favorites...we know...good simple foods that speak of a simpler time without frills or extravagance.

The next time you're pulling together a good food gathering, keep in mind that the WOW taste factor is not dependent on whether expensive ingredients were used to pull the meal together.  Let's all get back to the basics of finding flavor and culinary fulfillment without a predisposition to cost (as was the unfortunate trend at the turn of this century).

Time to introduce our good friend, Chuck Roast.

With a large extended family coming to dinner on Sunday after a full day of activities, we wanted to offer something that would give the entire crew a chance to sit together, fill up hungry mouths, and appeal to tweens as well as adults.

First thought was pasta, but the male contingent wanted BEEF.

Steaks were out of the question - didn't need to take out a loan to feed this crew.  Hamburgers got a turned up nose from another decision-maker.

Good Food Gatherings (Menu #9 - #11)

Here's the plan for our Good Food Gatherings coming up this week. Sharing some timeless favorites from our kitchen, modified a bit to suit our tastes and cooking style, the line-up includes:
~ Grilled Balsamic & Rosemary Marinated Florentine Steak,
~ Country-Fried Chicken, and
~ BBQ ribs (with our modified Southern Dry Rub)!!

Our concept of Good Food Gatherings shifts the focus away from party themes, decorations & decor details.

Instead, the focus is gathering people together over good food and beverage in enjoyable surroundings.

This is entertaining pared down from extravagance and fanfare.  These are the gatherings pulled together to provide #goodfood, offering something to wet the whistle, but most importantly, allowing the time to share laughs and life with those who have joined at our table.  Take a look at prior posts, including Good Food Menus #1-#4 and Good Food Menus #5-#8.

Featured #blogswelove in the recipes selected for these Good Food Gatherings - Smitten Kitchen, Southern Fried Chicago, The Pioneer Woman, Steak Perfection, The Perfect Pantry, Cooking with Amy, and The Hungry Mouse.

No-Fail Dinner Party #3 - Summer Pesto

One of the easiest ways to bring summer freshness to the table for dinner guests?  Pesto!  A sauce originally crafted of basil and garlic in Genoa, Italy (Pesto alla Genovese), the name itself references to the "pounding" or "crushing" of herbs and other ingredients.  Traditionally, pesto is made with a mortar and pestle - but it works as well in a food processor.

Pesto offers a no-fail approach to an impromptu dinner or lunch gathering in the summer months - especially as this treat can be made ahead of time and frozen until needed.

With the sun finally doing it's job (at least in our neck of the woods), the basil is finally bushy and plentiful enough that we're focused on pesto and sharing these variations with you.

For basic pesto, here's the how-to we follow (using our food processor!) to make approximately 2 cups of pesto:

Good Food Gatherings (Menu #5 - #8)

More about our concept of Good Food Gatherings.

Entertaining for us is most simply gathering people together over good food and beverage in enjoyable surroundings.

Special events and occasions may require party themes, and decorations to match, but a good food gathering is about entertaining at its most basic.  These are the meals we pull together to provide good cuisine, and something to wet the whistle, allowing the time to share laughs and life with those gathered at our table.

Good food gatherings are impromptu business dinners or family weekend lunches or unexpected friends dropping by during the week. 

The trick is to have a menu in mind, incorporating fresh ingredients and flavors of the season, so that the good food part of your entertaining is under control freeing up time and attention to provide AAA hospitality while enjoying your guests.

Good Food Gatherings: in the Beginning...(Menu #1-#4)

So many of you have asked about what we cook every week – whether we’re hosting a small gathering, family dinner/brunch or an impromptu dinner party.

Overall, our focus is simply good food (#goodfood) ~ straightforward recipes allowing us to take advantage of the best flavors of the season.  We also like to allow for flexibility ~ to be creative, to deal with last-minute mishaps, or to permit us the short-cuts sometimes necessary (if only to maintain sanity).  Lastly, we're planners (or try to be ;-) so we set out a plan for the menus each week to stay focused and take advantage  of limited time and opportunity to get to the market.

From Rooftop to Table

Whether you appreciate the local food movement (we do), or think organic is important (we do), you must agree that the fresher the ingredients, the better the taste.  Whether from a farmers market, roadside stand, or your very own garden, the smell and taste always seem to be more intense.

In our personal style of entertaining and cooking, fresh ingredients are a must.  They offer a more healthful as well as tasteful foundation for cooking.  We think emphasizing the fresh ingredients is part of getting back to the basics of what makes food good.

But is planting and tending to your own garden necessary?  Of course not!!  But we thought we'd share a little of our zeal and enthusiasm for creating our own "rooftop to table" local food movement...

We didn't have to start an edible garden.  We're lucky to have Green City Market a mere 10 minutes away.  We belong to a most delicious CSA program through Simply Wisconsin (so delicious in fact that we purchased memberships for our extended family to make sure they got a chance to enjoy!).  And, our family has a home along Lake Michigan in Indiana with access to so many delicious farm produce throughout the summer.

But if you enjoy a little dirt under your nails, if greenery is visually appealing to you, and even from a budget standpoint, investing the time in event a small garden of herbs, vegetables, and fruit can yield much fun and produce.

One of the main reasons we bought our current loft was the private rooftop deck and what it offered ~  entertaining al fresco, space for masterful grilling, and a rooftop garden.  Please understand that we're the type to get jazzed about picking the tomatoes and basil just a few minutes before we craft an-ever-so-fresh Insalata Caprese!

Being city dwellers, we don't have the backyard option that many do.  We considered working with one of the shared garden projects, but weren't sure that we would have the time to get there to take care of it regularly.  Our rooftop provided the best option.

(We'll save the landscaping, furnishing & decor part of the rooftop beautification story for another post.)  

In terms of vegetation selection, we start with a few rules of the house:

1. Must be produce we use regularly in our cooking.
2. Can't require special handling (this is a hobby, not a full-time occupation).
3. Must tolerate the existing conditions - hot, dry, full sun and lots of wind.
4. Must yield enough to make the effort worthwhile.

Based on a few years of experience, here's what's growing upstairs and regularly available on our dining table:

Tomatoes - believe it or not, many of the heirloom varieties do VERY well - Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, and Brandywine as well as Yellow Teardrop (image top left), Red Pear and Cherry Super Sweets (image above right).  Be forewarned that we've gotten the best results with fairly large containers, giving the plants room to take root.  Tight on space? The "Patio Tomato" containers available at most garden stores yield amazing results! 

Swiss Chard - (image to the left) such a beautiful, bright leafy addition to any garden, we also like the Rainbow version.


Kale - both Lacinato and standard love the conditions and grow well all season.  We frequently harvest for our Summer Minestrone, and the plants just keep growing all season long... 


Peppers (Bell, Jalapeno, Banana, Thai Chile and Habanero) - they didn't like the long cold Spring this year, and did need a little special attention. But they are already producing the buds that should make for a nice first crop of the season.

Zucchini - we LOVE having months of the baseball size orange blossoms available to us for frying, stuffing and quesadillas - such a delicious treat.  And, this plant requires so little effort (as long as it's in a BIG container... it has an extensive root base,)

Strawberries - (image to the right) a truly perfect container plant, the bonus is that ours come back EVERY year!  These plants propagate quickly during the season, so be sure to have a good, medium size container to accommodate growth enough for jam!

Raspberries - both a Golden and a Ruby Red grace our rooftop (see image below left).  These are a wonderful container bush that also returns each year.  Some types bear fruit early in the season, some are late-blooming.  From the number of blooms thus far, we're looking at a bumper crop!

Arugula - why pay for this at all during the summer when it grows and grows and grows on its own?  We love our "field of arugula" in its container box.

Lettuce - (image below right) it's so easy in any size space to grow your own lettuce.  Our garden includes Red Leaf and Green Leaf, along with Romaine.  The sweetness and flavor of the leaves is not to be missed.  Starter container kits are even available at Home Depot!  Imagine salads full of fresh baby greens every night of the week with only a little watering effort required...

Cooking Herbs - (image near top left) this is really a no-brainer - especially when the small packages of cut herbs are $2-$3 EACH at the store.  You can purchase starter plants - or even full-size plants - for $2-15 each and you'll have fresh herbs all summer! A small container of whatever cooking herbs you prefer can sit on a windowsill, or even a small balcony... At a minimum, grab some basil, dill, marjoram, thyme and parsley and enjoy the benefits!

Looking for some how-to's to get started?  A few expert sources we rely on to stay savvy are...

~ Growing a Greener World including Joe Gardener. Download his 27pp ebook, Abundant Harvest: Your Guide to the Home Vegetable Garden - it's FREE!

~ The Yarden, "spreading the edible word" has a wonderful post about teaching new gardeners as a part of the historical Peterson Garden Project in Chicago.

~ Get in the Garden, "sowing a better world...one garden at a time" has a great section on Vegetable Gardening 101.

~ Herb Garden Plants offers the best of both worlds - indoor and outdoor information to help your herb garden to thrive.

~ Organic Authority's 7 Easy Steps to Get Your Organic Garden Started details starting out in containers (which may be where you decide to stay put if you don't have a yard!).  Also read 111 Herbs, Vegetables, Edible Flowers, & Fruit to Plant in Your Garden.

~ Join the tweet-up "Garden Chat" (#gardenchat) on Monday evenings.  You can also follow @JoeGardener,  @TheYarden, @getinthegarden, @HerbNut and @OrganicAuthorit for regular tweets to help keep things growing. 

If we've inspired you to try your own hand at growing a little local food, please share your adventures.  We'd love to know what other savvy hosts are sowing as favorite edible garden crops ~ whether backyard, balcony or rooftop!