Weekend Herb Blogging #30 RecapStill Discovering New Plants!

The weather in Salt Lake has been amazing and on Saturday I decided working in the garden had to take priority to posting on the blog or cooking. I'm trying to get a lot done this weekend, because next weekend I'll be traveling again, going to Washington D.C. to visit a good friend. I love D.C. and always enjoy visiting there. I used to go there four times every year for meetings when I was on the NEA Board of Directors, which is the governing board for the biggest teacher's union in the U.S.

Chicken Paprikash Recipe

In April 2005 I started this blog, not really even knowing what a food blog was. Previously I had a group of friends that I would send recipes to by e-mail. My brother Rand suggested starting a blog so the recipes would be stored online, and Kalyn's Kitchen was born. I didn't get a digital camera until September of 2005, so I have a lot of recipes that don't have photos, and I've been slowly updating my recipe archives and adding those photos.

Recipe for Lightly Steamed Asparagus with Basil Vinaigrette

Over at Seriously Good, Kevin is having Asparagus Aspirations from now until the end of May, which is good because it tempts me to think of new ways to prepare asparagus, one of my favorite vegetables. Believe it or not, I can remember when I didn't like asparagus all that much. In recent years it seems I've found more and more good ways to prepare it. Since I've been writing this blog, I've posted the Perfect Way to Cook Asparagus (from Simply Recipes), Slow Roasted Asparagus, and Warm Salmon and Asparagus Salad.

Red and Green Fruit Salad Recipe

I do have to admit that when I first started reading up on anti-oxidant rich foods, I kind of ignored the berries. It's not that I don't like fruit, or that you can't eat fruit on the South Beach diet. The fact that fruit is allowed on the diet is one thing that made me decide to try South Beach in the first place. But fruit does contain lots of carbs compared to veggies, and I'm more likely to choose bread, rice, or even something like lentils for my carbs.

Happy Birthday to My Blog

Since I publish the WHB recap rather late on Sunday night, I usually take off Monday and don't post anything new to the blog. But this Monday I couldn't miss mentioning that today is the first birthday of my blog! Kalyn's Kitchen is one year old today, and what a great year it's been.

Weekend Herb Blogging #29 Recap (Flowers and Herbs Everywhere!)

In Salt Lake we've been having a very strange week of weather, with snow on Monday, rain on Tuesday, then gradual warming up to 70 degree temperatures Saturday and clouds again today. I've spent the week catching up from being out of town, so not much cooking has been going on around here, but in other parts of the world, herb bloggers have been whipping up some pretty tasty looking things. But, before I tell you about the posts from this week, I want t

o let you know about an event that I think a lot of you will find interesting. Between now and the end of May, Kevin of Seriously Good (a seriously good food blog) will be collecting links to asparagus recipes, in an event he's calling Asparagus Aspirations. Every Monday Kevin will post the links he's received that week, and at the end of May he will create a permanent site with asparagus recipes. So make something with asparagus, send him your link, and be sure to link to his blog in your post so others can find all those yummy asparagus recipes.

Weekend Herb Blogging #29 Continued (More Texas Flowers)

I'm so happy it's Saturday!! All week I've been playing catch up, but today I'm going to get back to cooking so I'll have something to blog about! Meanwhile, here are a few more flowers that I saw in Texas. Yesterday I showed flowers by the roadside in Texas. Most of today's flowers were on the grounds of the Alamo in San Antonio, a place I really enjoyed visiting. If you've got herbs, plants, veggies, or flowers that you want to feature for Weekend Herb Blogging, send me the link by mid-afternoon on Sunday (kalynskitchen AT comcast DOT net) and include a link to my blog with the words Weekend Herb Blogging. Then be sure to come back and check out the Recap on Sunday night to see the great things other bloggers have sent.

Weekend Herb Blogging #29: Texas Flowers and One Herb!

Last weekend I was away on a trip to Texas, and I never really did buy any groceries for the week, so I find myself being grateful that flowers are one of the things that are included in the list of possibilities for Weekend Herb Blogging! If you check the Weekend Herb Blogging Archives, you'll see that you can blog about any herb, plant, vegetable or flower, so this week I'm going to share some of the flowers I saw in Texas. It had not rained for quite a while, but we still saw some beautiful flowers. I managed to get a photo of some rosemary, which was the only herb I saw. Many of these shots were taken by the side of the road with cars whizzing by, so forgive me if the focus is not always perfect!

Pork in Chile Verde, When You Don't Want to Cook!

I really do love to cook, and even enjoy reading cookbooks, something some friends have told me is just plain weird. Since I've been writing this blog it has been brought to my attention that there are many people who don't really like to cook that much, if at all. (Go figure!) In fact, a good friend told me that one of the things she likes most on the blog is when I recommend products that can be purchased ready to eat. That's something I do rarely, since I don't really buy that kind of product very often. But I do sometimes try these things when they are being demo-ed at Costco, and when I do find something that tastes good and is low in carbs, I recommend it. Previously I've recommended Costco products like Del Real Carnitas and Panko Breaded Alaska Cod.

Recipe for Omelet with Mushrooms and Goat Cheese (and a New Omelet Pan from Rand!)

If you've been exposed to even any basic nutrition education during your formative years, surely you've heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. During the week, I'm doing well to grab a couple of Egg Muffins from the freezer, microwave for a few minutes, and eat them in the car on the way to school. But on the weekends I love to make omelets, like this delicious mushroom and goat cheese omelet I made recently.

Weekend Herb Blogging #28 Recap and Happy Easter!

It's Easter Sunday and I'm just getting back from a great trip to Texas, so I wasn't doing any herb blogging myself this week. I expected that there would be a number of people taking a break for Easter, but there were still a few dedicated herb bloggers. Hope all of you were having a fun time this Easter, whether or not you were blogging.

Kalyn is on Spring Break and Forsythias are Blooming!

This week I'm officially on spring break from school, and as I mentioned yesterday, I'm getting ready to go to Texas to spend time with a man who's very important to me. I'd planned to post recipes on Monday and Tuesday, but now I realize I don't really feel like cooking because I won't be home to eat the food, and I promised myself earlier this year that I wouldn't make food just so I could post about it on the blog.

Weekend Herb Blogging #27 Recap

Next week is spring break for my school, which means I get nine straight days off. I'm mentioning it here because I'll be going away to Texas to visit a man who is very special to me, and I'm taking a few days off from blogging. I'll be home to do the WHB Recap on Sunday. That's Easter, so I'm thinking there may be others also taking time off. If you send me a link sometime during the week, you w

on't hear back from me until I post the recap.

Food Blogs Around the World Meme

I was tagged by Anthony of Anthony's Kitchen for this meme. I truly hope my answers aren't too boring, but I find I have less and less time lately to read other food blogs. I can't wait until summer vacation so I can catch up on all the new great blogs out there. It seems like every time I get a chance to sneak a look the internet I see at least 10 new blogs I haven't seen before.

Recipe for Curried Chicken on the Grill (with Cilantro Chutney)

(This is another recipe from my recipe archives that I'm updating and adding a photo. This photo was from the Utah Food Bloggers Dinner the weekend before last, and the chicken was a big hit. The recipe below was first published in the summer of 2005.)

Recipe for Pan Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms, Onions, and Rosemary

A while back my good blog friend Lisa had a little contest, which I won. Lisa sent me a copy of Eat This Book by Tyler Florence. I didn't know much about him before this, although I'd seen him once or twice on The Food Network, but the cookbook was great. (Thanks again, Lisa.) I marked about 10 pages of recipes I wanted to try, and this was the first one I've gotten to.

The Recipe Collection Meme

I was tagged by The Gallumphing Gourmand for this recipe collection meme, a topic that is certainly dear to my heart. I'm something of a compulsive cookbook buyer, so much that when I had my kitchen remodeled I added a bookshelf for cookbooks right in the kitchen. I had a big yard sale two years ago and sold about 60% of my cookbooks, and I probably still have well over 100. In fact, if I am confessing here, I should confess that I've bought 10 new ones in just the last few months.

Weekend Herb Blogging #26 RecapHappy April to Everyone!

There are two things I really like about April. One of them is spring break; what's not to like about that? For me this year, it's one more week and then nine days off. The second thing is planting the garden. These two things go well together, since for a few years now, I've been planting quite a bit of my garden during spring break in April, and I've been very lucky with the weather so far. In Utah the general rule for planting is Mother's Day, so I'm pushing it by at least three weeks, but I have a fence on three sides of my garden, so it stays a bit warmer. I'm hoping to do some serious planting in about ten days.

Recipe for Brown and Wild Rice with Pine Nuts and Thyme

Today is the first day of *Daylight Savings Time* in the U.S., that annual lunacy that makes us force our bodies to adapt to new time schedules. I hate Daylight Savings Time with a passion. For me, I just get to where I am waking up naturally because it's a little lighter in the morning, and then the change to daylight savings time comes. Personally I wish we would do away with it.

A Fabulous Dinner at Georgette'sWith Thanks to Elise!

Last night I went to dinner at the home of my friend Georgette, who is really a great cook. You might recognize her name from Georgette's Greek Zucchini and Georgette's Really Lemony Greek Pilafi, just two of the much-used recipes I've gotten from her. We were having dinner partly to celebrate her new condo, which was just beautiful.