Category: Recipes
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Her name was Thalia and she tended bar at a local dive in Chicago’s Logan Square. She was a Canadian girl with long black hair, bewitching eyes, and no green card. My husband was a bit besotted with her and honestly, after she made me my first hot toddy, I was too. It was a […]
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Do you remember the holiday movie A Christmas Story? Toward the beginning, there was a family gathering around the dinner table. Randy looked at his plate with grotesque disappointment, “Meatloaf, shmeatloaf, double-beatloaf. I hate meatloaf,” he said. Followed up with Dad saying, “All right, I’ll get that kid to eat. Where’s my screwdriver and my […]
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What exactly is kimchi, other than delicious? Is it considered a condiment, a salad, a side dish? Sour like sauerkraut, yet spiced up with ginger, garlic and hot peppers, kimchi is all of the above. It was developed in Korea centuries ago as a way to preserve vegetables for long periods of time and varied […]
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Door County’s Other Red Fruit – Strawberries
The senses of taste and smell conjure up the most vivid memories, especially when you are talking strawberries. Growing up in Door County, days getting warmer and warmer, building up to summer, I recall hitting the jackpot in my own backyard – stumbling upon a patch of wild strawberries. They were so tiny, nestled in […]
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Mae West said, “Between two evils, I always pick the one I haven’t tried before.” I like to take her advice when it comes to cocktails. Pair them with seasonal hors d’oeuvres, invite over a few friends, and put on some tunes. Here’s to summer in Door County! Beetini My grandfather’s advice: “Don’t drink martinis […]
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My earliest childhood memories on Pleasant Ridge include hunting morel mushrooms each spring. When the umbrella leaves of May Apples opened in our woods, my family knew morels wouldn’t be far behind; all the mushrooms needed was the encouragement of a warm rain, and on a good year, we’d fill paper grocery bags with our […]
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Almost everyone enjoys a good fruit smoothie but did you know that you could further fill your belly with the power of vegetables while sipping that sweetness? There are few rules when creating smoothies, but here are a some tips and tricks to help make delicious smoothies the whole family will love. • Use fresh, […]
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Everything’s Better with Cheese
Who doesn’t love cheese? In my opinion, we Wisconsinites have a lot to be proud of. The variety of amazing artisan cheeses made in our backyard has got to be at the top of any amateur chef’s culinary list of awesomeness. Don’t take our access to amazing cheese for granted. We really have something here […]
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Chris Renard graciously took us through the daily cheesemaking process that takes place at the Renard’s Cheese plant on County S. Chris and his wife Ann own and run the store on Highway 57, while his uncle Brian Renard lives above the County S plant and owns and runs the store next to the plant. […]
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Being a year-round resident of Door County, visitors often ask, “What do you all do here in the off season?” My standard answer to this question is: “It’s my favorite time of year. There is time to reflect, time to reconnect, time to be still, time to get out and enjoy the quietness of the […]
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Preserving My Heritage: Making Swedish Meatballs
There’s one reason why Swedish meatballs are important to me, and she’s pictured here. That’s my mom – Jean (Lundburg) Ehmke – the daughter of two Swedish immigrants, one from Stockholm and the other from Åseda in Småland. As a proud Swedish woman, my mother tried to reinforce the traditions of her heritage and culture; […]
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RECIPE: Pumpkin Parmesan Ravioli in Browned Sage Butter
I am connected with a group of women who gather in the kitchen every couple of months for what we call a worship session. What we are really doing is putting food up, making lots of one thing that can be stored in the freezer or canned. The last time we gathered we focused on […]
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Picnic Basket + Fresh Local Ingredients = Summer Serenity
Summer is the best time of year to pack up some of your favorite salads, snacks, sandwiches and fruit and head out for a picnic. A humid summer breeze, paired with the chameleon-like Door County summer fields and a sunny day motivate me to pack up lunch or early dinner, grab a book, blanket and […]
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Recipe: Chickens, Eggs & Quiche
Quiche, simply defined, is a savory egg pie or custard. Quiches are delicious and are so versatile – they can be pie-sized or individual bite–size morsels and can be made the day of an event or parbaked and frozen. Quiche is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It can be eaten cold or warm, which […]
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Tailgating has evolved around the “bratwurst,” and we need to bow our heads for a moment of silence and praise the brat, an item of perfection by itself. When pairing food with standing, drinking beer and watching football, the brat is where it’s at. Add a little onion, ketchup, mustard or kraut and you are […]
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Roots Recipes: Roasted Herbed Root Vegetables with Dried Cherries
Autumn is harvest time and the veggies are bountiful! It is an awesome opportunity to go for a stroll in the garden and proudly fill your arms with the fruit of your hard labor. This is my favorite time of year – when the wind switches directions, blowing a long awaited cool breeze out of […]
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You know it is summer when you step out your back door in the evening and absorb a good whiff of backyard BBQ. This smell transports me right back to being a little girl growing up in Door County. I love it – it makes me smile with the memories of chasing lightning bugs while […]
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Skaliwags: Delectable Dive Dining
When you walk through the entryway of Skaliwags, the scene before you might seem unimpressive at first. The restaurant is tiny, five tables and a bar, and the cooks occupy a kitchen in plain view that consists of a grill, a flat top, and little-to-no prep space. But linger long enough to taste the food […]
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When you hear that the name of a business is Cookie Lady, human nature undoubtedly leads you to picture a matron in an apron – possibly even your mother or grandmother. So it will probably come as a surprise to learn that Sister Bay’s “cookie lady” is actually Rachel Haas, a normally soft-spoken, petite, young […]
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The View From the Line: A Look in the Kitchen
Some restaurant cooks bounce around the kitchen like a jitterbug, as if the floor is made of hot coals and there’s a meddlesome fly buzzing around their head. They hop from flat-top, to fryer, to the prep cooler, then to the grill and back to the prep cooler. They shout instructions to prep cooks, find […]