My Madison Bistro

Since I was a little girl, I’ve loved yogurt. Granted, my taste in yogurt has changed greatly over the years, but I can’t think of a time when I didn’t like yogurt in some form or another. I remember the pre-mixed yogurts being popular when I was young, but I soon discovered a love for the fruit on the bottom variety. I ignored the instructions, however, and refused to mix in the fruit; I found it was much more delicious to eat the lightly sweetened yogurt first, leaving the fruit/jam mixture on the bottom.

It was likely my blatant disregard for the package instructions that resulted in my making an easy switch to plain yogurt as an adult. I enjoyed the tartness, and I loved the interplay of tartness and sweetness between the plain yogurt and seasonal fruit.

I pretty much eat yogurt daily for breakfast, taking advantage of whichever seasonal fruits are available, but also utilizing the frozen fruit stash in my freezer. Since my discovery of Greek yogurt, I pretty much have been eating it exclusively; it keeps me full, but also because the thought of the thick, creamy texture of this yogurt helps get me out of bed in the morning!

Tags: blueberries, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, yogurt

Each year, I anxiously await garden-fresh tomatoes. Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated the past two summers, and my tomato plants have had a rather rough time. Two years ago, we had a drought up until the month of August, then so much rain that there was widespread flooding.

And still, the rain was too little, too late for my tomatoes. I managed to get a few ripe little orbs, but not many.

Last summer, Mother Nature decided yet again that she did not feel like being cooperative. We had heavy rains during the early part of the summer, terrible flooding (a nearby lake had so much water that it drained by opening its own path to get to a large river, taking out a highway, houses, and anything else that got in its way), then another drought. August came and went, no ripe tomatoes. September came and went, still no ripe tomatoes. By the middle of October, I frantically searched the Internet for ideas to try to at least start the ripening process before the first freeze, so I could finish the tomatoes in paper bags if need be. I did a lot of pruning of my plants, hoping that would give the plants enough energy to start ripening the tomatoes.

It worked!

But just in case the weather is again nasty this summer, and my tomato plants do not flourish like they did years ago, I’m happy to have the slow-roasted tomato recipe under my belt. The very first meal I incorporated the tomatoes into was a panini; I’d gotten fresh mozzarella on sale, so it seemed the perfect match. Usually I wouldn’t dream of making a meal out of tomatoes at this time of year, but these are really that good.

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Tags: Cheese, tomatoes, whole grain

I stumbled across this recipe last week. I’ve always loved roasted tomatoes, and I’ve frequently taken advantage of roasting to make various varieties of tomato soup in the winter; the roasting process makes even a winter tomato not just palatable, but quite tasty.

Roasting tomatoes at a high temperature tends to render them a pile of mush, so I was quite intrigued by the concept of slow-roasting at a very low temperature. The results are quite spectacular; all of the sweetness you’d expect is there, but they still hold their shape beautifully, enabling you to conduct endless experiments with them. I can tell you already that you’ll enjoy them in panini, salads, on burgers, or simply a plateful as breakfast.

Having just planted my garden this weekend (with my mom’s help), I’m gleefully awaiting the fruits of my tomato plants. And yes, this year we planted a Roma tomato plant, with this recipe in mind.

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Tags: tomatoes

I confess, I’ve had little desire lately for cooking, baking, or blogging. My stomach has been wonky the past few weeks, making it difficult to plan meals. So…I’m looking into my archives from recipes of blogs past.

Go figure that the recipe I picked would be for muffins, blueberry muffins at that. While this recipe qualifies as my second favorite blueberry muffin recipe (the first being these delicious creations), they are still a delicious treat. They’re dense but not overly sweet, so the flavor from the blueberries really shines through. I either use blueberries that I stuck in the freezer during the height of summer, or I use wild Maine blueberries (that I buy frozen). In this case, I used a little of both.

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Tags: Barefoot Contessa, blueberries, muffins