Chicken chop suey

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 The weather is starting to warm up around here and for me that means that I start to want lighter dinners. As I mentioned in my last post, it's a difficult time of year for cooking -- no fresh local vegetables available yet and most of our preserved goods from last year's harvest are gone. We did start some seeds this past weekend as well as potted a few new herbs. 

We don't have room for a large garden, but we are doing radishes, lettuces, green beans, tomatoes, and a bunch of herbs in containers. I can't wait for the radishes to come up. We found heirloom French breakfast radishes and I'm hoping they are cute and tasty! They should be ready to harvest in just over 20 days.

But, back to this meal. I've made this dish inspired by a similar recipe at Brooklyn Farm Girl a couple of times now and we really like it. This time I used a green pepper, but last time I used some baby bok choy in its place - both were good. 

You can use both or pack as many veggies into this stir-fry as you want. Chinese cabbage, bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts would all be good in this, too. Stir-fry is one of my favorite warm-weather weeknight meals. They are a cinch to put together and they are so versatile. Plus I love making take-out foods at home. This dish will serve four people.

Lemon buttermilk pie

In this household, we love pie. As a kid, I much preferred cake, but now I'll take a slice of homemade pie over most other desserts - I especially like custard and cream pies.

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This lemon buttermilk pie was inspired by a post at The Merry Gourmet - it was one of those pies that as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make (and eat) it. 

This time of year I find myself often feeling rather uninspired when it comes to cooking. There's no fresh seasonal foods available yet, and I have used up most of my winter stash. Plus the weather varies from warm to cold almost every day, making it difficult to plan meals that fit the season. 

While not really local, you can still find good citrus this time of year, so I was feeling pretty excited about this lemony pie (lemon is one of my most favorite dessert flavors). Plus we had a bunch of farm fresh eggs, which make up a lot of the filling.

My little pie making helper (though she's a little blurry - I had to be quick!)

Grandma's oatmeal raisin cookies

Soft and delicious oatmeal raisin cookies are an old-fashioned treat.

Honey orange sherbet

Does everyone remember the brightly colored sherbet that comes in orange, strawberry, lime, and probably other flavors? I was never a fan as a kid (I much preferred ice cream). 

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I hadn't had sherbet in many years. After a bit of reading, I figured out that sherbet is made from fruit juice with a bit of dairy to make it creamy (unlike a sorbet, which is all fruit juice). It's really simple in ingredients, but the flavor, especially using fresh oranges, is so bright and really makes your tongue dance. 

It must have been the warm-up to above freezing that put me in the mood to make a frozen treat (although as I write this, a blizzard warning has been issued for tomorrow). If you've never made sherbet before, I recommend giving it a try - it's really delicious and made with ingredients you can recognize!

Spaghetti squash and bacon casserole

Spaghetti squash... I can't believe there used to be a time in my life when I didn't really care for you. Now, you are all over my blog with tons of recipes (almost always involving cheese). 

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Now, I'm a little sad to see that there are only two of you left in the basement. We've eaten our way through so many of you this winter and past fall. This may be one of my favorite ways yet...

This recipe was inspired by a recent post on The Kitchn; however, I changed it up quite a lot. 

This is a dish that could really be served at any meal. We had it for dinner with a side of broccoli, but I think it would be great for lunch or brunch as well because of the eggs and bacon in it. It would be a complete meal with a simple salad. This recipe will make about 4 main dish servings.