Cooking with New Friends

This meal was prepared with great care and attention with my special new friend and guest chef Freya. We collaborated on the menu and came up with a tasty repast that is both reasonable in calories and nutritionally well balanced. Our meal began with a salad of organic mixed field greens, homegrown cherry tomatoes, basil and a homemade buttermilk ranch dressing. The entree followed with a healthful piece of grilled to perfection wild coho salmon with lemon served atop a brown rice pilaf. The side dish to our salmon was a spritely melange of petits pois and carrots topped with a chiffonade of garden fresh basil. A last minute concoction came from some leftover risotto we'd made the night before, transformed into an incredible savory pancake thanks to a Joy of Cooking recipe. Now I realize I touted this meal as well-balanced and we already had a pilaf on the menu, but really...can you ever have too much rice?? :-) Besides, our diner that evening has been eating gluten-free these days, so rice every which way was all good.

Now you may be looking at the array of beautiful desserts we served our guest Marenka that evening and saying to yourself...yeah, SURE they're healthy! Treats in moderation my friends, are never a bad thing. Plus all of our cookies and the strawberry shortcake pie were made with gluten-free whole grain flours, fresh strawberries, and sweetened only with agave nectar. True inspirations all.

As to the recipes? Alas...we were creating things so fast and furiously that we were guided by inspiration alone. These are one time only masterpieces that probably can't be recreated. But don't despair. The next time Freya and I cook together, you just might find yourself the lucky diner in front of whom we set our next feast!

Our satisfied customer mugging with Chef Freya...

The chefs!...