Aube Giroux is a documentary filmmaker, organic gardener, and food blogger. She produces Kitchen Vignettes, an online farm-to-table cooking show and food blog on PBS which received a Saveur Magazine Best Food Blog Award and is a two-time James Beard Award nominee. She also directed the award-winning documentary film Modified which received 15 film festival awards. Aube lives outside of Cooperstown, NY where she maintains a large garden and a lively flock of clucky hens.

This is a great dish to make when you have some stale bread that needs to be used up and lots of kale and tomatoes in your garden. You simply rip up the bread, toast it in a bit of olive oil until crispy and whip up this hearty, crunchy, and very flavorful salad! Here’s my easy recipe which you can adjust based on what's in your kitchen (ie: you can sub corn if you don't have cucumber) :

3 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups stale bread, torn into pieces

1/2 tsp salt

Large bunch of kale (I prefer lacinato kale), de-stemmed and torn into pieces

1 to 2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 or 2 cucumbers, halved and sliced

1/2 red onion, halved and sliced

Handful of large fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces

My name is Caitlin Ethridge, and I’m a work-at-home Mama of two. I can usually be found barefoot and donning an apron, digging in my small backyard garden, or whipping up a home cooked meal in the kitchen of my tiny home nestled in the foothills of western North Carolina. I make a living educating families on natural alternatives and healthy living, and spend my days cultivating a slower paced lifestyle for my family that focuses on quality time, homegrown meals, and lots of fresh air.

Heirloom tomatoes are a staple in our summer garden, and I always count down the days until I can sink my teeth into the first juicy, ripe bite....usually on a coveted tomato sandwich. It always seems like it takes an eternity for the first tomato to ripen, but by late summer I have them coming out my ears, and am shoving them into any and every dish I can think of. One of my all-time favorite tomato dishes is a savory tomato pie. This year, I added a little twist to my usual recipe by throwing in some sweet corn from our grandparent’s garden, and it turned out so great that I think the corn might become a permanent ingredient. There are so many possible variations to this recipe. You could keep it simple and serve it alongside a salad, or add some ground beef and call it cheeseburger pie!

Stuffed peppers are the perfect way to use up leftovers and extra produce from the garden or farmer’s market. However, it’s also completely acceptable to make stuffed peppers from scratch.

My favorite thing about stuffed peppers is that I can make them an almost completely homegrown meal. We raise the beef and the veggies, as well as some of the seasonings. Maybe one day we’ll make our own cheese, but for now I’m happy with the raw cheddar we’re able to buy at the grocery store.

So many options!

One of the fun things about stuffed peppers is all the options for fillings! The possibilities are endless: basically, you’ll combine your choice of meat, veggies, seasonings, and (optionally) cheese.

If you tolerate grains, you may want to mix in cooked rice. For grain-free, try riced cauliflower instead.

If you happen to wind up with extra stuffing and not enough peppers, try serving it over roasted veggies. Alternatively, the extras can be frozen for future stuffed peppers or for adding to soups.

Remember: stuffed pepper recipes, including this one, are more of a loose guide than a strict recipe. Feel free to substitute other meats or no meat at all, as well as alternative vegetables. If you’re a garlic fan, go ahead and increase the amount of cloves.

My daughter and I blog together at Forgotten Way Farms. We have a passion for simple and cozy living, gardening and making food from scratch. We love the old ways and preserving old family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. This recipe is one of those family heirlooms, and I hope it becomes yours.

I grew up learning how to cook and can from my granny, I fell in love with the old ways on her farm and I’ve carried that passion with me. No matter where you live, you can incorporate simple and old-fashioned living wherever you are. Start with something small, like freshly baked rolls. Making homemade bread can be addictive, pretty soon you won’t be buying it from the store!

These rolls are from my great-grandma. They are like a delicious memory that is renewed every time I make them and think of her. My Grandma would use a little technique called a sponge by letting the yeast and part of the flour rise together, then adding the rest of the ingredients, kneading it altogether and allowing it rise a second time. The dough will raise a total of three times by the end of the process, making for a deliciously fluffy roll that is perfect for a Sunday family dinner.

1 Tbs. Yeast

2 C. Milk (warmed to 105-115 Degrees F.)

2 Tbs. Sugar

7 1/2 C. Flour

1/2 C. Butter

1/3 C. Sugar

2 Eggs

2 tsp. Salt