This year my garden is fantastic. I should really thank my husband and my child for the efforts they put in, and the great results they achieved. As some of you might know I find myself full of zucchini and zucchini flowers everyday.  While I’ve decided to let “some” of the flowers go, I still have to find a way to eat my zucchini, and at the same time not get tired of them. So far I prepared fried zucchini flowers, pasta with flowers and zucchini, zucchini in tegame, risotto with zucchini flowers, zucchini salad, zucchini in carpione and so on. The recipe I liked the most though, is this simple zucchini and Swiss chard soup that I often make for my son. He loves vegetable soups, especially if I turn them into a minestrina with small pasta. This latest soup is one of his favorites, so as long as we have fresh zucchini in the garden I’ll prepare it often. Continue reading →

In the last few days I’ve been experimenting some new recipes and I ended up with small portions of different vegetables leftover. Hence I decided to prepare one of my favorite dishes, red Thai rice with stir-fried vegetables. Red rice grows in various countries of the world and it often grows wild in soil rich with clay. It has an aromatic taste, when you cook it its aroma will fill your house. The Thai rice I buy comes from the provinces of Chachoengsao and Chiang Mai in the North and East of Thailand. It is imported by CTM Altro Mercato – the principal organization of fair and supportive trade in Italy – from Green Net a Thai social enterprise that works to promote sustainable agriculture providing fair trade market access to producer groups producing organic and certified products. 1300 families are involved in the cultivation and production of the rice. The cooperative is also a member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) the global representative body of over 350 organizations committed to 100% Fair Trade. Continue reading →