Welcome to The Copper Table: Slow Food for a Fast World.
I’m so glad you’re here! If you are hoping to find out more about this blog and its creator, this is the best place to start!
This blog is about using Farmers Market and CSA box produce, cooking in season, and making as many things as possible from scratch without taking all day in the kitchen. Great food isn’t difficult, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time!
My Cooking Philosophy
It is my mission not only to help you cook fresh, but to have fun in the kitchen! The question “What’s for dinner?” should not be a stressor, but a place of solace.
Cooking With Fresh Ingredients
Make the most of your farmers market finds and csa share
The area I live in is largely agricultural. We are surrounded by farms of varying size that grow many types of fresh produce, beef, pork, chicken, eggs, and we even have a couple of local flour mills.
I love using these products in my recipes! Not only am I supporting small businesses, but I know what is in everything I eat, and I know the people who grew it.
I want to help you do the same! The recipes on this site are for anyone looking to utilize more fresh local ingredients, no matter where you might live.
For many years, I have wandered the local farmers markets and roadside honesty stands in my area, always looking for new ways to use what I find. I also grow some of my own fruits and veggies!
I even spent two seasons helping out at a small local organic farm near my home weeding, harvesting, and tending to many varieties of organic produce. This experience has helped hone my skills cooking great seasonal food with real ingredients, as well as becoming familiar with how fruits and vegetables grow.
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Behind the recipes
How The Copper Table Got its Start
Mine and my husband’s family heritage has been an inspiration as well as a wealth of knowledge when it comes to recipe development.
My grandmother was raised on a small farm in rural Tennessee during the Great Depression. She taught me so much about fresh homemade cooking and growing food (as well as using what you’ve got and not being wasteful) and I use this experience in developing every recipe you find here. Her guidance taught me everything from soup to biscuits!
My husband is Italian American, and his family is from the Puglia region of Italy. Before they came to the United States, they were cheesemakers. You will find several Italian recipes on the site as well, including Pesto di Basilico, Panzanella Toscana, and Burrata Caprese using fresh ingredients from the farm and garden just the way they do in Italy.
We are a busy family with weeks full of sports, activities, and hobbies. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up! With all of that going on, it can be difficult to put a decent meal on the table and calling for takeout can feel less stressful than cooking.
I wanted to avoid that trap, and I decided to find ways to eat more fresh foods that are less processed, as well as homemade dishes to keep me and my family going.
If that sounds like you, then I hope these recipes are helpful! Eating well in spite of life’s daily demands is something I am really passionate about, and I enjoy helping other people do the same!
It is my goal to use my experiences and know-how to help you with ideas for Farmers Market produce, your own garden, whatever you might find in your CSA box, and cooking from scratch.
The recipes on this site are also great for anyone looking to cook with more fresh foods in general, you are not just limited to what you may find at a Farmers Market.
There are a lot of great ingredients at local grocery stores as well, and the recipes here will help you use those too! When the Farmers Markets and honesty stands are closed for the Winter and there are no CSA shares, I buy produce at my local grocery store when needed.
How The Copper Table Can Help You
Cooking with the seasons using fresh ingredients
I’ll not only show you some great tricks for homemade sauces, curry pastes, and salad dressings to turn up the volume on your cooking, but I will share with you tips to use your local farmers market, garden grown, local grocery store, or CSA products to create fresh, real dishes that change with the season.
This means variety and less boredom when eating and cooking. Also, you know exactly what’s in everything you eat! If you are looking for recipes for each season, head on over to the Cooking In Season section for dishes to make each season of the year.
In my time on this cooking journey, I have found that one of the best places to start making more things myself is making salad dressings, spice blends, kitchen staples such as Creme Fraiche, and sauces from scratch rather than buying them in a can or bottle, and I’ll show you how to do just that!
Not every recipe on the site uses fresh produce, but those recipes that don’t use any produce have a minimum of processed ingredients and are from scratch, such as my White Chocolate Chai Brownies.
Of course you need main dishes to pair with all this great produce right? I have you covered there too! With dishes such as Beer Braised Short Ribs and Homemade Cheeseburger Macaroni, there are many options to choose from that are homemade and use a minimum of processed ingredients.
If you want to see examples of making your own curry paste or spice blends for recipes, check out my Thai Green Curry with Chickpeas, Slow Cooker Beef Tacos and Homemade Toppings, or One Pot Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya.
For some fabulous ideas with fresh produce, try my Easy Lemon Cucumber Pickles, Roasted Green Beans And Carrots, or Rigatoni Primavera. I have a whole Fresh Produce category on the site with plenty of recipes to help you create great dishes with fresh fruits and veggies.
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If you want to:
- eat more fresh produce
- make more of what you eat from scratch
- cook fresher, healthier meals with an occasional indulgence thrown in
- avoid takeout with easy dinner ideas
- cook in season
- know what to do with all that produce at the Farmers Market or local grocery store
- learn more ways to utilize your CSA box
THEN YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE!
How To Use This Site
finding the recipes you need
Eating fresh isn’t hard, and I have so many great ideas and tutorials to help you eat better, while doing so in a way that doesn’t feel like you are cutting out everything that tastes good. Who wants to eat a bunch of boring food? I sure don’t!
Recipes are categorized by course to make them easy to find. There are many easy soups along with scrumptious desserts and baked goods that family and friends will ask you to make over and over again. Do you love a good breakfast? So do I, and I have many simple homemade recipes to start your morning off right!
If Main Dishes or Side Dishes are what you need, there are some wonderful options to choose from. Having a party? Head on over to Appetizers and Drinks for your entertaining needs!
Looking for serving ideas, or how to pair recipes together for that perfect spread? Then be sure to check out Farm to Table Menus for collections of recipes to help you plan a gathering or holiday meal.
You can also go the recipe index, where you can see all the blog has to offer!
Easy Dinners
takeout convenience at home
We all get busy, and that’s why I have a whole category of recipes for Easy Weeknight Dinners, for those hectic days when you need something fresh fast and don’t want takeout. I am a busy sports Mom who is pulled in multiple directions each week. Trust me when I say that I often don’t have much time to make dinner. The recipes in this section have gotten me through my share of busy weeks, and I hope they help you too!
If you need something easy the whole family will love, you’ll find it here. With meals such as Gnocchi Bolognese, Cauliflower Sweet Potato Tacos, and Buffalo Chicken Rice Bowls, you won’t need to hit a drive thru!
About me
Hello, I’m Amy!
I am the creator and recipe developer here at The Copper Table. I live on a small island in the Pacific Northwest and I am very fortunate to live in such a wonderful place! We have beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, and everything in between.
Aside from cooking, hiking the many trails near my home and looking for seashells at the beach are two things I enjoy doing most. When I am not wandering the beach or walking in the woods, you will probably find me cooking, reading, writing, wandering our local farmers market during market season, or spending time with my family. I also like working in my small garden when the season is right for it. The outdoors is my favorite place to be when I am not in the kitchen!
I love picnics when the weather is right (you’ll find a few picnic perfect dishes on the site) and alfresco dining is something I really enjoy.
I’m a fresh produce nerd and farmers market geek. When I am not developing recipes for the website, I am a Food Service Professional who cooks hundreds of meals a day. When I get the chance to watch TV (which isn’t often), I love British Bake Off!
In 2023, I served on the Planning Committee and helped cook the dinner served at Cook For A Cause, a yearly fundraising event for the Coupeville Farm To School Program which grows the produce served to the students of the entire school district! Programs like this are vital in helping kids learn where food comes from!
I have always loved food and cooking. In 2019 when the opportunity to take my passion for food and love of writing and turn them into a blog came along, I couldn’t pass up the chance!
Where else can you find me? I have had two recipes published in the second edition of The Salad Gazette, published by The Devil Wears Salad. If you’d like a copy, you can sign up for my newsletter and you’ll get one right to your inbox.
I have also been interviewed on the Cook Local Eat Local podcast with David at Cooking Chat. His podcast is all about cooking and eating local food, which is something I am very passionate about.
Fun Facts About Me
I’d rather be
eating cheesecake
Listening to
crashing waves
grateful for
my family
Favorite place
the beach
my weekends
sports & family
favorite food
italian
It is my wish to create an online community here at The Copper Table where you and others can find easy and delicious in season recipes made with real and minimally processed ingredients. You can also connect with the blog on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to see what’s happening on our social media channels.
I hope you love the recipes you find here! If you’d like all the latest updates, be sure to sign up for my email newsletter. Be well and Happy Cooking!