A lot of people are shocked when they hear that I don’t eat store-bought cereal for breakfast. I used to, but no longer–today’s cereals are packed with sugar, refined grains, sugar, additives and chemicals, sugar, damaged fats, sugar…and sugar. (On the more upscale cereal boxes, you may see words like “evaporated cane juice” or “fruit [...]
Bulgur–or cracked wheat–is commonly used in Mediterranean salads and side dishes. It’s also a great addition to soups and stews (use it as you would barley) and as a cold cereal (much like oats). This versatile, nutty grain needs to be soaked for about an hour before using; although the package directions say 30 minutes, [...]
From Laos to Burma, from Malaysia to Sri Lanka, this cookbook delivers! Lavish-yet-not-convoluted recipes are accompanied by photographs and “special features” like two-page spreads on exotic fruits, curry pastes and powders, dipping sauces, and yum cha. (Which–if you’re like me and had no idea what those last two words meant–are breakfast samplers in the form [...]
If you ask an American what bread looks like, she’ll probably say “a loaf”…but it ain’t necessarily so. There are many kinds of flatbreads: Mexican tortillas, Ethiopian injera, Middle Eastern pitas and lavash. Indian cuisine features chapatis, naan, and roti. Even the American pioneers favored buckwheat pancakes. The humble muffin–which is probably America’s greatest single [...]
We’ve all heard the slogan: “Milk–it does a body good.” It can…and it does…but whether it can or does depends on the quality of the milk. Conventionally-processed milk has been heated to excessively high temperatures (normal pasteurization is done at 165 degrees F, but ultra-high temperature [or UHT ] can go over 230 degrees) and [...]
“Casserole.” Just seeing the word can conjure up uncomfortable childhood memories of gelatinous, salty tuna and noodles drowned in processed and canned soup. (“Soup” in this case being somewhat euphemistic. “Liquid cardboard” might be a more apropos description.) But casseroles don’t have to be that way—like the Moroccan tagine, the word “casserole” refers to the [...]
Steamed spinach, creamed spinach, spinach salad, spinach soup…or spinach pasta! It’s amazing how versatile spinach can be. (Spinach-and-beet juice is another interesting one.) Maybe Popeye wasn’t so crazy, after all… Even though this dish only has 7 ingredients, it has loads of macro- and micro-nutrients and plenty of visual appeal; plus, spinach and whole-grain pasta [...]
Despite their jewel-like colors and intriguing taste and texture, radishes really aren’t on the American gastronomic radar. Orange, red, purple, white; round, long, pear-shaped, icicle-shaped…we mostly ignore the lot of them. In Japanese cuisine, however, you’ll often come across the sharp and spicy daikon radish (if not in the main dish, often grated and served [...]
It might be cheating to recommend one of your own recipes by saying, “Hey, my mom liked it!”, but when you’ve baked hundreds of things over the years (possibly thousands) and your mom tells you that your berry pie is the best thing you’ve ever baked, you tend to want to shout it from the [...]
Would you like a cardoon to go along with your horned cucumber? If you knew what those were, you might! This extensive compilation of veggies has happily made its way from Das Große Buch der Gemüse aus aller Welt to The Vegetable Bible. Though a little grandeur was lost in translation–the original title is The [...]
