Limes have a certain pizazz that lemons just don’t. Grapefruit doesn’t, either…in fact, not even tangerines can match up to a lime’s potential to play a sweet/sour role as a keynote flavor or background blend. A squirt of lime juice also lends a dish a Mexican or Caribbean flavor that an orange simply can’t provide. [...]
Even though most stovetops have four burners, why not do some creative subtraction and just use one? (Assuming you have a big enough pot.) Dishes based on starches, grains, and vegetables are prime candidates for honing your math skills: just figure out how many minutes each item takes to cook and then subtract them from [...]
One day a pot of simmered and marinated vegetables, the next day a cold gazpacho soup, then finally a luscious pizza topping…it’s just a few days in the life of a leftover. It’s like kitchen magic!
Remember the Moroccan caponata? I’d made such a big batch that I wound up freezing a bowl of it. When [...]
Leftovers can be magic–especially versatile leftovers like roasted red pepper and chicken. Just add a bit of pasta and olive oil, sprinkle with parsley, and poof! you have a delicious meal. With a bit of purposeful overproduction, in fact, you can create your own healthy freezer meals/leftovers. (But be sure to stick with your original [...]
Rather than being a daily chore, cooking can be a daily stress-reliever: you can use your time in the kitchen to express your creativity, to unwind after a long day, to gain immediate satisfaction from serving healthy food to yourself and others…or all three! Here are some tips to help you enjoy your [...]
Aside from “preheat oven to [x] degrees,” the most common instruction you’ll find in baking recipes is “grease and flour an [x]-sized pan.” This can either involve a fair amount of messiness–greasy hands, crumpled butter wrappers, etc.–or it can be quick and easy.
The best way to get an evenly-greased and -floured pan is to use [...]
Continue reading about Flouring & Greasing Pans the Easy Way
“Fusion cuisine” is the latest trend–it’s innovative, intriguing, and embraces all the foods that the world has to offer. It’s also astonishingly simple to create using leftovers. Don’t think you have anything in the fridge for dinner? Craving flair instead of humdrum? Try mixing and matching what you already have. [...]
Most people quail at the thought of making their own bread from scratch–it’s complicated, they say, it takes a long time, and the outcome is so uncertain. It does take time, but 85% of that time doesn’t involve any work at all on the baker’s part. And while the process may seem complicated [...]
Many times, recipes call for tomatoes that have been peeled and seeded. Canned diced tomatoes come in handy here, but if you want to take advantage of summer’s full-flavor fresh tomatoes, you’ll have to hone your DIY kitchen skills. It isn’t difficult, though–even if you don’t have a food mill (a device that removes the [...]
I can’t remember where I got this, but my little “Kitchen Equivalent Chart” of measures and amounts is one of the most valuable things in my kitchen. It is magneted front-and-center on my fridge for easy reference. If you want to reduce or increase a recipe, you need to know how to split measurements–for example, [...]
