Ah, collards, how I do love thee! Ditto for bacon grease rendered from real bacon, by which I mean bacon from pastured hogs. No sense in wasting that! Especially not when collard greens taste so darned tasty when cooked in it. Throw in some onion slices and a generous sprinkling of spices, and all you need [...]
As much as I adore raw food (no grains means no gluten — yay!) and especially the dehydrated main courses like meatball subs and falafel wraps, I’m not wild about the typical dehydration period of anywhere from 12 to 20 hours. That’s too much planning and waiting even for me. Plus, although dehydrators run at [...]
Continue reading about Sometimes Rules Are Meant To Be Broken
If you happened to catch me on the local Fox morning show this week, you probably saw me cooking with coffee in the station’s studio kitchen. One of the recipes I made was coffee-spiked pozole. Yep, I said coffee. It goes beyond the cup! I created this recipe because I wanted to infuse this traditional Mexican [...]
Nobody can resist a salty, crunchy potato chip. (Hence the famous campaign of “You can’t eat just one!”) But you know what’s even more irresistible? Homemade potato chips! Sweet potatoes make especially delicious chips since their sweetness provides a natural contrast for salt and spices. And as long as you cut the potatoes as thinly [...]
I’ve written about it before, but now that I’ve discovered another fantastic use for it, I’ll write about it again: mesquite. Yes, the one that you burn on your barbecue. In this case, though, I’m talking about mesquite powder, which is made from the pods that grow on the mesquite tree. (The barbecue fuel is [...]
When I was a kid, one of my favorite snack foods was Doritos, specifically the Zesty Nacho variety. (The Cool Ranch was pretty good, too.) Passing by a Halloween display of chips in a store recently reminded me of those crunchy triangles and inspired me to try making my own. As it turns out, it’s [...]
Collards are my favorite winter greens, although kale is a close second. It’s probably not a coincidence that the two are closely related. (They’re also related to cabbage and broccoli.) The textured wavy/curly nature of kale makes for better chips, but the flatter, thicker collards are easier to chop and then steam, simmer, or sautée. [...]
Sometimes recipes develop out of necessity. This dip, for example, happened because I was out of chickpeas. (Not sure if there’s been a massive chickpea crop failure or Metro Detroit is in a chickpea feeding frenzy right now, but lately I’ve had a heckuva time finding my favorite brand of canned chickpeas!) I was out [...]
Who says you can’t have a fiesta in the wintertime? (Especially when it’s 48F outside. It’s like spring in the winter!) Unlike mexicanized restaurant food in the U.S., actual food in Mexico is fresh, vibrant, and light in a satisfying and hearty kind of way. Case in point: a crisp, refreshing version of pozole, served [...]
Continue reading about A Wintertime Fiesta for Your Taste Buds
It’s nearly New Year’s Eve, and chances are you’re looking for a tasty and quick appetizer to serve your guests. One of my recent favorites involves just three ingredients: chickpeas, berbere or chili powder, and extra-virgin olive oil. That plus 15 minutes of occasionally shaking a pan will get you deliciously unique bite-sized appetizers to [...]
