Lisa on February 6th, 2012

When I was a kid, every mall had an Orange Julius kiosk and every grocery store sported dry-mix packets of faux fruity milkshakes. (I absolutely loved those kiosks and those little packages.) I’m still a big fan of creamy fruit shakes, but nowadays I go the qualitarian route: whole milk plus suitable fruit (bananas, pears, [...]

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Lisa on December 7th, 2011

Cold weather = a great time for hot soup. (And hot chocolate!) Hot soup with a Caribbean flair is an even better way to ignore the outdoor chill. I was lucky to have tinned conch on hand when I decided to warm up my evening with hot Caribbean soup, but you could just as easily [...]

Continue reading about Escaping to Jamaica in Your Kitchen

Lisa on August 31st, 2011

‘Tis the season to seek out lush summer melons and enjoy them any which way you can. Right now, cantaloupes, watermelons, honeydews, crenshaws — even lesser-known melons like piel de sapo, or “toad skin” — are crowding the produce bins. You can trim away the hard rinds, then chop the flesh and add it to [...]

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Lisa on March 11th, 2011

A yam is a yam is a yam?  Nope.  What Americans know as “yams” are actually just variants of sweet potatoes.  About the only thing our yams have in common with true yams is that they both grow underground — the comparison pretty much stops there.  True yams have a nutty, buttery flavor and a [...]

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Lisa on March 9th, 2011

I always liked creamed spinach when I was a kid: it was rich and soft and vaguely nutmeggy, and it seemed to be just as good with chicken as it was with lamb or beef or veggies or whatever you wanted to serve it with.  What I didn’t realize back then was how incredibly easy [...]

Continue reading about If Popeye Went to India…

Lisa on February 7th, 2011

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful”…so let’s pretend we’re someplace a bit more tropical with a refreshing smoothie in our hand.  After this much snow, I’m okay with the idea of being a bit unseasonal and including a summery banana with a wintery pear.  Using coconut milk rather than dairy is another good way to [...]

Continue reading about Sipping Summer & Winter Out of a Single Glass

Lisa on February 2nd, 2011

Assuming you have a sizable and sharp knife (an 8″ chef’s knife is ideal), winter squash is a great wintertime ingredient: it’s plentiful, versatile, and inexpensive.  You can roast it and eat straight out of the skin, or you can simmer cut-up chunks of it in water or broth and then drain it and mash [...]

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Lisa on December 15th, 2010

Winter = soup.  Especially hearty soups that are fragrant with spices — in this case, curry.  And thanks to the inclusion of millet and a touch of coconut milk, you’ll have a thick, creamy soup that’s filling enough to be a main course. You could also stir in crab or cooked shrimp at the very [...]

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Lisa on November 12th, 2010

Pie pumpkins are such an economical treat!  By “pie” pumpkins, I mean those cute little guys who only weigh a pound or two, the kind that are way too small to carve but are easy to bake, simmer, mash, or sautée.  (I would not want to try to cut a monster-sized pumpkin in half for [...]

Continue reading about Pumpkins: So Much More than Just Pies

Lisa on September 20th, 2010

Even with plug-in ice cream makers that churn the mix all on their own — as opposed to the old-fashioned, human-powered crank models — making ice cream can still be a challenge, especially if you’re not adding heaps of sugar and fillers.  (Both of which lower the freezing point and keep the ice cream scoopable [...]

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