It’s always fun to discover new ways of using an established ingredient, like toasting almonds before using them (they’ll have a much deeper, nuttier flavor) or running sucanat through a coffee grinder to get a more natural form of powdered sugar (which you can use in chiffon cakes and meringues and icings exactly the same [...]
Continue reading about Toasting & Baking in a Tropical Kind of Way
I’m always on the prowl for new unrefined sweeteners — not only are they a healthier alternative to heavily processed white sugar, unrefined sweeteners like maple syrup and honey have flavor instead of just being super-sweet. It’s fun to play with flavor pairings to see which sweetener you like with what. (I think honey is [...]
Not that you ever need an excuse to enjoy some good-quality chocolate, but now that the holidays are here, what better time to make your own truffles? And this version is much, much quicker to make than the traditional version, because instead of slowly heating cream and chocolate and then using molds to get a [...]
As my regular readers know, when I discover a new ingredient or a new way to use a tried-and-true ingredient, I go on a [fill in the blank] kick. This time, it’s macadamia nut butter. I started out dipping 90% dark chocolate squares into it (UNbelievable!), then made salad dressings out of it, and now [...]
Continue reading about Coconut, Banana & Macadamia All in One Glass
When I get on a kick, I get on a kick — I can happily eat the same thing for several days in a row if I like it. It’s even better when the dish/ingredient being eaten is multipurpose-able. After all, leftovers are the ultimate convenience food! Crepes are my most recent food fixation: first [...]
Even if it’s a frigid mid-winter day and you’re hunkered down inside watching a blizzard blow by outside, opening a coconut will make you feel downright tropical. Once it’s open, you can drain the water and then notch out chunks of fresh, sweet flesh to eat out of hand. (They’re particularly good frozen.) You can [...]
I don’t know about you, but when I find an exciting new (to me) ingredient, I like to drop it into as many culinary settings as I can to see what happens. Some ideas, like my “let’s make hot chocolate with red wine instead of milk!” notion, though, are rather ill-fated. Random combinations are not [...]
If you’re in the kitchen a lot, you’re probably washing your hands a lot, and your hands probably feel dry from time to time. You could buy expensive hand creams to alleviate that, of course…or you can use the oils and minerals you already have to make your own products. Not only is making your [...]
Now that there’s actually snow on the ground (the horror!), I’m thinking about the Caribbean. Hearty stews are a superlative winter dish, of course, and it’s always fun to haul out the fondue pot, but what I really want during the wintertime is to be warm, and what better way to do that than come [...]
