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 own [...]
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 [...]
There are plenty of non-dairy creamers out there: hazelnut, French vanilla, Irish creme, extra-rich…the list goes on and on. (Literally. Take a look at the ingredients sometime.) All of those flavors do, however, have something in common — they’re usually accompanied by hydrogenated oil and high-fructose corn syrup, two of the worst substances you can [...]
Creamy or spicy, simple or complex, powerful or understated … a meal’s sauce sets its tone. Sauces also provide a sense of place and heritage: take the same basic ingredients, for example, slap a different sauce on them, and all of a sudden you’ve gone from Mexican to Japanese. (Steak + peppers + onions + [...]
Perhaps I’ve spent too many hours in the Caribbean sun, but I think pumpkins and coconuts should occupy a more prominent place on the American table. They both have a smooth, silky flavor, are durable to ship and easy to grow, and are endlessly versatile in sweet and savory dishes. There’s pumpkin bread, pumpkin-stuffed raviolis, [...]
Whether you’re gluten-intolerant or just want to try something new, you’ll love these very-dark chocolate cupcakes. The coconut flour is the perfect backdrop to the chocolate — it provides just enough creaminess to accent cocoa’s rich tones without getting in its way. And the teff and brown rice flours give the cakes a bit of [...]
Who would have thought that two ingredients could be so heavenly? Maybe it’s because dates and coconuts are both fruits of palm trees. This dessert takes about 30 seconds to prepare and is the perfect blend of sweet and chewy. Just rinse the dates, dip them in egg whites, and roll them in unsweetened coconut [...]
When we’re in the thick of winter and staring at a snow-drenched landscape, it’s nice to add a bit of tropical flair to our menu. One of my favorite instant-tropics ingredients to use is coconut milk–I love to crack open a can and find different ways to enjoy my pseudo-Caribbean-holiday.
Regarding coconut oil, coconut milk, [...]
