Lisa on May 10th, 2011

Ever since I had baked Feta at a lovely out-of-the-way restaurant in Panamá, I’ve been wanting to make it myself.  The idea is just so simple!  I’d had baked Camembert plenty of times in Germany — when I lived there, baked Camembert with rote Grütze was one of my favorite dishes, right up there with [...]

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Lisa on April 29th, 2011

Compared to fish, clams, scallops, mussels — even lobster — shrimp strikes me as the richest, smoothest morsel of the sea.  Wild shrimp are especially sweet and creamy.  The only trick is not to overcook them into tough rubberiness.  Seeing as everyone loves a speedy and delicious dinner, though, the fact that they cook so [...]

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Lisa on December 20th, 2010

The best part about roasted vegetables isn’t the fact that they’re ridiculously easy to make.  It isn’t even the fact that they taste so good that avowed vegetable haters have just as much of a penchant for roasted vegetables as vegetarians do.  No, the best thing about roasted vegetables is that leftover roasted veggies can [...]

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Lisa on November 19th, 2010

Dressings are probably the #1 Best Thing to Make Instead of Buy.  All you need is an oil, an acid, and maybe some spices or condiments.  Oils can range from extra-virgin olive oil (great with everything!) to unrefined peanut and sesame oils (fantastic with Asian dishes) to delicate nut oils like walnut and pistachio that [...]

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Lisa on May 14th, 2010

Sometimes you might be in the mood for a crunchy taco, sometimes you might want a soft taco.  The only problem with the latter is that it’s hard to find Qualitarian soft taco shells — the majority of the store-bought ones have all kinds of chemicals in them to keep them soft and supple.  And [...]

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Lisa on May 7th, 2010

I’ve always thought lentils were interesting — they’re not quite a pea and they’re not quite a bean, but they are a member of the legume family and as such they make great salads and soups.  Nowadays, the standard brown soup lentils of my childhood have given way to speckled round French lentils, flat green [...]

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Lisa on December 3rd, 2009

I’d heard of moussaka, but I’d never tried it before — whenever I went to my favorite Greek restaurant as a kid, I’d be too caught up in the Opa! saganaki appetizer to think about anything else.  (Even now, I’d have to say that the lushest eggplant on the planet can’t really compete with shooting [...]

Continue reading about Lasagna in a Greek and Noodle-less Kind of Way

Lisa on January 31st, 2009

Fusion cuisine is a wonderful, wonderful thing–it allows us to enjoy the flavors from several different cultures all on one plate…and discover new taste adventures along the way!  For this dish, I used the idea of the Mexican quesadilla to provide a platform for Moroccan flavors.  The spice mixture–za’atar–is a simple mix of sesame seeds, [...]

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Lisa on November 4th, 2008

Healthy substitutions strike again, this time in the name of one of America’s favorite comfort foods! I’ve reduced the amount of saturated fat in this recipe by using sharper-tasting Feta and naturally-lower-in-fat mozzarella in place of the traditional Cheddar. I will warn you, however, that this tastes quite a bit different than the orange variety–this [...]

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Lisa on September 1st, 2008

1 roasted beet (see “Roasted Beets” under “Ingredients & Staples”) 2 hardboiled eggs (see “Hardboiled Eggs” under “Ingredients & Staples”) 1/2 pound to 1 pound of green beans Feta cheese, preferably in brine 2 medium tomatoes fresh cilantro, torn or finely shredded balsamic vinegar olive oil Clean and trim the ends off the green beans.  [...]

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