It’s hard to say whether the current status quo is due to an onslaught of commercials featuring kids eating carrots while playing in valleys or whether Americans have a group-mind when it comes to dressings, but one thing is clear: Ranch is just about everybody’s favorite dressing. I love the concept, too — you can’t [...]
Eat, don’t spray! No need to buy fancy spring specials at the market when your lawn is full of free, fresh greens and herbs. I’m talking dandelion greens, purslane, and wood sorrel; wild alliums like chives, ramps, and scapes. Instead of spraying Roundup and contaminating our water supply — when it rains, all those herbicides, [...]
When the fall days start to cross over from “refreshing” to “chilly,” it’s time to snip down your outdoor herbs and give them a happy hereafter! Herb-hanging is a delightful pastime, and one that doesn’t require much in the way of equipment — you just need some string and a high place for suspending your [...]
When temperatures soar and we’re in the waning dog days of summer, it’s time to reach for dishes that are crisp, cool, and fresh. Enter brined mozzarella: while it may not be crisp, it definitely fits into the “cool and fresh” category. And like all fresh cheeses — as opposed to aged cheeses, which tend [...]
Ounce for ounce, we spend a LOT more on beverages than we do on food. And I’m not even talking about alcoholic beverages. I’m talking about bottled water, bottled tea, bottled juice, pop, kombucha…all of it. While I like to splurge on fizzy mineral water once in a while — as much as I wish [...]
Continue reading about Enriching Your Wallet and Your Health
Recently, I was introduced to a West Coast singer/songwriter who — along with being an inspired and inspiring artist and entertainer — is also a proponent of gluten-free cuisine. Chris Levy’s band is called “Son of Levi” in honor of his father, and his album “Always” was released earlier this year. (You can check out [...]
May isn’t just a great month for flowers, it’s a great month for graduation parties and weddings and holiday weekend grilling. And no matter which bash you’re hitting up, you’d probably like to take a dish along with you. But what can you take that will taste great, be fresh and satisfying at the same [...]
Continue reading about What to Bring to Your Next Summer Party
We’ve all been there: you made too much of a side dish and wound up with more than you could chew. Literally. So you stick it in the fridge and figure that you’ll get around to eating it eventually…but then you don’t, and you wind up pitching your grocery dollars instead of eating them. It [...]
Continue reading about What To Do with All Those Mashed Potatoes
Pan-frying a filet of fish is easy, but pan-frying little smelts is even easier. Talk about the ultimate fish for a fish and chips meal! Just dip each smelt into a dusting of your choice and sautée in butter or ghee for about five minutes. Done. And the nearly-bite-sized smelt are much less expensive than [...]
Sweet corn, savory herbs, juicy tomatoes — what more could you want? Summer brings out the best on our plates. (Summer also means that my refrigerator tends to be a bit bare since a lot of my future meals are anchored to my garden dirt.) And now that we’re — sniff! — at the tail [...]
Continue reading about Guaranteed Summer Hits: Sweet Corn & Fresh Herbs

