February may have turned into April overnight (44F? Weather gods, what is going on??), but there’s still enough of a chill in the air to warrant baking muffins. Especially whole-grain muffins with a jammy surprise inside. I opted for locally made, naturally sweetened blackberry jam for this batch; next time I might go for raspberry [...]
A lot of things are better off made than bought. I’m talking simple things, like salad dressing (unrefined oil + vinegar/citrus juice) and fruit-flavored yogurt (plain full-fat yogurt + fresh fruit). And it isn’t just a matter of the end product tasting better or being a more nutritious choice — which it does and is [...]
Now that we’re heading into fall and then winter, jamming and canning are on a lot of people’s minds. Mine, too — it sure would be great to enjoy summer’s ripe fruits in January! I haven’t quite gotten up the nerve to jam or can full-tilt (although both are near the top of my to-do [...]
First it was omega-3s, then it was antioxidants; now, the food rage is probiotics. (Mind you, these have all been mainstay elements of whole, unprocessed foods for millennia, long before food scientists and genetic engineers and corporate interests got involved in our food chain. Thankfully, we’re now “discovering” that traditional cuisines contain plenty of foods [...]
The only thing better than getting your hands on a fancy new kitchen gadget is realizing that you can use an old kitchen gadget to do the same job. (Thus saving you $$ to buy more new kitchen gadgets.) Enter the potato masher. Not only does it do its eponymous job, it mashes anything else [...]
Technically, a sandwich is a bready dough filled with something. Hoagies, gyros, calzones, quesadillas … they all fall into the “sandwich” category. You can stuff them with veggies or meats or cheeses or herbs or condiments or whatever your tongue desires. Sandwiches are, in short, the ultimate custom dish. In the spirit of adding to [...]
