Lisa on May 1st, 2012

I recently prepared these millet cakes for a cooking class, and reactions ranged from “This would make a good breakfast!” to “It kind of reminds me of rice pudding…except crispy.” My thoughts exactly! I also think these cakes would make a great dessert if you topped them with ice cream and/or fresh fruit and an [...]

Continue reading about Patty Cakes, Patty Cakes…Millet-Style!

Lisa on April 16th, 2012

While attending the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual conference in NYC earlier this month, I had the pleasure  of taking a cooking class from one of my favorite cookbook authors. Not only is Pierre Thiam an innovative cook, he’s an incredibly genuine and enthusiastic gentleman. He hails from Senegal, a country on the [...]

Continue reading about Culinary Inspiration from Africa’s West Coast

Lisa on November 11th, 2011

Although sweet pies typically feature fruit enclosed by crust on both the top and bottom, savory pies are made with veggies and/or meat and often sport only a top deck. Shepherd’s Pie, for example, is made with beef and veggies on the bottom and a “crust” of mashed potato on top. An English version of [...]

Continue reading about Thin-Crusted Savory Pies

Lisa on October 7th, 2011

Chocolate chips are great, but a few words of advice for my fellow chocolate purists out there: cocoa nibs are even better. The nibs are straight-up, unsweetened cocoa beans that have been chopped into rough…well…nibs. You know how steel-cut oats are whole oats chopped a few times across with steel blades? They wind up being [...]

Continue reading about Getting Your Nibs & Oats

Lisa on February 11th, 2011

There are many ways to make a cookie great: use a natural sweetener like sucanat that contributes flavor as well as sweetness to your cookie, use a variety of whole-grain/whole-food flours like sorghum flour or teff flour or peanut flour that will likewise add dimension of their own to your cookie, and use a rich-tasting, [...]

Continue reading about Making Cookies Crunchier…and Chocolaty-er!

Lisa on December 27th, 2010

Got extra trail mix? Want to make cookies? Then you’ve got a done deal. It occurred to me that trail mix is the perfect cookie ingredient: you get a whole handful of dried fruit and nuts and seeds at once (and it’s more cost-effective to buy a single bag of trail mix than several bags [...]

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Lisa on December 15th, 2010

Winter = soup.  Especially hearty soups that are fragrant with spices — in this case, curry.  And thanks to the inclusion of millet and a touch of coconut milk, you’ll have a thick, creamy soup that’s filling enough to be a main course. You could also stir in crab or cooked shrimp at the very [...]

Continue reading about Finding Winter Happiness in a Soup Bowl

Lisa on November 22nd, 2010

Seeing as Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I thought I’d share a deliciously easy treat that will compliment any Turkey Day table: buttermilk biscuits.  I say “easy” because these are drop biscuits rather than rolled biscuits, which means you can simply drop large spoonfuls of batter on a baking sheet and pop them in [...]

Continue reading about Biscuits & Buttermilk: Treats for Your Holiday Table

Lisa on April 12th, 2010

Grains are great — you can grind them into flour and bake with them, you can toss them into stir-frys and use them as the basis for pilafs and salads, and you can thicken just about anything with them.  (There are tons of other ways to use grains, but as one of my favorite childhood [...]

Continue reading about Dipping into Some New Grains

Lisa on March 8th, 2010

I used to think that hummus was a great dip. Then I moved on to thinking it was a great condiment and dip. These days, I’ve given up trying to categorize hummus — I’m willing to try it with darned near anything. (And I’m usually glad I did!) Somehow, that combination of smooth, creamy chickpeas [...]

Continue reading about The Many Affinities of Hummus