Lisa on February 3rd, 2012

Roasted peppers are one of the most versatile ingredients to have on hand and also one of the easiest to make yourself. (You can buy jarred roasted peppers, but it’s much more cost- effective to pop some raw peppers into the oven.) And since most bell peppers are pretty big, one roasted pepper can go [...]

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Lisa on January 4th, 2012

This is a tale of two culinary possibilities: turning a classic pasta dish into a pizza of sorts and how to save your summer tomato surplus without having to resort to canning. I’m all for canning, mind you, but it’s a lot easier to throw something into a bag than can it. The fact that [...]

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Lisa on December 23rd, 2011

Seeing as the Big Day is nearly here and everyone is rushing around like mad to get their holiday errands done, I thought I’d post a get-done-quick recipe that you can whip up to impress your guests (or yourself). The ingredients range from non-perishable to not-too-perishable and are simple enough to keep on hand. After [...]

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Lisa on November 26th, 2011

If you grow or make a miniature version of something, people invariably call it cute. Just think of fingernail-sized champagne grapes, baby cherry tomatoes, and the Mini-Cooper. (I’d say the cutest car in the world is the VW Bug, but since it only comes in one size, it doesn’t make the list.) The one jarring [...]

Continue reading about Never Underestimate the Power of a Sprout

Lisa on November 4th, 2011

When you think of Greek cheese, you probably think of salads topped with feta. Or — if you’re old enough to have frequented restaurants before the days of increased fire code safety — you think of cheese with flames shooting up from it and a waiter yelling “Opa!” (That dish, saganaki, is typically made with [...]

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Lisa on August 22nd, 2011

This post is a two-for-one deal: it’s a continuation and an introduction! The continuation is the part where you make darned tasty use of your leftover high-quality, no-mess, baked bacon from the previous recipe. The introduction part is to let you know about brown rice maifun noodles. I stumbled across them at Westborn lately and [...]

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Lisa on April 6th, 2011

While it’s simple enough to use a roux-based sauce to make a cheesy cream sauce for pasta, sometimes it’s easier to just toss a creamy, easily melted cheese directly into the hot pasta.  Especially when you stumble upon a cream cheese made with goat’s milk.  (Admittedly, I’m a huge fan of goat’s-milk and sheep’s-milk cheeses.)  [...]

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Lisa on March 14th, 2011

Although “sweet” and “savory” have become separate worlds in today’s American restaurants and home kitchens, in many cultures they’re freely combined: Thai salads with papaya and beef, the Hawaiian penchant for cooking pineapple with pork, Polynesian dishes featuring mango and shrimp.  Even European cooks used to blur the sweet/savory boundaries at will.  (Hence the tradition [...]

Continue reading about Enjoying Hot Dogs in a Medieval Kind of Way

Lisa on January 26th, 2011

Carbonara is a classic Italian dish that’s surprisingly easy to make … assuming, that is, that you start with top-notch bacon and eggs.  There are several pluses to top-notch bacon: it tastes savory and rich rather than greasy and tough, you only need one strip per person, and top-notch bacon won’t splatter all over your [...]

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Lisa on January 19th, 2011

Natural peanut butter is one of my favorite foods.  Not only does it taste so good that it’s addictive, it transcends sandwiches and chocolate cups to create lusciously creamy soups, sauces, and sautées.  PB is also easy enough to make yourself: just put 1 cup of unsalted peanuts, 1 tablespoon unrefined peanut oil, and a [...]

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