If you want to enjoy an unadorned fish filet, it’s best to choose wild salmon or tuna — they have so much innate flavor that it would be a shame to not let it shine through. But if you’d like to dredge a fish filet in crumbs or flour and add a few spices to [...]
Ever grilled with mesquite wood? The caramel aspect of the wood lends meats and veggies — or anything you grill over it — an intriguing sweet-smoky flavor that you don’t often come across. Well, guess what? The same tree bears edible pods that can be dried and then ground into flour. Happily, the same caramel [...]
Continue reading about From the Tree to the Pod to the Dessert Table
Although we’re a few months away from prime pumpkin season, when I found a can of pumpkin at the back of my pantry last week, I couldn’t resist making muffins with it. You could just as easily use bananas if you’d like to take on a more summery approach — chocolate goes just as well [...]
Continue reading about Muffins + Chocolate = Even Better Muffins
Plenty of “convenience” foods are far more convenient to make yourself — while the commercial versions tend to have unpronounceable ingredient lists and a mind-boggling amount of sugars/sweeteners, you can whip up a homemade version with a few simple healthy ingredients…and in less than a minute. Sixty seconds spent preparing AND at least 30 minutes [...]
Continue reading about DIY Yogurt (or How to Make “Convenience” Foods Truly Convenient)
What’s in your freezer pantry? The space adjoining your fridge is just as useful and important as your cupboard shelves. Stashing away frozen fruits and veggies is a great way to make sure you always have a good stock of otherwise-perishable ingredients on hand, plus it’s far more tasty and economical to freeze your own [...]
What’s a grain, a flour, and a sweetener? Hint: it used to be a popular foodstuff in the U.S. back in the pioneer days, and it’s still popular in African and Indian dishes. You can make beer out of it, too. It has more fiber (and iron) than and nearly as much protein as soy [...]
Continue reading about A Grain Too Useful to Ignore — Especially for Breakfast!
Nothing adds an easy touch of elegance to holiday desserts like freshly whipped cream. (Skip the aerosol can!) Be sure to chill your beaters and bowl before whipping away, either by putting them in the fridge for a good 30 minutes or by popping them into the freezer for a quick 10. I like to [...]
One day, I hope to live in the Chocolate Belt: that narrow strip around the equator where cocoa trees grow. How great would it be to have your very own cocoa pods dangling outside your front door? The process of transforming the raw bean into a chocolate bar is a very long and complicated one, [...]
Continue reading about Making Modern Chocolate Beverages in an Ancient Way
When I was a kid, I thought cranberries were sweet — after all, cranberry juice sure was! But then I finally tasted an honest-to-goodness whole cranberry and realized that good ol’ Ocean Spray had added a fair amount of sweeteners to make the juice palatable for the American tongue. Now that I’ve veered off the [...]
