Directory —
Food & Drink —
Blog Details for "Enlightened Cooking"
Enlightened CookingEnlightened CookingHealthy, original, gourmet cooking blog that focuses on cooking and eating food that is lighter and healthier, but also beautiful, delicious, and relatively quick to prepare 
Articles
From Snow to Sun to Salmon
2008-03-10 19:21:00 In case you didn?t read my post on Friday, it snowed here in Texas. But by Sunday, a mere two days later, it was a glorious spring day.Church let out early?I?m not sure if our rector planned on such a short sermon, but I suspect the time change and pretty day may have helped hurry it along.Once home, Nick downed some milk, then collapsed for a nap. Suddenly free, I changed into a pair of shorts and retrieved the flip-flops pitched to the back of the closet Friday morning. Instead of bothering with lunch, I grabbed my book, wandered outside to the backyard table, sat on a chair, and held my face up to the exceptional sun. I felt entirely alone, but considering that I had had a particularly grumpy baby on my hands all morning, it was a very pleasant feeling. It seemed as good a place to read as any, but the sun dazzled and bemused me; I found myself reading the same page twice and eventually put the book away and dozed.I jerked back awake ten minutes later to feel Kitty, our adopted S... More About: Snow
A Post-Root Canal Meal
2008-03-07 20:29:00 I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the root canal wasn’t bad at all; drilling is still no fun, but it was sweet relief to be free of the throbbing.But the drilling and scraping required an ample dose of Novocain, leaving me with the sensation of a silicone loaf pan in place of cheek, lips and tongue. So I arrived home in the early evening with my frozen face, and wondered what to do next. Kevin and Nick were outside playing, the morning snow having given way to a beautifully sunny afternoon. I stayed inside, dreamily fatigued, ready for the day to come to a close. How many hours until this stuff wears off? Waiting can be such a consuming affair. I knew I should have figured out what to make for dinner earlier; I 'd lost confidence in any of my ideas. I had not given the problem of a numb face, and its effect on my mood, due consideration; it annoyed me to have to give it consideration at all.I made a cup of mint tea, which I sipped and dribbled while half-heartedly flipping... More About: Post , Root , Canal , Meal
A Pre-Root Canal Snack
2008-03-07 17:05:00 Shortly after moving to East Texas, I learned one of the locals’ favorite sayings: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change.” Consider our past three days of weather for veritable proof: hot and sunny Wednesday, chilly and rainy Thursday, cold and snowing Friday. I’ve chucked my sandals to the back of the closet in favor of fleece-lined clogs; at least until tomorrow.Like the weather, I’m in flux: I’ve changed my mind about posting, at least for this morning, abandoning thoughts of dinner in favor of baking. I figure such a move is tolerable considering the weather, and what awaits this afternoon: my first root canal. I’ve kept it from all of you these past few days; how does one slip shooting pain and groggy drugged-ness into the conversation? Perhaps three days of tofu explains it all.Experiencing a toothache, noting its accompanying crankiness, slows the food blogger down, makes her pay attention to her work until, finally, she lands on a ... More About: Snack , Root , Canal
Barbecue Tofu Sandwich with Roasted Peppers and Arugula
2008-03-06 16:48:00 Even the most avid cook occasionally balks at the prospect of preparing dinner. When this happens to me, I respond by firing up the stovetop for one of my reliable, stress-free standbys, such as my barbecue tofu sandwich with arugula and roasted peppers.Before I get to the sandwich recipe, it’s worth addressing the “why bother with tofu?” question. My answer to that is more questions: Do you like to cook and eat delicious food? Do you need quick meal ideas? Does the healthfulness of the food you eat matter? Whether you answered “yes” to one or all of the above, then it’s high time to slough any tofu prejudice and/or indifference once and for all.Tofu is easy on the home cook, because it requires little hassle or hustle to assemble and season. It can be incredibly delicious because it takes on the identity of whatever you cook with it: from chilies to chocolate, bbq sauce to pesto, it complies with my every will and whim. The preparation options are equally versatile: I c... More About: Barbecue , Peppers , Sandwich
Mahogany Glazed Tofu (month of dinner posts)
2008-03-06 03:48:00 Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger, but a heart as soft as tofu--Chinese Proverb.I’m keeping my promise of posting today, despite the sun shining in earnest, luring me outside to frolic. The enticement led to a rough start writing; when I put Nick down for his morning nap and sat before my screen, I did little else, save for checking my email and polishing off a re-warmed cup of coffee. It’s not so much writer’s block as it is a worry about fulfilling Truman Capote’s quip about Kerouac, “That’s not writing, it’s typing.” Please forgive me in advance if this reads as word-processing exercise #58.But the phenomenon of food blogging is proving to be an answer in itself to such brain-freezes, since 50% of the equation is the food, which is why I abandoned computer for kitchen in search of tofu inspiration and a fresh pot of Darjeeling.I had several hair-brained ideas for mashing up tofu cakes and tofu “meatballs”; suffice to say I realized the error of my ways before ... More About: Dinner , Tofu , Posts , Month , Mahogany
A Month of Easy Dinner Ideas
2008-03-04 18:41:00 If you can get nothing better out of the world, get a good dinner out of it, at least. --Herman MelvilleAs I mentioned in an earlier post, I spent much of February wandering away from dinner recipes in favor of chocolate, desserts, and other sweet treats thinly veiled in the form of energy bars. I have an incredible sweet tooth, always have, and while I rarely deny it, I also require the occasional self-inflicted kick in the pants to jump back on the savory train.I’m happy to announce that I’m onboard, and I’ve made a resolution: March will be a month of dinner posts.The decision is only a day old, made a day after Sunday’s post; but as luck would have it, Sunday’s omelet fits. A cheese-filled omelet was one of my mother’s go-to dinner recipes, especially when the endless laundry, chauffeuring, and whining of her three children (who, me?) were driving her batty. So if you find yourself stifling a scream at the end of a long day, try making an omelet; it works wonders.Tof... More About: Ideas , Dinner , Easy , Month
Of Attachments, Omelets and Ciabatta
2008-03-02 18:45:00 In continuation of yesterday’s “tag” post, I must confess an additional curiosity, one that’s specific to the kitchen.I possess several idiosyncratic kitchenware attachments.I could be referring to the sausage-making accessories for my Kitchen-Aid (which have yet to be opened; every time I feel the urge, I end up in giggles, thinking of the Seinfeld episode when Kramer takes over Jerry’s apartment to make heaps of sausage; here's the video link of the clip: Seinfeld sausage). But I’m not. Rather, it’s my reluctance to abandon a select group of my cruddiest kitchen trappings.What makes it worth mentioning is that I enjoy getting rid of things. Filling recycling bags, loading boxes full of outgrown and unworn clothes for Goodwill, giving the junk drawer a clean sweep—it all gives me a trifling, but pleasurable buzz.Yet I still have and use my crusty-rusty muffin pan, crooked tomato knife, and 13-year-old dented, non-stick frying pan. Ugly, cheap, and bent out of shape...
Tagged
2008-03-01 19:32:00 My friend ,and fellow cooking contester Jenny, from Picky Palate, tagged me the other day. Clueless as to what this meant, I emailed her for instructions (am I revealing too much about my blog naïveté? Oh well, so be it; I'm learning by the seat of my pants).Turns out I need to share 5 fact-lets about myself, and then tag several other blogs of friends to have them do the same. I'll add the latter in a bit (I don't have many blogger freinds yet--let me know if you would like to be tagged).Here is my list of Camilla-isms:1. The only pets I had as a child were rats. Ha! Bet you weren't expecting that one :) No, we didn't live in the sewer. My sister and brother are allergic to cats and dogs (my sister severely so), and rats for pets were surprisingly popular in the 1970s Berkeley area (our first two were babies from the mama rat at our nursery school. I believe her name was Annie.) They were the sweetest pets (Rose, Blackberry and Cricket), and (this makes my husband question t... More About: Tagged
Parsnips Parley
2008-03-01 05:23:00 Yesterday I advocated for greater consideration of the modest parsnip, along with the promise of a follow-up of recipes and more (parsnippets?). So here goes nothing.I recognize this may not be the most popular post, especially in a month that’s included chocolate truffles and chocolate pots de crème. It’s also doubtful that anyone will ever stumble across this entry in a Google quest (“If only I could find the perfect parsnips recipe…”). Regardless, I stand by my conviction that parsnips are highly agreeable, and in the case of the recipe I offer today, at times downright delectable.So to quote Julie Andrews, let’s start at the very beginning—it’s a very good place to start.Most parsnips look just like carrots (see my photo from yesterday’s post), only tannish-white. It’s no surprise that they are in fact related to carrots: both are members of the umbelliferae family whose other members include fennel, celery, parsley, chervil and celeriac. The bayonet type of...
A Light & Quick Cassoulet
2008-02-29 02:41:00 When I was in graduate school, my California friends and acquaintances would invariably ask the same question with every visit home: “Remind me where it is you attend school? It's one of the I states, isn't it?”After years of replying “Indiana,” the abbreviated responses remained constant: in summer, "Ooh, Hot!" and in winter, "Ooh, Cold!" The utterances were delivered with the force of profound revelation, and typically joined by smirking condescension, not unlike that of an older sibling informing a younger sibling that there is no Santa Claus.Little did they know that while "grim" often defined my Midwest winters, it rarely typefied my accompanying mood (and that’s coming from a bonafide cold-weather whiner who dons mittens and scarf when the temperature dips below 65).Here’s why: daily survival on freezing, miserable days cheered me. Residents of idyllic weather states may miss out on shoveling snow and scraping frozen car windows, but they also lose the tiny joys ... More About: Quick , Light
Vegetarian Panna Cotta & An Ingredient You Must Try: Agar-Agar
2008-02-27 17:34:00 You can watch the accompanying video to this recipe on my YouTube channel:VEGETARIAN PANNA COTTAAnother post about panna cotta? Well, yes—but it’s with a particular purpose, so allow me to indulge myself.It’s true that I love panna cotta, but it does have a distinct shortcoming: vegetarians and vegans cannot eat it. Panna cotta is held together with gelatin, and gelatin is an animal product, derived from bones and cartilage (I know, best not to think abut it too much).But a solution exists: agar agar.Agar-agar is a flavorless gel, derived from cooked and pressed seaweed; it is available flaked, powdered, or in bars (the photo above is flakes). It is most often used in Asian desserts and candies, but it has been gaining popularity in Western countries with the rise in vegetarianism. I had never worked with agar agar before, so when I was home in the bay area this Christmas, I picked up a few packets from Whole Foods. And what better test subject than my favorite dessert?It so h... More About: Vegetarian , Ingredient
A Lighter Panna Cotta
2008-02-26 21:04:00 You can watch the accompanying video for this recipe on my YouTube channel:YOGURT PANNA COTTA WITH HONEY & CITRUSSpring swept into town last week like an exaltation of larks. The only downside was the accompanying perfume of East Texas chicken farms.But it is bright and beautiful outside and the excitement in the air is thicker than the chilly gray fog that’s been hovering above Nacogdoches the past few weeks. Shorts and flip-flops are replacing sweaters and rainboots on campus (although many never gave up on the former options, even in pre-tornado conditions), and library carrels are being abandoned for the nearest patches of dry lawn.My challenge? My menu. These first kisses of warm sun have me thinking about lemonade and salad, but dare I believe the sunny days are here to stay? (Apologies to those of you reading from snowy climes; curses accepted). Moreover, by the time the evening chill settles in, I’m back to craving winter comfort food, topped off with a flop on the s... More About: Lighter
Easy Teriyaki Salmon Skewers with Cucumber Salad
2008-02-26 03:45:00 My sister, Rebecca, is crazy for fish. Fresh fish, canned fish, frozen fish—she can’t get enough. I’m looking forward to the day she visits Iceland—I’m sure she’ll return with tasty tales of her encounters with one of their stinky specialties, rotten shark. (I know you’ll read this at some point, Becca, so I also have to make fun of your fondness for canned oysters. To quote your 19-month-old nephew, when he is in need of a diaper change, “P.U!”).By contrast, I began life with a distinct aversion to aquatic edibles.My turnaround was gradual (a fishstick here, a salmon cake there), but my lack of fish affection worried me, especially when I started getting more serious about cooking. This was due, in large part, to my boyfriend of the time, who insisted I would never be a real gourmet unless I learned to love all fish and seafood, from the mundane to the bizarre (fish eyeballs anyone?).My choice was clear. Given that my mother’s “Oriental” tuna casserole still... More About: Cucumber , Salad , Teriyaki , Easy
Homemade Lara-Type Bars (energy bars part 3)
2008-02-24 19:18:00 Apologies for this post being a few days late, but my love for LARA bars demanded several tries and multiple flavor variations before posting—I really wanted to get this as close to the real thing as possible.Whether you’ve heard of them or not, LARA BARS are one of the very best energy bars on the market, largely because they are made from a short list of real food ingredients: nuts, fruits and spices. In addition to their inarguable yummy-ness, they boast the following assets:Unprocessed - Raw - Non-GMO - Gluten Free - Dairy Free - Soy Free - Vegan - Kosher.For comparison sake, take a look at the Lara bar ingredients and the ingredients for another apple-ish flavored bar on the market (made by Powerbar):LARABAR: Apple Pie Flavor (from http://www.larabar.com/)Dates, Walnuts, Unsweetened Apples, Almonds, Raisins, CinnamonPowerbar: Apple Cinnamon Flavor (from http://www.powerbar.com/)High Fructose Corn Syrup With Grape And Pear Juice Concentrate, Oat Bran, Maltodextrin, Milk Prot... More About: Energy , Bars , Type , Part , Part 3
Healthy Bacon Pasta? Add Broccoli, and Yes!
2008-02-22 22:30:00 I’m still going to post my homemade LARA bar-like energy bar recipe (most likely tomorrow). In the meantime, I realized that my dinner offerings have been minimal in my posts of late. This post will begin to remedy that. For me, dinner still provides an occasional hang up. On more occasions than I’d care to admit, 6 p.m. signals my brain to cozy up to a cup of tea—not a pile of raw chicken breasts. This is further exacerbated if I’ve already been experimenting in the kitchen all day for one project or another.If I were still single, the tea (and likely a nap, too) would work, but other people in the house are hungry (and I know I will be, too). .So dinner is on, and last night it was a warming pasta, one I haven’t made in awhile. It’s one of those rare meals that makes me feel simultaneously virtuous and decadent post-consumption. .The pasta appeals for several reasons. Now that the last of the winter holidays is more than a week past, and frosty windows are bare of hear... More About: Pasta , Broccoli , Healthy , Bacon
No-Bake Oatmeal Energy Bars with Cherries & Almonds
2008-02-20 23:01:00 Continuing from yesterday’s post, I offer energy bar #2: an easy-as-can-be no-bake bar, reminiscent of oatmeal cookies and studded with dried cherries and almonds (or the fruits and nuts/seeds of your choice).Inspiration for the bar stems from several ready-made bars I like, including CLIF bars, SOYJOY bars, and a vegetarian oat bar called BOBOS oat bars.I really didn’t know what I was doing the first time I tried to pull these off. I found a recipe in Vegetarian Times magazine that, based on the headnote description and photo, resembled the Bobos bar.I should have thought it through before assembly.It was a no-bake bar, too, but instead of nut butter and/or honey, it was held together with tofu.The gruel-like mixture was turned into a baking pan, topped with cheesecloth and a plate, then weighted with cans for 24 hours to set and dry out. I’m not kidding.According to my resident food critic, and otherwise lovable husband, the results could be described in two words: prison ra... More About: Energy , Bars , Almonds , Oatmeal
Home-Made Energy Bars: Part I (plus VIDEO)
2008-02-19 20:45:00 You can see the accompanying video to this post on my YouTube channel:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G XmpeWNP0wI spent the better part of my twenties eating out of my backpack.My twenties meant graduate school, and graduate school meant working a ridiculous number of jobs, including, but not limited to, fitness instructor, sociology instructor, food columnist, and personal trainer. (Oh, and then there was the business of being a graduate student and completing my degrees.)To borrow a word from our commander-in-chief, this took considerable strategery in the planning and packing of meals and snacks. All told, I did my best to stuff assorted Tupperware and baggies full of healthy vegetables, gorp, trail mix, dried fruit, granola, salads, sandwiches, and leftovers.But one can only carry so many pounds of food on one?s back without feeling the rush down the slippery slope to hobo-hood. I needed a lightweight solution, and I found it in an all-too-convenient wrapper: energy bars.In retr... More About: Video , Energy , Home , Bars , Made
Blue Cheese: A Moldy Love Story
2008-02-17 18:40:00 ?Mold? and ?delicious? are rarely uttered in the same sentence. .In an age of anti-bacterial obsession, blue cheese is an edible iconoclast. Esteemed for its stink and varicose-like veins, it flouts its stuff with defiant deliciousness. My own introduction to blue cheese came early. My maternal grandmother (?Gran?), an otherwise vivacious and indulgent woman, was obdurate about the timing and elements of evening snack-time (which just so happened to coincide with cocktail hour). .At 5 o'clock, Gran presented the same snack tray, invariably comprised of the following: crackers (always Wheat Thins or Triscuits), Canadian Cheddar (she & my grandfather hailed from Manitoba), crudits (radishes, scallions, carrots, and celery?strings removed), and a dip, either French onion or blue cheese. While it?s true I inhaled the crackers with a speed only 6-year-olds can muster, it was the blue cheese dip that sent me spinning. I double-dipped with abandon and glee, and on several occasions h... More About: Love , Story , Blue , Cheese , Love story
Amped-Up Oatmeal (Healthy Breakfast)
2008-02-15 23:48:00 I had grand plans to make this a chocolate & champagne detoxification day. My husband announced that he was going to make some fresh pineapple-orange juice with his new snazz-omatic juicer and I thought ?perfect, this will be painless.?That was until, moments later, he presented me with a mimosa.Truth be told, I dove in headfirst (I blame it on being thirsty from my early morning class?I know, pretty weak). No surprise, a mimosa made with fresh juice is definitely worth the extra effort (especially when the effort is provided by one?s husband).But while I gave in, I didn?t give up. Following my final slurp, I headed to the kitchen and made a bowl of my amped-up oatmeal.When I was little, I used to wonder why Goldilocks did not thank the three bears for letting her steal some of their oatmeal. I would have gladly given up mine for a bowlful of the Fruit Loops I knew my mother would never buy.It took me awhile, but I finally came around sometime in college, when, several thousand ... More About: Breakfast , Healthy , Oatmeal
Valentine's Day: Enlightened Chocolate Pots de Crme
2008-02-13 18:54:00 My grumpy inner child (I think her name?s Myrtle; she doesn?t come out often) longs to dismiss Valentine's Day as the Madison Avenue-produced frenzy of fluff I know it to be. But the strength of my testy convictions is curiously and invariably out-muscled each Feb. 14 by my softer, squishier side. Hence I've spent the morning constructing homemade valentines (I love a paper doily) for my son?s nursery school mates and taking photos for this V-day blog entry. Let's face it: how could a winter's day dedicated to the sanctioned consumption of chocolate be all bad? An old French proverb proclaims that "Without bread, without wine, love is nothing." Chocolate should have been added to the list, but the sentiment is solid: sharing food crystallizes feelings of love, packing far more symbolic punch on Valentine's Day than flowers, jewelry and perfume combined. My suggestion for V-Day 2008? Stick with the chocolate theme, but maximize its inherent bravura. Make chocolate pots de crme.... More About: Enlightened
Chocolate Truffles VIDEO (vegan, dairy free, and dare I say healthy?)
2008-02-12 00:32:00 Visit my Youtube Channel to watch a video demo of this recipe:CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES VIDEOA bittersweet chocolate truffle with a healthy profile? It sounds too good to be true.But it isn?t. Here?s how it all began.Over a one-month period last summer, I (willingly) slipped into an ice cream-making mania. If you?re wondering why I don?t weigh 500 pounds as a result of my frozen adventures, it?s because I limited the fun to lighter ice cream, sherbet and sorbet recipes (many from Cooking Light?s recipe database) as well as from one amazing little cookbook: Vice Cream--Over 70 Sinfully Delicious Dairy-Free Delights, by Jeff Rogers.The key to Mr. Rogers?s delights is a ?cream? made from an ingenious emulsion of raw cashews and water. With the right proportion of nuts and liquid, and a blending time of several minutes, the mixture emerges as a satiny ?cream?, a neutral backdrop for mixing up (v)ice creams every bit as tempting as their dairy cream cousins. Moreover, the cashew cream makes the... More About: Video , Chocolate , Truffles , Vegan
Thai Hot & Sour Soup with Shrimp, Ginger & Lime
2008-02-10 18:18:00 Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup?Ludwig van Beethoven .I?m keeping this entry short and sweet (or, more accurately, hot & sour) with a soup recipe; it?s what we had for dinner last night. .My next book (Enlightened Soup s) is in process and I?m behind on my testing schedule, so soup is definitely on for the days to come; I hope everyone is feeling slurpy for the coming week!(Don?t worry?I haven?t forgotten my pledge of lighter chocolate goodies for Valentine?s Day, too. They?re coming!) .I could have happily glugged multiple bowls of Chinese take-out hot & sour soup this past week. I?m especially partial to piquant foods when I?m weary; something about heat and tang revives me with a pleasant jolt through my system. But alas, Nacogdoches?s Chinese food restaurants give me the willies (among other things unsuitable for mention in a food blog!), so I had to put my appetite on hold. .Now, safely tucked back into my own kitchen, I made my o... More About: Thai , Shrimp , Ginger , Lime
Non-Perishable Healthy Snacks
2008-02-09 19:34:00 As someone who has found forgotten, squished bananas and pulverized muffins in her backpack and purse at the end of a trip, I (now) know that it is essential to combine good intentions with practicality when it comes to packing healthy food.Take it from me: non-perishable options are the way to go. They?ll satisfy and power you along, for all of the following:*Traveling*Packing lunches (for yourself or others)*Sitting someplace for long periods of time, anywhere, without access to food (jury duty, hospitals, you name it)*Trying to lose weight and/or eat more healthfully at work or play*Getting some high energy eats for a hike/bike ride/picnic*Re-fueling pre- or post-workout*Needing some tasty, healthy snack ideas in general.(I also found non-perishables especially useful when I was living solo since my eating plans changed so often).I had been meaning to write about this topic anyway; these past few days gave me plenty of time to brainstorm! I make lists for everything; the process ... More About: Snacks , Healthy
Non-Perishable Healthy Snacks
2008-02-09 03:00:00 As someone who has found forgotten, squished bananas and pulverized muffins in her backpack and purse at the end of a trip, I (now) know that it is essential to combine good intentions with practicality when it comes to packing healthy food.Take it from me: non-perishable options are the way to go. They?ll satisfy and power you along, for all of the following:*traveling*packing lunches (for yourself or others)*sitting for long periods of time anywhere (jury duty, hospitals, you name it)*trying to lose weight and/or eat more healthfully at work or play*want some high energy eats for a hike/bike ride/picnic *re-fueling pre- or post-workout*needing some tasty, healthy snack ideas in general. (I also found non-perishables especially useful when I was living solo since my eating plans changed so often).I had been meaning to write about this topic anyway; these past few days gave me plenty of time to brainstorm! I make lists for everything; the process always seems to spark additional ide... More About: Snacks , Healthy
Home with Nick!
2008-02-09 02:55:00 In short, Nick and I are back home. He's not 100%, but he seems like Nick again. Thanks so much for the get-well emails and comments--I know they helped speed his recovery! More About: Home
Stovetop Granola with Dried Cherries, Pepitas and Flaxseed
2008-02-06 18:57:00 My posts will be more sporadic in the coming days; little Nick?s flu turned out to be viral pneumonia. He checked into the hospital yesterday. It?s been a crazy few days; he is already doing MUCH better, but send a little prayer our way.I?m back home for a few hours to rest up, but sleep isn?t coming. So here I am at the computer. When I can?t rest, I feel much better by doing something (anything), so allow me to indulge myself; it will help me distract my thoughts for an hour or two.Time in the hospital leaves plenty of opportunity to think, not to mention watch TV?there seems to be a television posted in every corner of the place. I watched Oprah while Nick slept yesterday afternoon and caught one of her regular guests, Dr. Oz (he?s written all of those best sellers with titles such as "YOU: The Owner's Manual", "YOU: The Smart Patient", "YOU: On a Diet", etc.; I'm holding out for "Hey: YOU!" and "YOU: Looking at Me???!!!")The doc was all over the place with his latest book, "YO...
Muffins by Moonlight
2008-02-05 17:32:00 My little cutie came down with the flu (despite getting a flu shot), so plans are on hold for the day.The combination of being up most of the night, and Nicky sleeping more by day means that I?ve had some time for baking therapy. I will get to some enlightened chocolate recipes for Valentine?s Day soon (the truffles are coming, the truffles are coming!), but in my current state, it?s all about comfort baking. Few things are better.It has always been my belief that, at the end of the day (and in the middle of a sleepless night, for that matter), what most people want in the way of home cooked food is something consoling and uncomplicated.Enter the muffin, the most democratic of baked goods. Muffins are amenable to both state-of-the-art and cubby-hole kitchens. Cooks who have studied cooking for years find as much joy in whipping up a batch of muffins as completely green cooks, and fussy toddlers, cranky teenagers and weary adults are comforted by them.Most muffin recipes are variatio... More About: Moonlight , Fins
Finding Herbs & Spices for a Song
2008-02-03 23:13:00 When I moved into my first apartment, one of my first orders of business was to set up my kitchen. As example of my priorities, I packed a KitchenAid stand mixer into my boxes of graduate school essentials.The kitchen was smaller than most bedroom closets, windowless, and offered about 1 and 1/2 square feet of counter space; I wasn?t deterred (much). I had what I needed to get started, and set to work stocking the cupboards, drawers and shelves with my hodge-podge collection of hand-me-down cookware, a jumble of silverware, and a cookbook collection that rivaled (or possibly exceeded; it spilled over into the living room) my academic texts.What I didn?t have was herbs and spices.Anyone who has ever wandered the baking aisle of the supermarket knows that herbs and spices don?t run cheap. The store-brands are marginally less expensive than their name-brand counterparts, but the offerings are far more limited: there is no Piggly-Wiggly brand of star anise or cardamom.Yet quality herbs ... More About: Song , Herbs , Spices
More Pudding, Please
2008-02-03 00:10:00 'Make a remark,' said the Red Queen; 'it's ridiculous to leave all the conversation to the pudding!' --Lewis Carrol, from Alice's Adventures in WonderlandFebruary is finally here, and I?m glad of it.In February, you do not need to charm or entertain, nor announce resolutions. All you have to do is rise in the morning, address the tasks at hand, and be. The sheer relief of February quiet is enough to make anyone turn to pudding.And turn to pudding is exactly what I did today: it was rice pudding today, but I?m open to most every variety, from bread pudding, to stirred pudding, to sticky pudding, and even ready-made cups of pudding when time is short.Pudding is a simple luxury. Unlike foie gras with blackberry gastrique or egg and basil roulade with yellow tomato coulis, you do not need to ?understand? pudding. You just eat it. When you are filled with doubt, the thing about pudding is that you can count on it. It has no nasty surprises, no guesswork. Pudding cheers, fills, comf...
Black Bean Burgers for Dinner (plus VIDEO)
More articles from this author:2008-02-02 03:40:00 Visit my YouTube Channel for my black bean burgers video:http://www.youtube.com/user/camilla cooks .Today shaped up far better than yesterday?I even managed to make it out to lunch with friends. If you are ever in Nacogdoches (who knows, it could happen) at lunchtime, you need to go to Shelley?s?it is one of those perfect places that make you feel at home away from home and the food and service are always stellar. Here?s the link:http://www.shelleysbakerycafe.com/It ?s a bakery as well as a caf; I managed to resist the cakes and cookies only because I had to get home to relieve my babysitter.So tonight, it needed to be a simple dinner: vegetarian black bean burgers (and some oven-roasted sweet potatoes on the side).The first time I ever attempted making vegetarian burgers, I ended up with the world's most time-consuming pilaf instead. What I had wanted was something with more panache, more "oomph" than frozen veggie burgers. What I got was a sink-full of dirty pots and pans and a mo... More About: Video , Dinner , Black , Bean , Burgers 1, 2, 3 |
|
