making life delicious blog
Have you ever seen the bags of dried chiles in the grocery, the ones in the Mexican foods aisle, and wondered what to do with them? There are so many different varieties to choose from, and each has its own flavor profile and heat level which can make experimenting fun and/or painful. We keep several [...]
I didn’t grow up on a farm, but my family has a long history in agriculture and I grew up in Missouri and Illinois, where farms were abundant. In the summer you couldn’t drive anywhere in central Illinois without seeing corn and soybean fields, and detasseling was a common summer job for teens. In the [...]
Every year we plant a few new (to us) tomato varieties to see how they grow in our garden, and one of our new favorites for this year is the Amish Paste, a meaty plum tomato that doesn’t have too much juice, so it’s perfect for sauces and salsas. Our plant has grown huge, over [...]
Update August 15, 2011: Thanks to Dash Recipes for featuring this recipe! Update September 12, 2011: Thanks to The New York Times for featuring this recipe! It’s summertime and our garden is bursting with tomatoes, peppers, and basil, so we decided to sauté our homegrown vegetables with some yellow zucchini, mushrooms, onions, and garlic as [...]
Now that Builder Guy is almost 9, we decided he was ready to learn some kitchen knife skills, something a little more advanced than spreading butter and jam. So I thought of some fruits and vegetables that he could learn on, things that weren’t too difficult and would allow him to easily handle it while [...]
When you get a big basket of peaches as beautiful as this, it’s time to cook. We got these in South Carolina a few weeks ago while visiting family, and they were so fresh and sweet that the smell made me want to bury my face in the basket. They still needed a couple days [...]
“Cherries!” That’s the shout I hear when the boys find cherries on the counter and eagerly pop them in their mouths and pull off the stems. They can’t resist the deep red fruits, and neither can I. Seeing their happy smiles with cherry juice all over their hands and faces is one of my favorite [...]
When the blueberries start to ripen on our bushes, the boys get excited and eagerly eat the fresh berries as we bring them inside. Occasionally I’m able to set some aside for cooking projects, but most of the time I have competition for their juicy goodness. This time I was able to whip up some [...]
When summer rolls around and it’s time to start making jams and jellies again, I stock up on pectin. Many of the recipes I make call for regular pectin, which requires cooking the jam or jelly, but I also like instant pectin for no-cook jams. Skipping the cooking process keeps the wonderful fresh flavor of [...]
My first experience in an Asian grocery store was on the island of Saipan back in 1989. I was still new to the small island and its mix of cultures, and Asian ingredients were not part of my vocabulary, so browsing through a bewildering array of soy sauces left my head spinning and I couldn’t [...]
It's spring in the U.S. and the following foods may be in season in your area:
artichokes, fennel, fiddleheads, radishes, broccoli, rhubarb, kale, cresses, spinach, spring lettuces, chard, cabbages, chives, cilantro, collards, tatsoi, mustard greens, spring onions, asparagus, rosemary, wild garlic, ramps, strawberries, blueberries, cherries
Eat fresh seasonal produce to stay healthy and help your food budget.Learn more about seasonal and sustainable cooking at Sustainable Table - In the Kitchen.
