Brownie Points

This formerly tomato-hating jam eater is finding herself in an odd situation. I'm finding myself on the obsessive end of a relationship with my tomato jam. I blame it on a number of things, but mostly I have several culinary moons converging: After having been out of town for several weekends in a row, I binged at the Saturday farmers market and bought too many cute little cherry tomatoes for...

Last week was a whirlwind visit to Michiana for a friend's wedding, and a perfect opportunity for some de-virginizing: White Castle, that is. White Castle slider in box - Chicago, Illinois by Flickr user Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer 10 clammy burgers later... I'm still not sure what my verdict is. Those are some odd little sandwiches. With that steamed sticky texture, they...

My planning for my big camping trip meal is underway. The shopping list has been created for our Saturday night meal of fajitas for 85 people (less than a 100 people this year!). Now I'm thinking of my prep directions for my different crews- in particular my food safety monitoring of my crew who will be grilling the beef and chicken. What are your strategies on being food safe with regards to...

I just got a good question in my comments: What is the difference between buttermilk and kefir? I have heard that both are good for you (talking health here) and just wondering what the differences are or similarities? Thank you They have different flavors and consistencies. I too am exploring the health aspects to them. BTW- the book Nourishing Traditions is quite the eye opener! I...

This weekend I was making a quick ingredient run to get pastry making ingredients together for a crazy afternoon of cake making. My smudged list included the standards- cream, chocolate, eggs, sugar and gelatin (for making the easy egg white free style of gelatin stabilized whipped cream mousse). Much to my surprise I discovered that my neighborhood Whole Foods doesn't carry gelatin. Having...

Sometimes salads just compose themselves. No need to struggle over what flavors go together or which textures accentuate your lettuces the best- seasonality often takes care of those questions for you. Paying attention to the selections of your farmer's markets will usually reveal flavor pairings right alongside each other. Learning to recognize these opportunities takes some practice. I've...

I now realize how delinquent I've been regarding introductions. What I should have said months ago: "Alton Brown's ribs, meet my smoker". Alton Brown's Baby Back Ribs recipe has been rocking my world lately and ushered our household into a meat phase. These baby back ribs come out meltingly tender, with a touch of sweet and spice. A great feature to this recipe is how its steps can be easily...