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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Warm Winter Farro Salad

When I first got married  I used to ask my husband if he wanted salad with dinner, the answer was usually "no." After a few years I wised up and started serving him salad without asking first. But often he didn't eat much of it, despite my raving "Have some salad! It's delicious!"  Lately I've hit upon a solution. I serve salad as a main dish, or pile everything onto it so it's an integral part of the meal. Main dish salads, if only someone had told me 12 years ago!  During the Winter or whenever it's cold outside salads, either side salads or main dish salads are not top of mind, but they should be. Just as Summer is the perfect time for cold soup, Winter is the ideal season to try a warm salad. I like to start with a cooked grain like farro or quinoa then use seasonal fruits or vegetables and add some heartier elements too, in this case feta cheese and almonds.  I have to admit, this salad sounds a bit like a parody, it's fi...
Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Food Graters review

Food graters are one of the most imperfect kitchen tools. They can be dangerous when sharp and even more dangerous (not to mention less effective) over time when they get dull, they take up a lot of room and they are generally a pain to wash. I use my  Cuisinart for grating some times, but it's too much bother to clean for small jobs and I don't have a disc for very fine grating. I use a Microplane premium zester for zesting and the  Chef'n dual grater and that combination pretty much covers most grating jobs.  Years ago I had a Rubbermaid fold away grater and pardon the pun, but it was great. It folded flat, had very large grating panels and was very sharp. Over the years it grew dull and unfortunately Rubbermaid discontinued the product. Now Zyliss has a very similar product. I was a bit leery because the grating panels were smaller, but it works like a dream, quickly grating cheese and vegetables.  What I like best about the Zyliss  food grater  is how s...
Monday, January 21, 2013

Cooking Resolutions

How are you doing with your new year's resolutions? Every year I tell myself I'll cook more whole grains, eat less meat and more vegetables and fruit and try more new recipes. I know plenty of people just want to cook more, which is a worthy goal and others want to learn to cook. The nine principles listed in the book of The New Way to Cook Light just sound like common sense, and could each be considered resolutions, they are: Embrace the new variety Cook more often Eat more whole foods Favor the healthy fats Eat less meat, more plants Cook seasonally and when possible, locally Lean new cooking techniques Buy the best ingredients you can afford Cook and eat mindfully and responsibly Obviously The New Way to Cook Light covers all these principles. It's a big book with with 400 recipes. Recipes run the gamut from hearty lasagna, to artichoke and goat cheese strata and tortilla meatball soup. There are recipes like French Frisee Salad with Bacon and ...