tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30399196485689414832012-01-29T19:34:37.880-06:00Foods that'll satisfy vegetarians and nonLizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.comBlogger1081100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-3131043521872424252012-01-25T10:45:00.000-06:002012-01-25T10:45:00.483-06:00

Making a couple nights ago for E and another friend, I wanted to include a bit of color -- and to make the meal feel a little fancier than rice & beans (posts on this later). I have a ton of cranberries in the freezer (and plan to buy more) and thought a cranberry sauce would be lovely to go with -- color, a bit of tart flavor to go with slightly spicy beans, and plenty of all those good things

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-14355600738381701032012-01-22T19:56:00.000-06:002012-01-22T19:56:00.135-06:00

I bought Salpica Mango Peach Salsa from my food co-op a couple of months ago with an immediate use for it -- only I wound up not needing it because what type of party needs three different (but similar salsa), especially when two are fresh? Not mine. Anyway, I opened this salsa the other day, only to realize how runny it is. It's a bit like chunky, flavored tomato juice--which makes sense

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-26988775393885274482012-01-20T10:56:00.000-06:002012-01-20T10:56:00.366-06:00

It seems like a lot of bloggers recently (the past year or two, anyway, if that really counts as recent) have written about oven-roasted chickpeas. They're a good, high protein snack, moderately cheap to make (especially if you're not buying a can of them--or if you get said can on sale), and you can flavor them a lot of different ways for different tastes. They store well for hikes or trips to

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-63117717805571233132012-01-18T14:04:00.000-06:002012-01-18T14:04:00.271-06:00

I love Alton Brown's baked brown rice, in part because I've never screwed it up, and in part because it saves pretty well if I don't finish it. But I never want a full recipe, so I usually cut the recipe in half. And I add pepper flakes (and sometimes dried herbs) most of the time, because 1) they're super pretty and 2) they add nice flavor. This recipe is also pretty easy in that it requires

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-38128888766881962202012-01-16T13:57:00.000-06:002012-01-16T13:57:00.090-06:00

Sometimes, for me, a simple meal is just what I need to focus on taking care of myself a little better. This isn't to say that I haven't been taking care of myself--but when I'm stressed, or tired, or feeling conflicted I don't always eat as well as I could or should. It's times like these that I need the reminder that easy foods can taste amazing and that there's a lot of cooking that can go on

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-41769101793540716552012-01-14T08:38:00.000-06:002012-01-14T08:38:00.649-06:00

Now that we've all had a little time to recover from the sugar-shock of the winter holidays, let's talk about candy. Specifically, toffee. I first had a variation of this toffee when a co-worker brought it in to a staff meeting. Hooray for buttery, sugary goodness during the holidays -- or something like that. Toffees are made by boiling sugar (or molasses, apparently) with butter. The version

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-36143307176846165422012-01-11T14:48:00.000-06:002012-01-11T14:48:00.344-06:00

At work, later this month, we'll run a quick Make-Your-Own-Ice Cream activity. We'll do some "make ice cream in a bag," and some with liquid nitrogen. It should be pretty fantastic. Today though, I'm only going to talk about making ice cream in a bag. The process is pretty simple -- add milk/cream, sugar, vanilla/cocoa together in a zip-close sandwich bag & seal it, put that bag in another

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-87140739720767023182012-01-07T20:26:00.000-06:002012-01-07T21:17:49.936-06:00

Lately, a friend and I have been talking a lot about something we both find rather elusive, something we're both looking for in the places we live now (halfway across the U.S. from each other) and that we'll look for wherever we respectively end up next. In short, we're looking for community. When I moved this time, I didn't want to start over and I resisted it as long as possible -- I planned

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-16546897395911122962011-12-29T23:16:00.000-06:002011-12-29T23:16:00.393-06:00

Gluten-free friends, rejoice! A gluten-free recipe that actually browns beautifully. Okay, so it's not really that exciting for most people, but if you're used to eating GF, then you're also used to things that are slow to brown, or which don't brown at all -- which for bread recipes, can be rather frustrating. I've had a version of this recipe on my fridge for a while, courtesy of a food

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-63817660123709662562011-12-27T18:13:00.000-06:002011-12-27T18:13:00.890-06:00

When my local growers market was still running, I bought several varieties of squash I hadn't tried before, or had only tried once or twice. I've been slowly working through the pile and recently tried my ambercup squash. I hadn't tried this type before because in my grocery stores past, it was always just in a pile of winter squash with no flavor profile descriptors to be seen. Fortunately my

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-21042218442480100092011-12-25T10:56:00.000-06:002011-12-25T10:56:00.450-06:00

E and I recently hosted a double-birthday/holiday potluck. My friend whose birthday was approaching said she wanted something "chocolate," when I asked her what I could bake her -- not terribly helpful, but she's also super laid back, so I wasn't too concerned either. I, however, don't like chocolate cake and even though I wasn't planning to eat any of it (even if I'd made it gluten-free, using

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-50983236370228263562011-12-24T10:44:00.000-06:002011-12-24T10:44:00.609-06:00

E wanted snickerdoodles at Christmastime. Not my favorite cookie (though the fact of cinnamon does help the fact that they're sugar cookies), but ones that are super-simple to make--or at least uses only ingredients I tend to have around (and ingredients that tend to be cheap). Sadly, I didn't have cream of tartar. I could have subbed in baking powder--but didn't remember that little trick until

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-63390138422468186642011-12-23T08:26:00.000-06:002011-12-23T08:26:00.679-06:00

One recent morning, as I sat down to write, Smashing Pumpkins' "Thirty-Three" played on one of my Spotify playlists. I didn't come to Smashing Pumpkins until I was an adult, or at least not really, even after listening to my friend Sanna talk about them pretty often when we were in 7th grade, and even after trying to listen to them around that same time. I guess you could say I wasn't ready for

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-22191532429756411932011-12-22T18:00:00.000-06:002011-12-22T18:00:05.447-06:00

In the middle of my holiday cookie making frenzy, E asked what bonbons made with Nilla Wafers would taste like. I wasn't sure, but agreed to make some (they look deceptively like the chocolate-peanut butter buckeyes I used to always make at Christmas, in part because I coated them in dark chocolate). What?? A new type of cookie? One where I get to be inventive? Yes please. The process is

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-9692660691788434912011-12-21T20:01:00.000-06:002011-12-21T20:01:00.543-06:00

I believe I've told you before that I first tried carrot soup, cold, at a French restaurant near Berkley when I was about 15. It was okay. I don't really remember it. I also had rabbit roulades that day -- Thumper. But something about that meal, that experience did convince me to try carrot soup again -- and to try several types of carrot soup until I found some I liked. Now, I love carrot soup.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-22664650444557966932011-12-19T22:14:00.000-06:002011-12-19T22:14:02.124-06:00

  You'll have to trust me on this one. I've been eyeballing black bean brownie recipes for a while (I was reminded of them after reading about garbanzo bean brownies by my friend Victoria over at Easy Gluten Free). And for longer than that, I've been meaning to make a pot of beans (either black or pinto) and haven't gotten around to it--I want to start a crockpot of beans one morning and come

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-37240985099401381802011-12-18T18:17:00.000-06:002011-12-18T18:17:00.968-06:00

When I moved from the Midwest to the West, my then-Co-op gave me a goodie bag of "food for the road," which I very much appreciate, and which I steadily worked on during the drive. One of the things I didn't get to though was the tofu jerky, by Primal. Today, however, I did try it -- the Hickory Smoked version, which is gluten-free. And it was excellent. It pulled apart nicely, had the correct

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-45027730781623342892011-12-17T05:46:00.000-06:002011-12-17T05:46:01.040-06:00

Frosted Evergreen When I lived in the Midwest, the restaurant across the street from my apartment sold wonderful scones -- which (probably for the best) I didn't try until my last year living there, thanks to a friend I met during a 2 week long field trip for a Sustainable Agriculture class. This friend talked up these scones endlessly and after losing a bet with him (I don't even remember

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-31677306823893203152011-12-16T08:36:00.000-06:002011-12-16T08:36:00.311-06:00

The other morning, as I walked the dog, I was able to witness the better part of the lunar eclipse, which as the moon sunk beneath the earth's shadow, caused me to think about chocolate dipped sugar cookies. Again, these are neither vegan or gluten-free, but I had the opportunity to make sugar cookies with E and our friends Caitlin and I*--and how could I pass that up? Especially if it meant the

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-38607051252572201012011-12-15T11:21:00.000-06:002011-12-15T11:21:00.319-06:00

Easy and fast, I might add. This is a compote that I also use on my Apple Cinnamon yogurt scones (post on that to follow soon). Fortunately, this also saves pretty well for a couple of days. Making an apple cinnamon compote was inspired by having a few soft-ish apples and by my friend Holly, who brought a lovely compote to a dinner E and I hosted not long ago. Holly's compote used raisins,

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-15724167530924059112011-12-13T17:18:00.001-06:002011-12-14T22:59:58.185-06:00

I originally published this recipe -- by no means original -- a year or so ago, but since it's so appropriate for the holidays, I wanted to post it again. I just made these during a cookie-making party E and I held, and here are pictures of the little beauties. They're best if they've had a day to marinate -- the filling becomes creamier, more like a bon-bon. You can keep them in the

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-36711213035533843092011-11-26T09:23:00.000-06:002011-11-26T09:23:00.730-06:00

A mother I work with from time to time recently asked me if I'd read Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein. Then, a couple days later, I read about the book on NPR. How I missed this in February, when the article was originally published, I'm not sure. I was probably preoccupied with my graduate thesis defense, which was fast

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-67463729641124621602011-11-25T03:08:00.000-06:002011-11-25T03:08:00.114-06:00

A quick reminder: the follower drive is still going on. Follow this blog and tell your friends to do so too! I'm still in my "I want to eat veggies. Lots of veggies. Lots and lots of veggies. Especially green veggies..." stage and I've been making sautes and stir-fries for breakfast because the idea of sweet breakfast turns my stomach a little. In particular, I've been making some variation of

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-18066235577258909252011-11-24T07:24:00.000-06:002011-11-24T07:24:00.347-06:00

Joyous thanksgiving. Let us use today as another reminder to focus on the things we are thankful for now (my friend Erica, over at Kinds of Honey is particularly good at finding small moments of beauty in the everyday and she reminds me, through her blog posts to be a more grateful and gracious person, something I am quite thankful for) and, at some future point, discuss the problems with

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-3161608779219654362011-11-23T11:17:00.000-06:002011-11-23T11:17:00.913-06:00

Butter is incredibly easy to make. Cooking for Engineers has a lovely post on making butter--it talks about benefits of butter, the science behind making butter, and also about the "traditional" way of making butter. They use a stand mixer, but this is definitely not a requirement. In fact, it's something you can do as easily with kids as you can do with your dinner guests, or on your own. Since

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-7377490974300727902011-11-22T09:55:00.000-06:002011-11-22T09:55:00.334-06:00

So, way back in 2006, Mark Bittman posted a no-knead bread recipe. It's super-simple and I've made it several times (or made it several times back when I was still eating gluten). I remember the first time I had it was at my friend Bekah's house, as a loaf of bread her husband made and which they also, if I remember correctly, served with a winter-squash soup. It was lovely. In 2008, Bittman

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-90194811085387100102011-11-21T22:43:00.000-06:002011-11-21T22:43:00.113-06:00

Let's face it. Sometimes we crave chocolate. According to some people, chocolate cravings--especially cravings for dark chocolate are indicative of a magnesium deficiency. I've been craving dark chocolate, but unadulterated by anything else.  Brownies, up close and personal A word of warning: These brownies aren't vegan. Or gluten-free. If you're looking for something healthy--also not it.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-12021453037688548232011-11-20T09:11:00.000-06:002011-11-20T09:11:00.321-06:00

I don't like cream cheese. I'm just going to put that out there. Cream cheese frosting? It's okay. Occasionally. Like once a year, or on carrot cake. Cheesecake? I'll pass. Cream cheese on a bagel? For the most part, spare me. But at some point back, I had a vegan carrot cake at the R. Thomas Deluxe Grille in Atlanta. If you haven't been there, you should go. I make a point of stopping there

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-69617195360551309682011-11-19T22:44:00.000-06:002011-11-19T22:44:00.810-06:00

Lately, I've been on a serious veggies kick. As I've mentioned in recent posts, sweets haven't really appealed and this is about as sweet as I'd like, except really, really dark chocolates. I've also been on a bit of a ginger kick. It always adds a lovely flavor, but especially in the autumn and winter. Carrots are a winter vegetable, which means I've seen plenty of organic carrots at my local

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-7446594439076672112011-11-17T10:48:00.000-06:002011-11-17T10:48:00.763-06:00

Earlier this month, I was looking on a blog for work (yes, I sometimes get to read blogs for work, kinda awesome when i do) when I saw a post for a "kid-friendly" apple cake. The blogger was playing it up as super-healthy because it had DHA in it from flax. Okay, yes, technically you can get DHA from the ALA actually present in flax, but the human body isn't very good at making that conversion

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-60283947936001377422011-11-16T11:55:00.000-06:002011-11-16T11:55:00.431-06:00

I'm starting a follower drive. I'd like to get to 100+ followers by December 15 and so I'm announcing a follower drive. Here's the catch. If I don't get to 100, then no one gets the giveaway prize, a copy of Simply in Season or Supernatural Everyday (probably my choice, not yours, but we'll see). You can also opt out of this prize and instead I'll use that money to purchase ducks, chicken, or

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-37047891548938962782011-11-15T11:01:00.000-06:002012-01-06T09:41:51.739-06:00

My friend Rachael recently came to visit and we spent lovely days baking, cooking, hiking, and talking. One morning, we went out to breakfast. One morning we cooked together. One morning, I made this dish, based on a baked oatmeal recipe from a cookbook Rachael brought with her called Simply in Season. It seemed like a delightful base recipe to prep us for a long hike and it's nice to eat

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-7319681709266250382011-11-13T11:47:00.000-06:002011-11-13T11:47:00.653-06:00

Lately, I haven't really wanted sweets. Probably that's a good thing. But I have wanted chocolate. Not just any chocolate, but really dark chocolate. If it's not dark chocolate, I'm not interested. I could keep this trend, except I'm kinda also getting sick of chocolate--even while I still want it. I might resort to buying either the ridiculously dark chocolate or cocoa nibs, except those are

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-55462599596551815302011-11-11T22:10:00.000-06:002011-11-11T22:10:00.777-06:00

This recipe makes a ton of servings, or at least 8-10. My friend Rachael recently made it for me while she was in town. The original recipe comes from Simply in Season and Rachael made a few adjustments to the original recipe, which I tried my best to capture in the recipe below. It's a lovely meal for a cold autumn day. The day we ate it, we'd gone on a long hike in the mountains and for a while

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-37403276045709143402011-11-09T09:35:00.000-06:002011-11-09T09:35:00.410-06:00

I was recently gifted horseradish. What, I wondered, does one do with horseradish root? Aside from make it into ground horseradish root, pickled with vinegar and salt. A quick internet search returned the result "not much." One can also make it into a relish with beets and onions, apparently, or turn it into an apple soup. But mostly it acts as a flavor enhancer and is used moderately sparingly.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-1692959829317849952011-11-07T21:21:00.000-06:002011-11-07T22:30:50.438-06:00

Since going gluten-free, I miss flour tortillas. Really good ones, the type that melt in your mouth, the type patted out by hand at The Original Donut Shop on Fredricksburg, in San Antonio. The type that Chevy's restaurant chain makes on tortilla machines. The type you can buy at HEB groceries--usually still steaming--if you live in Texas. I even miss the less-than-stellar fresh flour tortillas

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-29504159158184677592011-11-04T10:50:00.000-05:002011-11-04T10:50:00.072-05:00

My friend Marissa, over at We*Meat*Again recently suggested I should post about making yogurt. I've been making yogurt pretty regularly for about 18 months now--when I'm in a good habit of it, I make it once a week, every week. But since moving, I've fallen back out of the habit until recently. Needless to say, at this point I've probably made 40+ batches of yogurt, just under 2 quarts at a

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-30997251513695745062011-11-02T10:34:00.000-05:002011-11-02T10:34:00.154-05:00

Sometimes, the road you're on seems to lead no where.  That's whenit's time to decide whether you want to forge your own path, or just continue down the road and hope for a scenic detour.(Photo taken October 25, 2011) I wanted to make a brown rice risotto because I really, really like brown rice--at least as far as rices are concerned. And I've been enjoying the lemon risotto E's been making,

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-32376182160935575462011-10-31T19:27:00.001-05:002011-10-31T19:27:09.745-05:00

Apple of My Eye No recipe this time. I'll just put that out there right now. But I've been walking past these apples at least once a day for the past week (or at least ones that look like these apples--hopefully not actually the same apples) and they were too Halloween-y adorable not to share. Something to aspire to, perhaps, if I want to ruin a perfectly good apple in order to decorate it.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-86236403685867288772011-10-29T11:04:00.000-05:002011-12-24T17:12:32.375-06:00

Multigrain Bread with Cream Cheese When E wanted to make a creamy artichoke pasta with garlic bread, and I made her a French-style bread, I wanted to make myself bread also. I haven't done much with gluten-free yeast breads, but I do get tired of buying them, because most seem far too expensive and often don't taste that great. In my current town, the GF bread options are better (and tastier)

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-18308806399789337632011-10-28T11:11:00.000-05:002011-10-28T11:11:00.181-05:00

Pan Muerto...well, kinda, not really When I was a the Growers Market the other day, I couldn't resist taking pictures of a few of the more innovative Halloween-ish decorations. The bread coffins above were one of my favorites though and could turn into an easy Halloween decoration if you needed something last minute--or just something to help you get a little more in the spirit (I'md

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-87496646735366048502011-10-27T10:09:00.000-05:002011-10-27T10:09:00.097-05:00

Ingredients, minus dairy products It's almost Halloween! What better to do than to have Halloween-themed food (which I fully intend to do for at least a couple of posts--hopefully that intention will actually happen!)? This post is inspired by E's recent endeavors into a (wonderful) lemon risotto. She's made it a couple of times now and it seems worthy of sharing with others. I'm not sure

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-6102303531889159232011-10-26T08:29:00.000-05:002011-10-26T08:29:00.227-05:00

At work, we have a black light. We also have water beads (aka, water marbles, warblettes, Orbeez, and many other names). We also have a quinine solution. In other words, I work at a pretty awesome place. Quinine Soaked Water Beads Under Black Light We soaked the water beads in our quinine solutions until they swelled (though not as much as they swelled in regular water and we're not sure why

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-88248818456082106992011-10-25T15:30:00.000-05:002011-10-25T15:30:00.799-05:00

Late last week, I had the opportunity to learn about Green Halloween. I spent some time reading through the website, trying to figure out the basic principles and ideas behind the movement, and also trying to figure out who is behind the movement. I'm still not sure who's behind it aside from "EcoMom Alliance" which I'd never heard of and haven't had much time to research--but they dub themselves

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-10590186543515617502011-10-25T09:57:00.000-05:002011-10-25T09:57:00.391-05:00

Regardless of exactly how you make it, or what you call it, chocolate-peanut butter-powdered sugar covered cereal is pretty addictive--and super quick to make. I don't think I've ever spent more than about 15 minutes from start to finish (though it does take me longer when I go the route of stove-top melting the chocolate, peanut butter, and butter). When I lived in the Midwest, I could reliably

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-56209937539510061352011-10-24T10:59:00.000-05:002011-10-24T10:59:00.912-05:00

On a mountain It must be fall. I'm in serious baking mode. French-style bread. Gluten-free risen bread. Monster cookies. Brownies (semi-failure). Chocolate pumpkin cake. Carrot cake. If only I had more time. The day I made this cake, I also hiked a nearby mountain with a co-worker and then volunteered to yank invasive species out of the ground at a local park for three hours in advance of

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-81013491298135935572011-10-22T10:18:00.000-05:002011-10-22T10:18:00.091-05:00

Brown Rice (left) v. Oat Groats (right) As the days start to change from summery to autumn-y (and they should, since we're officially in autumn as of September 23rd), I want hot breakfast more often. My new love right now -- oat groats aka oat berries. They look a little like brown rice (see the picture, they're the ones on the right without any little green flecks) and have that kind of chewy

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-37612481332694465442011-10-20T23:03:00.000-05:002011-10-25T09:54:29.232-05:00

E and her friends (becoming my friends) have a weekly knitting group, Knit at Night, and during the past knitting group session, I crocheted this little devil from Creepy Cute. This fellow seems super-appropriate for Halloween. He's supposed to be done with terra cotta colored yarn, but since I didn't have that I went for green (better than a variegated devil!). He might go sit in the store

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-80523110635177148292011-10-20T13:12:00.002-05:002011-10-20T13:12:00.156-05:00

Not too long ago, my roommate told me she wanted to make a creamy Italian dish with garlic, artichoke, and pasta. With it, she wanted garlic bread. "I'll stop by the co-op and pick some up. Monday night sound okay for Italian?" "Sure," I replied. A couple days later, on Sunday, at work, I was talking with co-workers about baking when I was struck by the urge to make bread. A gluten-free bread

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-83579055335132139262011-10-18T10:15:00.000-05:002011-10-18T10:15:32.001-05:00

Okay, so the name is a bit deceptive. Maybe more than a bit. The only thing that's pumpkin about this cake is the color and (kinda) the shape. E's boyfriend asked for a "very moist" chocolate cake for his birthday and he wanted it pumpkin-themed. The cake, not the birthday (though a pumpkin-themed birthday would be pretty sweet--coming from someone who loves carrot cake and pumpkin bread).

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-28410299907213331302011-09-24T23:09:00.000-05:002011-09-24T23:09:00.202-05:00

E headed back to the state she grew up in and, in preparation for this trip, picked up some snacks for herself at our local co-op. Among other things, she picked out two different types of cookies from the Wow Baking Company. She's not gluten-free, but her mom is encouraging her to avoid wheat--and from the research I've started doing on this, it seems like this might be moderately sound advice.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-78567133228613251572011-09-22T09:22:00.000-05:002011-09-22T09:22:00.539-05:00

Blackberries are plentiful and everyone's out picking them. I see people people walking around with mason jars half-filled or filled with blackberries. I see people (like myself) wandering around with plastic bags and tubs gathering berries. And I see people (also like myself) picking just a couple and eating them. You can tell a blackberry is ready to pick when it practically melts off its stem

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-68963472795036377642011-09-20T17:57:00.000-05:002011-09-20T17:57:39.774-05:00

Depression-Era Photo (but whatshould we call ourselves?),Australia (I think) My grandmother grew up during the Great Depression. Her father, fortunately, was a doctor and people always figured out a way to pay--or barter--for his services. They got chickens, or pies, or fresh bread in exchange for services. I'm sure it made my great-grandfather's life difficult from time-to-time--medical

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-56454241912295099342011-09-19T09:02:00.000-05:002011-09-19T09:02:00.283-05:00

A friend recently gifted me a snake melon aka an Armenian cucumber. I looked at it, long and thin with pale green, ribbed skin, and said thanks and then wondered "what the hell do I do with this??" But, I like cucumber, which is what this (botanically speaking) melon tastes like and so I was pretty sure I could come up with something. I stuck it in my fridge and forgot about it for

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-23581516026203770372011-09-15T09:49:00.000-05:002011-09-15T09:49:00.246-05:00

My roommate, E, and I made dinner together Sunday night. She wanted to make her scalloped potatoes with chevre (almost all the ingredients came from our growers market) and asked me to pick up something to go with them. I picked up broccoli crowns (which we steamed) and beets (because I like them and wanted some for the week), which I roasted. More on that later, in a separate post. E had bought

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-66467456968256906822011-09-13T09:19:00.000-05:002011-09-13T14:02:55.730-05:00

My new farmers market has an abundance of things I've never heard of, but the one that first caught my attention was saltwort, aka Batis maritima. One of the local producers has carried this the past few weeks and the first week, the week I actually bought it (a sign said it went well in salads) I had trouble finding out anything about it on the internet. Saltwort (aka turtleweed), according

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-91399774918226001792011-09-12T21:45:00.000-05:002011-09-12T21:48:13.834-05:00

My friend Marissa, over at We*Meat*Again just posted a good reminder to us all about how buying locally doesn't always mean buying organically or ethically. Remember, if you're opting for local and have the opportunity to talk to farmers about their practices you should do so. Or visit the farm, if that's an option. Visiting a farm will tell you even more than just talking to your producer,

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-22776863128367631382011-08-29T14:57:00.000-05:002011-08-29T14:57:00.446-05:00

Grand Teton National Park During the epic road trip I recently took and also wrote about here, I decided to detour in such a way that I could visit Grand Teton National Park (and while I was nearby, Yellowstone so I could see Old Faithful, because why not?). I'm thankful that my travel plans worked out in such a way that I was able to stay in Jackson for a day and a half, so I would have

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-75660621759401013012011-08-26T14:34:00.000-05:002011-08-26T14:34:50.602-05:00

Badlands National Park Recently, I took an epic road trip and during this road trip had the opportunity to eat out a couple of times--another review to come soon! One of the places I ate was Tally's Silver Spoon in Rapid City, South Dakota. I arrived early, after driving from the Badlands and Wall Drug, which inconveniently didn't open when I was 1) ready for breakfast--and preferably

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-43369659412147672652011-08-18T14:04:00.002-05:002011-08-18T14:04:00.168-05:00

Recently, I decided to buy Chebe, which provides a variety of gluten-free bread mixes and (apparently) frozen goods. I hadn't tried anything by this brand before, but I've been craving gluten-free bread that isn't corn tortillas. Not that there aren't other options out there--and plenty of them--but while I'm staying with friends, I'm trying to minimize the number of things I buy and leave in

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-90116505583351514742011-08-16T20:03:00.000-05:002011-08-16T20:03:19.375-05:00

A few years ago, I was visiting family in Maine and had the opportunity to go to a church-sponsored lobster roll feast. Here are a few things you should know: 1) I love Maine. As much as I'm ready to give up (Midwestern) winters, you could probably offer me a job in Maine (coast Maine, just so we're clear, because that's the only part of the state I'm familiar with) and I'd take it in a

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-14975272379765926582011-08-13T16:10:00.001-05:002011-08-13T16:10:00.263-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, I was walking around the Main Street Farmer's Market in my town and the co-op was selling basil lemonade. Oh, goodness this sounded refreshing--at 7 a.m., it was already in the mid-80s, and by the time I was walking around the market, it was past 7 a.m. The heat index for the day reached nearly 120. I live in a part of the country where not everyone has

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-11385321769272739072011-08-12T10:10:00.002-05:002011-08-12T22:27:10.561-05:00

A friend and I decided to try our hand at making mozzarella this weekend. Cheese-making has been on my must-learn list for a while, so I was thrilled to learn a friend had the same desire. We looked up a recipe in a cheese-making book, which called for a special mozzarella starter. Our reaction, ha. One, we weren't sure where we would find this if we did want to use it (to the best of my

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-87408318858449947592011-08-08T15:15:00.038-05:002011-08-08T15:15:00.504-05:00

Okay, so strictly speaking the tortillas aren't critical. But they make a nice base for this light, simple summer meal. You could certainly use flour tortillas, but since I'm avoiding gluten and rice tortillas are really kinda expensive to buy, I'm featuring this using corn tortillas. The tortillas also make great absorber of stone-fruit juices. The stone fruits, if you're not familiar with the

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-66595154287582238962011-08-06T14:51:00.012-05:002011-09-12T11:02:00.265-05:00

Banana Bite with Sprinkles A while back, my friend Annie made chocolate-dipped frozen banana bites and brought them to a party. I'm not sure which website she found the idea from, otherwise I would try to credit that as well. However, there are a lot of variations of this recipe out there. Annie was trying to clear out extra ingredients from her kitchen before she went to Wyoming. These banana

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-85044833061432706332011-08-05T20:55:00.000-05:002011-08-05T20:55:10.350-05:00

Kirksville, MO Columbia, MO Recently, as I've walked around my town, I've noticed more graffiti. This makes me happy, but only because it's tasteful graffiti. The paint isn't drippy looking and it seems to be placed in tiny places that you wouldn't necessarily notice if you weren't looking. I've seen similar graffiti in other towns, including Columbia, MO and Nashville, TN. It's a lot of

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-60643788834151852832011-07-12T13:12:00.000-05:002011-07-12T13:12:00.389-05:00

On Saturday, at the farmers market, I was able to buy purslane from a local, organic farmer. Why, you might ask, would I buy something that I could forage so easily (purslane, I've learned from the internet grows all over the world and in the United States can be found pretty much everywhere)? Because my town sprays everything. In spring and fall, especially, lawns are unnaturally green and

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-58830961966540990222011-07-09T10:19:00.027-05:002011-07-09T10:19:00.365-05:00

Growing up, I ate Mexican food fairly often. My dad was raised in Texas and although my mom moved around a lot, she spent high school and college in Texas. When my dad was transferred to North Carolina in the mid 1980s, we discovered we discovered a lack of Mexican food. In city I grew up in, Mexican food options consisted of not much--and the only place even remotely close to the part of the

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-12123497808248144112011-07-08T13:08:00.000-05:002011-07-08T13:08:00.414-05:00

Black Raspberries on Bush Brenna and I went foraging for raspberries on Wednesday, in a local park. I'd seen the raspberry bushes on walks/runs earlier in the season, and while searching for mulberries. The park is, unfortunately, regularly sprayed for mosquitoes--I can find the schedule on the city website, which I suppose is handy--and round-up is clearly used on the grass next to the paths.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-36613711915392501172011-07-07T10:29:00.000-05:002011-07-07T10:29:28.426-05:00

Reduced Price Tropicana I don't usually buy carton OJ--or any other drinks for that matter. But, my local grocery store had reduced prices on a few cartons of Tropicana orange juice on July 2--the store would be closed on the 3rd and 4th and the cartons expired on the 4th. And like many Americans--even food-choice conscious Americans--I like cheap food. "This will make a great smoothie addition

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-56085153788688722362011-07-06T15:21:00.024-05:002011-07-06T15:21:00.326-05:00

Sauteed Red Chard with Raisins and Garlic Scapes There are many varieties of chard--Swiss chard, "bright lights" or rainbow chard, and red chard are what I see here most often (this has to do with their broad popularity, I suspect, which makes grocery stores more likely to carry these varieties), though I've also seen silverbeet. Apparently, if you buy/grow a variety with a colored stem, you

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-88236938719899321762011-07-06T06:07:00.001-05:002011-07-06T06:08:14.281-05:00

You know what usually happens on days like yesterday -- where I have pressure upped in one arena (professional) and a small series of (what now seem like negative, but maybe that'll change with distance) unexpected changes in another (personal)? I go on a bike, or a run, or a long walk. When I say a long walk, of course, I mean LONG. Unhealthy long. Exercise is my primary coping mechanism. A

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-62313393997208813622011-07-05T12:18:00.003-05:002011-07-06T06:16:07.902-05:00

Hormel Nature Center Wildflowers, West Prairie Loop I had the opportunity this weekend to go visit a friend who is living in Austin, Minnesota for the summer. My friend and I biked around town (deviant behavior! Most people drive everywhere, though the town is small, with wide streets and wide shoulders) and visited the Hormel Nature Center (aside from the people finishing up a bike race, we

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-6056205792462675702011-07-04T14:08:00.001-05:002011-07-09T08:15:12.160-05:00

My co-op is running a sale for the first two weeks of July on Food Should Taste Good Hemp Chips (but none of the other Food Should Taste Good products), so I decided to give the chips a try. I love the FSTG sweet potato chips best, but haven't disliked any of their chips so far. The same is true for these hemp chips, which to be honest, are glorified blue corn tortilla chips. In fact, organic

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-3416040753558958092011-06-19T06:30:00.001-05:002011-06-19T06:30:00.204-05:00

Gluten-Free Southern Biscuits Since going gluten-free, I MISS bread. A lot. And I'm pretty sure I ate less of it than many people do. The funny thing is, I think I miss it mostly because I can't have it anymore, rather than because I actually miss it. But I do miss the opportunity to make homemade bread -- baking gluten-free is expensive and it doesn't work as well as gluten-laden bread (or

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-43742013517119949552011-06-18T09:37:00.000-05:002011-06-18T09:37:11.812-05:00

 Lime-Mulberry Scones, Gluten-Free Once I made my mulberry jam (and knowing I'd make more with the mulberries Annie, Brenna, and a few other friends picked with me Thursday afternoon), I wanted to get to the important part -- using up my jam! I had company over and thought scones would be a nice morning surprise (and, I've been wanting to make these scones gluten-free ever since I discovered

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-88879161556074466342011-06-16T10:13:00.000-05:002011-06-16T10:13:06.854-05:00

 Mulberry Jam Mulberries, despite what the children's song would like you to believe, don't grow on a bush. They grow on a tree--a tree that can become huge. Some people see mulberry trees as a pest, something they'd like to get rid of, because when birds eat mulberries, it turns their poop purple. Charming, right? But I'm not convinced that purple birdcrap is any worse than white birdcrap.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-87871551062847897232011-05-12T09:16:00.000-05:002011-05-13T15:30:29.010-05:00

When I visit my parents and we go out for Indian food, this is the dish my mom usually wants to order. It's a stew-like dish, usually made with a cashew-cream sauce (at least at the restaurants we go to). My mom likes the creamy smoothness of the dishes and the "jewels" of vegetables. According to various sources (and menus!) "navratan" means "nine jewels" and refers to the mixture of vegetables

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-83971828199899470332011-05-06T18:08:00.001-05:002011-05-06T18:10:15.026-05:00

The end of the semester is a strange beast. Even this year, when I didn't feel as busy, I didn't seem to find the time to hop on here and blog. But! I have been baking and cooking and so new recipes should appear...soonish. Not to mention, the farmer's markets are starting up and I'm beginning to feel a new blogging-wind coming on (or maybe that's the storm brewing outside). Some recipes I've

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-12901450095319352902011-03-12T15:58:00.001-06:002011-07-09T08:14:54.897-05:00

A man I used to know, Luke Johnson, recently published his first book of poetry, After the Ark, with NYQ Press. I'm a bit biased toward the book, of course, since I knew Luke a few years ago, but I found a lot to love about the poems in this book and the arc of the poems as a whole. Luke plays with formal poetry (often breaking the rules) and the poems in the book create an elegy to his mother.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-61736140620344502872011-03-12T13:11:00.001-06:002011-07-09T08:13:12.586-05:00

 Cappuccino Cookies (they're vegan and gluten-free!) As regular readers know, a friend of mine requires a gluten-free diet and her boyfriend is vegan. Cooking and baking for them isn't a challenge, exactly, but it is always an adventure, especially when I've been eager to try a new (non-vegan and/or GF) recipe. Luckily, the vegan is happy whenever someone bakes him something (the best type

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-13898124189289303702011-02-24T14:17:00.001-06:002011-02-24T14:17:54.704-06:00

 Biscotti. A coffeehouse indulgence. Or from a box at the grocery store. Or homemade--but gosh, what a hassle! I've made biscotti from scratch a few times and although these twice-baked cookies are actually pretty simple, they seem intimidating. Get the dough just right. Add ingredients. Hope they hold together okay when they're finished. Geez. I made these biscotti recently, for a presentation

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-33786951397493459172011-02-14T14:19:00.002-06:002011-07-09T08:13:36.974-05:00

Not long ago, I was baking with my friend Annie of Simple Gifts. We were in the mood to experiment and we wanted something we could decorate. We finally decided to make cupcakes. We set our friend Lauren on the task of finding a straight-forward cucpcake recipe that we could stick Reese's miniatures in and when I vetoed chocolate cupcakes, Lauren decided on a simple vanilla cupcake--an Amy

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-11681085787269114152011-02-10T14:52:00.005-06:002011-02-10T15:28:10.713-06:00

On Monday, I went to watch Northern Exposure at a friend's house. When I walked in, the house smelled of bread--lovely!--and another friend and I talked about how nice it would be to make bread. I didn't know if we'd follow through--there are so many things that can get in the way of a simple afternoon of baking. But yesterday, after we worked in the local food co-op for a while, we went to my

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-37028376740974350192011-02-07T17:39:00.011-06:002011-02-08T15:01:47.907-06:00

The Midwest has gotten blasted by cold air (again!) this week. We're seeing highs in the single digits (gasp!) before the wind chill for the first part of this week. This seemed like the perfect excuse to make a hearty chili. A while back I purchased some white chili blend from Pendery's Spices, but I hadn't experimented with it. Chili generally feels heavy to me--but I know it'll feel even

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-76480229755866781292011-02-03T13:56:00.006-06:002011-02-03T14:11:51.493-06:00

Okay, so I don't normally go for product reviews on other blogs and so the fact that I'm writing one speaks to how much I love this stuff. I found this almond butter about a year ago at a Trader Joe's in Charlotte, NC and have been hooked ever since (if only there was a TJs closer to me!).But for a while the almond butter disappeared from shelves and it seemed people everywhere were posting on

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-70536269051104204942011-02-02T15:11:00.003-06:002011-02-02T15:32:46.137-06:00

Okay, so my friend Gen's birthday was Monday. She's gluten-intolerant and less than thrilled with the GF cupcake mixes available on the shelves (though apparently some are better than others). For her birthday though, she wanted cupcakes--well, okay, she's been wanting them for a while now. Chocolate cupcakes.Well, why not? Using a GF flour mix, most things are easy enough to convert even if they

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-65778254223911316222010-11-18T13:10:00.003-06:002010-11-18T13:29:33.147-06:00

One of the things I struggle with when I'm on campus for the day: lunch. I need something and eventually I get tired of sandwiches--hummus & tomato; hummus, tomato & avocado; peanut butter; peanut butter & jelly or peanut butter & banana.I have to take food that's not going to get smashed and doesn't (necessarily) need to be refrigerated. For a while, I took rice & fruit salads, or millet dishes,

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-79249670444054354952010-09-27T22:22:00.002-05:002010-09-27T22:31:14.193-05:00

I haven't posted in a long time. Things have been busy and I haven't been playing with recipes I feel either 1) particularly like posting or 2) particularly like photographing so that I can, in fact, post them and make them at least somewhat visually appealing.Recently, I started volunteering at a soup kitchen in my community. The guests who come have formed a community, a supportive community.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-37564691788909905052010-03-03T07:23:00.005-06:002010-03-03T07:41:05.344-06:00

It's been a while since I've written. Being a grad student is great because it means that (in my case) I'm being paid to do something I love and live in a wonderful little town. It also means that I go through weeks upon weeks where I feel like it's all I can do to keep my head above the water. Actually, this semester hasn't been too bad, but all my classes are night classes which significantly

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-24043927982848808052009-10-21T13:33:00.006-05:002009-10-21T13:43:35.038-05:00

So, I was biking along on a Saturday morning and what did I spy in the ditch? A runaway pumpkin! What more could I want out of life. I'm sure it escaped from a truck on the way to the farmers market. It was a lovely little pie pumpkin that suffered a hairline fracture when it fell. I rescued it...only to take it home, scoop out its guts, and slip it into the oven (lightly coated with oil, face

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-52956707372325002482009-10-19T13:09:00.002-05:002009-10-19T18:15:21.975-05:00

This simple recipe combines some of the best flavors of fall: pumpkin and apple. The recipe I originally made used freshly baked, mashed pie pumpkin, but you can also use the 100% pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!). The jar on the right is the pumpkin butter; the two smaller jars are spicy pineapple core relish.The best part about this recipe is how fast and simple it is to make. How long

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-43729588874478120702009-10-18T19:09:00.004-05:002009-10-18T19:21:11.051-05:00

At some point, I was watching Food Network as it played in the locker room of a gym I belonged to and Paula Deen was making Krispy Kreme bread pudding. My immediate reaction: eww. It didn't help when I saw how many donuts and how much cream went into the mix. I told myself I would never make a donut bread pudding.But then, I saw a recipe in Women's Day for a Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding. "Oh

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-13610657628604730672009-09-28T19:19:00.004-05:002011-09-12T11:02:27.333-05:00

This dish can be as mild or spicy as you like--and if you prefer more spicy than someone you'll be eating it with, kick the spice up some and serve the stew with a dollop of yogurt, which can be mixed in to cut the heat for those people with more sensitive tongues. One of the great things about this stew is that it is rather forgiving. If you don't have the exact ingredients listed below,

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-25683765855591477532009-09-28T18:37:00.004-05:002009-09-28T19:19:15.938-05:00

Every fall, my graduate department hosts a "Welcome Back" party of some sort--held at a local park and potluck style. Although attendants are encouraged to bring something homemade, frequently we wind up with people who stop at the store on their way over and bring some sort of chips and dip, or something sweet. This year, more than last, these functions seem to see more of the name brand (or

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-1256623860899691882009-09-13T20:32:00.003-05:002009-09-13T20:41:08.157-05:00

I was eating dinner with a couple of friends last night: poached salmon was the star dish, accompanied by feta-roasted bell pepper muffins (to die for!), watermelon and grapes tossed together in the same bowl, and some squash.The friend hosting dinner had been given several squash by her well-meaning parents, but wasn't sure what to do with them. She had zucchini and yellow squash, plus some

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-77681702983827152572009-08-12T08:00:00.000-05:002009-08-11T21:10:58.472-05:00

Okay, so this is cheating a bit. This image is from last year, around the times the leaves fell. But where I lived this summer, there wasn't anywhere to bike (at least not without risking getting hit by an 18-wheeler, a normal driver, or say, flying road debris) and so now that I'm back, I've started biking again.My favorite time to bike is in the morning, when the sun is first rising. The bugs

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-12290204530262637072009-08-11T11:10:00.002-05:002009-08-11T11:13:04.397-05:00

Sorry for the longer than expected delay in getting this posted. I have moved back to school and the weather here is gorgeous so I have been out enjoying it--and before that was the 2 day drive and the packing/unpacking--well, nonetheless, this is the pizza/pasta sauce I wrote about in my previous post.As with any of these recipes, feel free to adjust the seasonings to your preference. I like my

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-10036820152076257982009-08-03T14:18:00.003-05:002009-08-03T14:35:52.132-05:00

I've gone to the beach twice in the past three weeks to see a friend who will soon be moving across the country (she's a Marine and being relocated to a new base). I've had a great time both weekends I was down there--cooking, picking blueberries, seeing other friends, playing with her daughter. And while I was down there, we made pizza. She's not a big pizza (or bread) eater and I'm not really

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039919648568941483.post-62754779585449582232009-07-14T10:53:00.003-05:002009-07-14T11:08:38.213-05:00

I've been thinking about it and it's high time that I post one of my recipes that takes you either the vegetarian OR the flexitarian (um, this time I mean meat-eating) way. This is one of my old fallback recipes when I don't know what to make and have the ingredients on hand. As a student, easier said than done especially since I'm not eating chicken any longer. All the same, it's a good recipe

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345722657090020840noreply@blogger.com0