Rainy Day Foods

This is the perfect meal to help you with the transition from summer to fall: it is bursting with the fresh flavors of tomato and corn, but it's also a warm casserole for when the evening temperatures start to dip. The leftovers freeze well, and this could be easily converted into a soup by adding more water in the first...

I’ve made cornbread for my family from a mix but never really used cornmeal before so I thought I would try it.  Cornmeal is a kind of flour that is made from ground sweet corn. After grinding it, you will sometimes see black specks in the cornmeal.  These are safe to eat. It comes in yellow, white, blue or red...

My grandmother makes the world's best rice pudding. She always made it for me when I was home sick from school and needed a warm treat to restore my health. It's amazing that I didn't try to skip more school just for an excuse to indulge in this delicious custard. It wasn't until college that I realized that rice pudding...

emergency space blanket School started today and one of the things my kids were asked to bring was an emergency blanket in an emergency kit.  This made me wonder where they came from.  Emergency blankets were originally developed by NASA in 1964 for the U.S. space program.  They would protect the astronauts from the extreme conditions on the moon. ...

Chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans, are a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine and are the star of dishes like hummus and baba ganoush. I like them stirred into soups or paired with a curry sauce, but one of my favorite chickpea recipes is also the simplest way to eat these protein-packed beans. Roasted chickpeas are made with olive oil and...

GM Foods I’ve decided that I’m not up-to-date with current issues because until 2 weeks ago, I had never heard of GM foods or GMO’s.  After hearing about it, I decided to do some research.  There is a lot of information available about it but I felt like some of it was difficult to understand.  Here is what I got...

Golden Carrot Soup Do you love carrots as much as I do? This simple soup is flavorful and versatile enough to be made in any season. It's a refreshing appetizer when  served chilled in summertime, or it can be a warming side dish or light main course when served hot in the autumn or winter months.  The bright, beautiful...

thai curry I love Thai food, but I rarely eat it because restaurants are pretty expensive where I live.  I was too intimidated by the complex flavors to try cooking it at home.  Enter coconut curry -- simple enough for a weeknight but with a taste that will knock your socks off. This dish comes together quickly, freezes well...

Sprouting is an easy technique that, with a little practice, can give you fresh, nutrient-dense seedlings year-round.  You can grow your own sprouts indoors, even in the heart of winter.  In general, producing  sprouts is as simple as placing some beans in a jar and helping them to maintain a humid environment for a few days. The process of sprouting...

There's a good chance that shepherd's pie, or "cottage pie," will bring a different dish to mind for almost every reader of this blog post. The shepherd's pie that I ate while growing up was made of beef and gravy with the classic mashed potato "crust," but there are now many, many variations to this theme.  The meat can be...