The ubiquitous potato salad can often be a disappointment. On virtually every BBQ table spread, the potato salad runs the gamut from tangy treat that pairs perfectly with a hot-off-the-grill burger, to gloopy mess that no one touches. It also runs afoul of Mother Nature and becomes a bacteria trap under a penetrating summer sun. But Shawn Gavin of Slofoodgroup has come up with a solution to prolong the life of the potato salad AND make it taste even more delicious so you can be sure you won’t disappoint anyone (especially yourself!) By adding sour cream to the mayo base…
Author: emma
I hated mangoes as a kid. They looked weird, tasted strange and felt akin to a punishment in my mouth. Mangoes were something adults ate, like brussel sprouts and blue cheese, and my child brain and tastebuds couldn’t understand the appeal of the heart-shaped oval that smelled faintly of melon (which I also hated.) Fast forward decades and I can proudly say that I am now a mango lover. I use them in smoothies and atop Greek yogurt. I pour rum on long slices and serve them as dessert. I’ve even made body scrubs with them, mixing the puree with…
Congee, or conjee, juk, jook and various other names is a rice porridge served in Asian countries usually as a breakfast dish. I’ve been hooked on it since the first time I tasted it in Vietnam at a hotel I was staying in while in Hanoi. I love oatmeal, so was keen on trying this porridge-y soupy new-to-me dish one steamy July morning. What a revelation! Rather than sweet it was savory, warming and hearty, with shredded chicken and mushrooms nestled in an earthy and salty slurry. On top of this blank canvas I dribbled chili sauce and soy sauce,…
The month of May is the gateway to summer: longer sunny days, cocktails on the sand, the smell of smoldering charcoal lacing the air. It’s also National Barbeque Month, but instead of the typical burgers and dogs you throw on the grill try making these short rib tacos instead. You start with a cut of beef called chuck roll which contains a mix of tough and tender muscles that come from an area between the ribs and backbone. This mix lends itself to a slow four-hour braise with breaks down the fibres and allows the pepper, garlic and tomato slurry…
Since the pandemic lockdowns began in early 2020 and the food supply challenges increased this year, many people have looked for ways to be self-sufficient. Raising egg-laying hens, buying meat from local farmers, planting vegetable gardens and growing one’s own food are just some of the sustainable life changes Americans have made in the last two years. Now, with rising inflation, food insecurity is a real issue for more and more people as it becomes difficult to stretch the dollar. Growing one’s own food sounds daunting to some, but it can be done without the need for land, lots of…
The first time I made Pad Thai, the stir-fried Thai street food that is on every Thai restaurant menu, was in Thailand at a cooking school I found on online during an extended trip to South East Asia. The school is nestled among rolling hills on the outskirts of Chiang Mai and the cooking classes are held outside under a corrugated overhang where gas stoves topped with black woks line up side by side waiting for novice chefs to learn how to make signature Thai dishes. I don’t recall there being any refrigerators at the school, but there was no…
At this time of year farmers markets abound with appealing spring vegetables: asparagus, spinach, peas, green onions, ramps. If you’re like me you buy all of it, imagining future plant-based meals that will delight family and friends, making them marvel over how you made vegetables taste so good. But sometimes I get stuck, not in the mood to delve into a new and complicated recipe, and yearning for a bowl of my go-to comfort food: soup! I can eat soup any time of day and in any season, and somehow the world seems a bit brighter when I tuck into…
An online comment on her made-from-scratch enchilada recipe is what prompted Ana Maria Regalado to create what she says is a real ‘lazy’ recipe for enchiladas. Regalado noticed the commenter claim that her homemade enchilada recipe was ‘lazy’ even though the recipe contained not only meat but a sauce made from scratch. My response was, ‘No, I will show you the lazy way,’ Regalado said. The ‘lazy way’ comprises four ingredients and a little short-on-time ingenuity: frozen taquitos (small, rolled tortillas stuffed with a savory meat filling and cheese), shredded cheese, canned sauce and toppings that can include shredded lettuce,…
After having lost her long-term job during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Minnesota woman decided to take her health into her own hands and lost almost half of her body weight by focusing on healing, rather than weight loss. Katie Schmitt, 43, of Rochester, MN, joined WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers) at 240 pounds and during a very low point in her life and it was then that she decided to assess her life goals and what she really wanted for the future. I was thrown into a different life during the pandemic…It was a really…
Who doesn’t love pancakes? Thin or thick, high-stack or scattered medallions, pancakes continue to be a breakfast favorite and evoke happiness and celebration. With more and more people focusing on what they put in their bodies and following low carb, low fat, no sugar, gluten free diets, can pancakes really be a healthful breakfast option? The answer is YES, and you probably already have the key ingredients in your fridge and pantry. https://youtu.be/Fee8Kx4gEw0 While some healthier pancake recipes call for something other than bleached all-purpose flour, such as wheat flour or even cassava flour, the recipe below uses oat “flour”,…
It’s odd to say that I was once saved by a soup, but that was indeed the case on one winter day during a trip to Philadelphia when the wind whipped hard enough to take root in my bones. I was in Old City, part of Philadelphia’s Historic District, and stumbled on City Tavern, a colonial-themed restaurant and bar built on the original 1773 tavern site where the Founding Fathers met to create what would eventually become the new United States of America. In the quaint bar at the back of the building, I found a wide backed chair to…