A year ago, my husband and I were invited to join some of our favorite traveling companions on a journey to Tibet. We planned, did some research, and prepared ourselves for a trip that would include both spiritual (Buddhist monasteries and culture) and adventurous (Mount Everest basecamp) experiences. Two weeks before we were scheduled to…
Broadening the Idea of Breakfast: Not just your typical morning meals
I’ve been out of it – focus, sleep, the internet, even the country. Hopefully, it didn’t really seem like I was gone. But, I was….to the farthest reaches of China near the Mongolian, Russian, and Kazakh borders. It was an amazing trip, that I will be sharing over the next couple of weeks. The only…
Yummy Honey, Seed & Nut Power Snack Recipes
Last week I talked about tasting honey. In my opinion, honey can be overpowering – rich, sweet, even palpitation-inducing – on its own and tastes best in combination with more savory ingredients…like tea, or nuts, or meat. The very different flavors balance and enhance each other. And, honey is a great binding agent for pulling together…
Crockpot Cochinita (Puerco) Pibil: Yucatecan-style Pork with a Telenovela Twist
The last place I expected to find a good recipe for Cochinita Pibil, was in the comments of an English-language website that recaps Spanish-language telenovelas. If you’re asking yourself how I wound up reading the comments on that site, I have both an easy and a more complicated answer for you. The easy answer is…
So Sweet It Is – Tasting Honey from Around the World
I’ve been on a honey kick this year. Not the kind of kick that causes me to eat honey all of the time (I don’t and can’t without heart palpitations and a serious sugar high), but the kind of kick that gets me thinking about honey, seeking out different varieties, and doing a little research….
6 Ways to Play With Your Food (Or How to Conduct Kitchen Experiments)
Last week, I posted a picture on Facebook and Google+ of a dish I improvised with some roast chicken and other ingredients I had on hand. Shredded roast chicken with pomelo pieces, unsweetened coconut flakes, red peppers, green onions, and minced garlic. A dressing of almond butter, chili flakes, coconut aminos and fish sauce. Arugula…
Super Simple Stir-fry Formula
My first recipe experiments were in a shared dorm hall kitchen during my freshman year of college. Unfortunately, those meals were mostly forgettable. What I do remember is that my neighbor, homesick for her native Korea, thought I made the perfect taste-tester. She would cook dishes that were unfamiliar and exotic to my rural Utah…
Coconuts and the Blades (AKA Coconut Knives) that Cut Them
Last summer while wandering through an Asian grocery store, I stopped in the kitchen tools section. I ended up buying some things that, today, I don’t think I could do without – a fine-gauge strainer, a stainless steel wok spatula, and a mesh drain catch-all. There were also some tools at the market that I…
Poached Salmon in Foil Packets – Two Days, Two Ways
I was browsing. Just trying to mind my own business. But, then I heard a deep voice – a la Michael Clarke Duncan – ask, “What’s for dinner?” Standing next to me was the butcher – as imposing as his voice, arms crossed as if proudly surveying the meat, poultry, and seafood refrigeration units that…
Carlos’ Charro No-Bean Chili for Cinco de Mayo
My grandpa Carlos was quite the hipster in his day. He owned a nightclub called El Matador, drove a corvette, and loved his bling. Of course, this came later in life – after years of working hard for others.Less flashy, more family, he was also the cook in the house. Two of the recipes my…
Reinventing Chiles en Nogada Soup-Style
Deconstruct: To break something down into its component parts. For a recipe, this means looking at the recipe and determining the essential ingredients – the ones that make the dish unique, satisfying, and flavorful. Deconstruction is one of my favorite ways to reinvent a dish when I want to experience its flavors AND tailor the…
Batches of Green Chile Garlic Burgers + Evening Rituals
My husband and I have a Monday-evening ritual that involves cooking up the same thing each week and tuning in to the latest episode of House. It’s not exciting. In fact, it is completely comfortable and relaxed – a way of easing back into the week. But, it is something we both look forward to….
How to Roast Red Peppers
I’ve roasted peppers a number of ways over the years – over a gas flame, in the grill alongside chicken, in a pan on the stove… But, the way that works best, is the way that works for most vegetables: roast them in the oven. It not only creates great blistering, but the tenderness of…
Super Simple Hummus – With or Without the Chickpeas
Every time I think about posting a recipe for hummus, I stop. It seems like it is one of those things that everyone covers just because it is so darned simple. And the core ingredients of lemon, cumin, garlic, and olive oil – and even the distinctive tahini sesame paste – can be mixed with…
Flavor Bible to the Rescue (AKA Awesome Broccoli Soup)
I have a practice I call Friday Night Fridge Finds. The premise behind it is that we – people in general – often wind up at the end of the week without much food in the fridge or motivation to cook, but we can still come up with a healthy, tasty, and easy-to-prepare meal. Typically, it…
How to Make Your Own Ghee / Clarified Butter
I’ve been on a food book binge lately: biographies, non-fiction overviews of specific foods, recipe books, etc. One that I picked up is called Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages by Anne Mendelson. It’s a strange selection for me – I don’t drink milk. In fact, I have avoided milk for several years…
Running with the Buffalo + Healthy Creativity
Have I told you that I love to run? Have I also mentioned that despite this love, and how great running makes me feel, I struggle to make time for it – especially in the dark, cold of winter? This conflict I have between wanting to run and making it a priority in my day,…
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Quick Marinara
Brussels sprouts have become a favorite around our house this winter. We buy several pounds at a time. I suspect that if one wants to gorge themselves on vegetables, it is probably ok. At least, I hope it is, because that’s what inevitably happens. There’s nothing quite like the salty crunch of the outer leaves…
A Beautiful French Heirloom Pumpkin
I walked into the kitchen in the late afternoon while the sun was low in the sky. The room was cast in hues of deep orange, and this pumpkin, with shadowed stalk and tendrils, nearly blended into the background. This lovely curcubita was a gift from a friend who grew it in her yard. It…
Colorful Mango Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
For those of us still on the edge of winter, this recipe will add color to dreary days. Want to see how to cut a mango? Check out this post here. Lime juice vinaigrette for chicken salad -add a little garlic or chili flakes for kick Colorful Mango Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps March 8, 2012…
How to cut a mango
I looooove mangos! All varieties. My favorite thing to do is take a very ripe mango, roll it around until the flesh is pulverized and juicy, and then poke a straw through the skin to drink it. I don’t do this as much in Utah – where mangoes arrive green – as I did in Venezuela…
The Original Paleo Chipotle Chicken Cauliflower Bake / Casserole
Many moons ago, when gluten and dairy were not an issue for me, I used to love making a chili cheddar pasta dish I’d found in Cooking Light. It was awesome – filled with noodles, milk, butter, and cheese. But, alas, no more. As I transitioned to a whole foods way of cooking, I realized…
Creamy spice bazaar-inspired soup
Spicy, bright, and good enough to eat every day! According to my husband, that what this soup is like. And he likes it so much he has taken it to work with him each day this week. Carrots were on sale and the snow had finally hit the mountains after several sunny weeks – soup…
Smoky Bacon-wrapped Turkey Meatloaf with Water Chestnuts & Dates
As a kid, I hated meatloaf. I think it was the ketchup. I had a bad experience with it and avoided it well into my 20s. Unfortunately, it meant I never developed a taste for dishes that included it. This week, I decided to test my taste buds and pulled out an old copy of…
How do I love thee, citrus? Let me count the ways!
I had a completely different plan in mind for this week’s blog post than what I ended up writing – like a lot of people, I was going to make something “Super Bowl-ish”. The thing is, I’m not much of a football fan. I am crazy about citrus, though. Earlier this week, I went to a…
Garbanzo beans pop, pop, pop – who knew?
Have you ever eaten a fresh garbanzo bean? Have you ever even seen one? I’ve eaten chickpeas for years dried and then cooked, but never, until this month, have I seen these wrinkly legumes in their fuzzy little pods. They “pop” when you try to open them, releasing the air inside. And they taste very…
Crock Pot Pork Carnitas with Cabbage Lime Garnish
Cubes of pork shoulder marinated over-night in milk and quartered oranges. A 5-gallon pot with pounds of lard and the pork chunks heated to the brink of boiling, and stirred every so often by a 3-foot, home-made wooden paddle. Pork that is extremely tender, has a slight crisp to the outside, and can easily broken…