Are you getting overwhelmed by your transition to eating real food? Friends, I talk about baby steps for a reason. If something seems like it’s going to take too much time, effort or mental energy, I get anxious about it, push it further down on the list, and generally avoid tackling that project until I […]
Hah-lelujah! It was a Sunday morning when I opened the dishwasher. Appropriately, I woke husband up singing the Hallelujah chorus when I saw the job Biokleen dishwasher detergent did. Clear glasses? Check. Cut the grease? Check. Zero food residue? Check. 100% success, zero rejections? Check. It even cleaned my yogurt jar, which I’ve found, since
Readers started asking me about washing produce, and could I share the easiest and most effective way to wash an apple. I thought I could do a review of produce wash options, but the more I considered efficacy at getting dirt, pesticides and more off fruits and vegetables, the more my limitations came to mind.
8 Ways to Wash an Apple: How Well Does Produce Wash Work? Read More »
I blog about food. I’ve come to appreciate the “traditional foods” approach to eating and embrace the philosophy that says that if a food’s been around a few thousand years, it should probably be in our diets. If it’s younger than 100 years, it doesn’t belong on our tables. Sometimes it feels like filling my
Mary and Martha Moment: How Do You Receive the Eucharist? Read More »
Want to know what to do with coconut oil? How to substitute one kind of fat for another? Wish you always knew what to do with your fats and how to adapt recipes to avoid the industrial fats that you’re just not into anymore? For more on how to cook traditional foods and use traditional
It was like getting the ACT results in the mail. My hands were trembling as I haphazardly tore open the envelope. Inside were some numbers that I felt might validate all the effort, the research, the time in the kitchen. Even though I wasn’t sure I put much stock in the numbers, I still wanted
I’ve got a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder at times. For example: as a child, every week during the 45-minute drive on the way back from dance class, I would consume a small order of McDonald’s French fries. (That’s not the OCD yet.) It took nearly the entire time because I’d eat them like this: a
Lazy French Fries in Beef Tallow or Coconut Oil Recipe Read More »
This isn’t mine- I forgot to take a photo! But meatballs are meatballs, more or less…The one pictured is Martha’s recipe. Meatloaf is more of a “choose your own adventure” than a recipe, I’m afraid. If you’re a by-the-book kind of cook, you may want to skip this post. If you can handle a little
Recipe Connection: How to Make Meatloaf/Meatballs Read More »
I’m all about the healthy baby steps! Let’s baby step our way into healthier fats by using lard and tallow. Learn the health benefits of tallow and lard and where to buy them. I used to spend a LOT of time cutting off every single little tiny bit of fat from every cut of meat I
Food for Thought: Lard and Tallow, Healthy Fats? Read More »
Ghee is one of those fats I had never heard of a year ago. Would you know ghee if you bumped into some on the street? Ghee, pronounced with a hard “g” like “go” and a long “e” like “see”, is also called clarified butter, and it’s pure butterfat with the milk solids, impurities and
I have a bad habit of leaving things in my freezer too long. It’s not that I don’t know they’re there. In fact, I’m very organized and (almost) always have a good handle on what’s in my freezer. It’s just that I’m such a born conservationist. I tend to think, “I need to save these
I used to use Canola oil almost exclusively as my liquid fat for baking. The popular press said it was the healthy oil. I felt really good – you know that feeling? – when I used it in quick breads, etc. I would even brag about my “healthy food”. Hmph. Now there’s a whole bunch
Food for Thought: Canola Oil, a Unique Omega-3…Thumbs up or Thumbs Down??? Read More »
I can still picture standing in the kitchen my first summer in an apartment, talking on the phone with my mother. I called her a lot to ask how to do things! I just wanted the recipe for cream of potato soup, one of my favorites, and there she was explaining how to make a “roux”
My First Roux (and a Cream of Potato Soup Recipe) Read More »
I do a lot of complicated things in the kitchen sometimes. This, luckily for you, is NOT one of them. I’d been making homemade Chicken Rice-a-Roni for a while but still needed a substitute for boxed Mexican rice as a side with tacos. I came up with something so delicious and so easy, even kids can make
Anyone want to disagree with me? Question my research? Please, do. Really. This may sound confrontational at first, but I truly appreciate and welcome those wiser than me helping me understand the science of nutrition and sharing other sources that I may not have discovered on my own. I’m not a researcher. I love reading
Food for Thought: Are Polyunsaturated Oils Healthy? Read More »
Pumpkin has got to be one of my favorite fall flavors, especially in healthy pumpkin muffins or whole wheat pumpkin bread. Add a generous dose of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and I’m in love. You can’t find an easier pumpkin muffin recipe than this one. A sweet treat without loading up on white sugar. These
One-Bowl Healthy Pumpkin Muffins (or Bread) Recipe Read More »
Ah, the French know their fats. When my husband worked with a Frenchman, he reminisced about this time of year in France: “Fall is the best time of year because the food is so wonderful: the fish are fatter, the cream is plentiful, and the vegetables being harvested are some of my favorites.” Yep, he
It’s time. Time to sign off of the fake butter revolution, and start putting real butter on your toast. And your mashed potatoes, vegetables, in your baked goods…and anywhere else you might use margarine or a “spread” that makes some health claim or another. This might be incredibly difficult for some of you, having grown up
Butter vs. Margarine vs. “Spreads”: How do They Stack Up? Read More »
You don’t have to give up childhood favorites when making the switch to real food. I think this Homemade Chicken Rice-A-Roni is even better than the box! And it’s just as easy. This homemade hamburger helper is a big hit too. Choosing a side dish is often something I struggle with, especially since I don’t
Easy Homemade Chicken Rice-a-Roni Recipe Kids Can Make Read More »
I ran into a leek today at the supermarket. I’ve never bought a leek, or even looked one in the face before. The closest I’ve ever come is reading about them. They bring to mind a sensation of English literature, like if I was the little girl in The Secret Garden, I would eat leeks
