Archive for February, 2010

• It’s not Prada, but your wine will be looking good in one of these bags

  Friday, February 26th, 2010

  Even if you are not a slave to fashion, at least your wine could look sharp. Instead of the usual wine gift bag or just handing wine to your host (does anyone REALLY do that? C’mon folks: dress it up a little!), why not slip your next bottle into this sturdy, functional, yet cute and [...]

• Have your peanut butter and eat it too ~ Recipe:

  Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

  Leave it to Mom. My mom, a self professed peanut butter addict knew too much of a good thing is well… not a good thing (I think all mothers have a sixth sense about that one!). Even with her slender figure and tiny frame, she worried that her practically everyday peanut butter habit was adding [...]

• You do indeed eat with your eyes ~ Recipe: Red quinoa salad

  Monday, February 22nd, 2010

  I love colorful foods. I also love healthy foods. And sometimes these two concepts are like oil and water; they don’t always match up. Take grains for example. Healthy? Yes. Pretty? I wouldn’t necessarily agree on that one. Think about it: brown rice: brown, barley: light brown, wheat berries: dark brown–brown, brown, brown! And my [...]

• Smart spices: For the freshest spices look no further than this ~ Recipe: Curried brown rice pilaf with pistachios and cherries

  Friday, February 19th, 2010

  There are many ways to extend the shelf life of your spices: tightly close the jars, keep away from air and light, use them up quickly, and of course purchase the smallest amount you can. Well, the last one is tricky because no matter how hard we try, even if we can find a small [...]

• Indulgent, but healthy: a crunchy addition to all your Asian dishes ~ Recipe: Glass noodle salad

  Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

  Making your own spiced nuts is really not all that hard. But when I want a spiced nut to top a salad or a stir fry right now, well tossing all those spices and sugar and waiting for the nuts to roast adds more work than I want at the moment.
  One of my new favorite [...]

• Good things come in small packages

  Monday, February 15th, 2010

  Even if you have a lot of space in your kitchen cabinets, in recent years I have become a big fan of collapsible kitchen equipment. Everything ranging from colander to salad spinners are now available saving the frustrated home cook from having to worry about junky looking storage space.
  One of my new favorites is [...]

• Shake, shake, shake

  Friday, February 12th, 2010

  The spice may be right, but too often the packaging that it comes in is all wrong. You can never get a measuring spoon into the spice containers, and the lids are flimsy and hard to take off and put back on. So, if the spice manufacturers aren’t going to make an ergonomically sound containers, you’ll have [...]

• A jam that’s anything but the same old, same old ~ Recipe: Mini phyllo tarts with vanilla custard and uchuva

  Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

  Tired of strawberry jam? Maybe you’ve had just about enough grape jelly to last a lifetime. Why not try something completely new? Uchuva Cape Goose Berries is a fruit spread that will add life and luster to your morning breakfast spread. The Natural Nectar company produces a wide range of musical [...]

• Chayote: a version of squash you will love ~ Recipe: Stewed chayote with tomatoes and chipotle pepper

  Monday, February 8th, 2010

  Ok, so this blog is usually about things you can find packaged. But chayote squash is such a different vegetable that many people bypass on their way through the produce department, that despite no wrapper, I thought it was a good enough product to chat about.
  Chayote (shy-oh-tee), is a Mexican squash, pear shaped and [...]

• Here’s the scoop

  Friday, February 5th, 2010

  When you are ready to indulge in a comfort food such as ice cream, you want to scoop it and get it into your bowl lickety split. Anticipation of enjoying a frozen dessert can turn to frustrating madness when ice cream is held captive by the scoop. There is a difference between ice cream scoops, [...]