*Or, Raising the Steaks. Or, A Steak in My History. [No, that is NOT a real steak in the photo! Seriously, it’s a mushroom. No, really.] Before the days of the Great War, and yet after the infestation of the Rats (Pack), and the invasion of the Insects; when the great pioneers left this land and sought out Greene-er […]
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Don’t Mock (Tuna) Me: When “From Scratch” Disappoints
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I’m a “from scratch” kind of gal. I mean, when you’ve been told you can’t eat anything processed, anything with additives, anything with coloring, anything with refined sweeteners or flours–basically, anything that’s not fresh from the vine or the ground–you learn to cook from […]
Pizza with Pizzaz: Jalapeno Pesto Pizza*
* The HH loved this so much, he thought it needed a more jazzy name. So he came up with “Pesto Fiesta Pizza.” Olé! One of the things I decided to do this summer was grow a garden, for the very first time. Maybe it was the influence of the previous tenants, who had one of […]
Kitchen Sink Kitchari (an Anti-Candida Stew)
[UPDATE, JUNE 2010: In March, 2009, I began a much more serious (and much more restrictive) candida diet after suffering from myriad candida symptoms for more than 6 months. Finally, with a raging rash taking over my torso, I had to succumb and begin the diet afresh. After 15 months (so far) I’m 90% better, […]
Flash in the Pan: Mex-Ital Tofu Scramble
[I’ve decided to offer a mini-post every once in a while, for a dish that comes together incredibly quickly, or else is so easy to make that no recipe is required. Here’s today’s “Flash in the Pan.”] [Non-salsa version] Oooh. . . I’m feeling the crunch. I wish I could say that’s the “crunch” of a […]
Sweet and Spicy Tempeh
After the HH and I had been dating for about four months and he’d already passed the “willing to tolerate my multiple quirks and neuroses” test, I decided it would be acceptable for him to finally meet my family and old friends in Montreal. I cajoled coerced begged invited him to join me one weekend as I […]
Kale and Potato Lasagna*
*Or, Mastering the Legacy of Mush and Goo When I was a kid, my mother was a fairly conventional 1960s housewife (well, except for the Valium) whose cooking style, too, adhered to convention; she’d cook pretty much the same seven dinners every week, according to the day: Mondays were hamburgers and mashed potatoes. Tuesdays were veal chops and green beans. Wednesdays were franks and beans. […]
Sweet Potato and Buckwheat Burgers
Years ago, I had the pleasure of teaching for three semesters at Toronto’s renowned Ontario College of Art and Design (affectionately known as OCAD–or, when I taught there back in the Paleolithic, pre-“Design” era, simply “OCA”). I loved teaching at a place so much the antithesis of the college I’m now at, with its focus on technology, science […]
Dolmades, Deconstructed (Mediterranean Rice Casserole)
Back when I was an undergraduate at the University of Windsor, my first boyfriend and I (hiya, Mark! How’s tricks?) would regularly venture across the Ambassador bridge to the Greektown in Detroit (quite literally, a stone’s throw away). That’s where I first tasted saganaki–kefalotyri cheese (like an aristocratic feta) doused in brandy and set aflame in the pan, right by your table, […]
Spicy Red Pepper Pasta
Sometimes it’s best not to complicate matters. Even though I am well aware of this principle, I’ve never been the kind of gal who naturally embraces “simple”: no scoop of vanilla ice cream for me when double-fudge-cookie-cream-caramel-swirl exists in the world; no blue wooly socks if I can wear my favorite pair emblazoned with frolicking brown and green puppies; no simple […]