ludja

Thanks for the link, CKatCook! It's interesting to toggle between the recommendations for Canada/US and UK. For eg., the UK page has walnuts and beets in season now which I think would apply equally well to the US. Anyway, thought I would point out the UK options for US readers and vice versa.

I just tried making a quinoa dish at home for the first time this past week. We really enjoyed the dish using it: red bell peppers stuffed with quinoa, walnuts and provolone cheese. I'm pretty excited to try other recipes with it; nice texture and flavor and it cooks up quickly. Here's a link to that recipe: click

I just tried the peppermint Jo-Jo's last month... they are addictive and I'm not even a huge Oreo's fan.

I thought I would add the chickpea soup I made the other day with lemon and lots of parsley. I posted it in the 2008 soup thread here but thought I would also add it here to the Italian soup thread. It is a very simple but delicious soup. I'm now particularly inspired to try some of the other Italian chickpea soups that people have shared.

^ What a great idea, monovan. That looks delicious and I really do like farina dumplings. They're a common condiment in Austrian beef soups but this looks like another wonderful use for them. I will try this soon. I made a classic Italian soup that I had heard about before but never made: chickpea parsley soup with lemon. I started with dried chickpeas and pureed about half of the mixture. The final flavor was pretty incredible; more than the expected some of the parts. I adapted the recipe from a book edited by Jeni Wright, "Italy's 500 Best Ever Recipes". (I added in carrot, celery and garlic to the mirepoix and also seasoned with some crushed red pepper.) 3/4 cup dry chickpeas 1 med onion 1 med carrot 1 stalk of celery 2 fat cloves of garlic 1 bunch fresh Italian parsley 2-3 Tbs olive oil 5 cups chicken stock juice of 1/2 lemon or more to taste salt and bl. pepper crushed red pepper lemon wedges chopped parsley for garnish Soak chickpeas overnight, then cook for 1 1/2 hrs in unsalted water until just tender. Drain and reserve. Finely chop onion, carrot, celery, garlic and parsley. Saute the chopped vegetables in olive oil over low heat until they are softened a bit. Add chickpeas and cook for an additional 3-4 min then add chicken stock. Bring to a boil, season with salt and peppers and then simmer for about 30 min until chickpeas are tender. Roughly puree about half of the mixture and then add back to the pot. Before serving, add lemon juice and again check the seasonings. I also garnished the soup with a drizzle of olive oil and some fresh parsely just before serving. *I let this soup sit for a day before we had it.

I'm loving your blog, ninetofive! The shots of New England bring me home and the food looks delicious. I'm already inspired to make a roast chicken tomorrow night after seeing yours. I want to make vanilla pudding too! Can you give any more details on the one you made above? Is it a cornstarch-based pudding or no? The simple recipe I found for stirred vanilla pudding has 2 Tbs cornstarch, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cups milk, 1 egg, lightly beaten, 1 tsp vanilla (I'd like to use vanilla bean, though) and 1 Tbs butter. Looking forward to your dinner tonight; the behind the scenes look at the restaurant and the "omikase" format will be very entertaining. Thanks again!

Thanks for sharing your fun cooking and eating weekend with us! Kerry, did you find you had to make adjustments in your recipes when cooking at altitude? If so, is it a simple temperature adjustment?

Mark Bittman mentioned her in an interview on Fresh Air on public radio a few days ago. I missed the author's complete name so I'm glad to see this thread!

I've heard of (but never been to) a chitlin strut. When I googled it to make sure I wasn't misremembering I also found that, at one time at least, possum roasts were an event, primarily for Southern blacks according to the reference. click Here is another one: cake walks.

I've made this parsley soup a few times and it is a winner. A quote from my linked post which also includes the recipe: I think this soup would be nice in the autumn or winter as well as a lighter, brighter counterpoint to heartier components of a meal. And parsley is available year round with the same quality.

We were at a restaurant in CT for a friend's landmark birthday celebration over the holidays. The guests included family and friends including the future mother-in-law of the host's daughter. During dinner this woman turned to another guest (another family friend of ours) and said so loudly that that all 30 people heard: "With that red hair are you Irish or Jewish?" Upon hearing the graciously polite reply, given through gently gritted teeth, she continued with, "Oh! So you're Jewish!" She then proceeded to ask our friend what religion she was raising her kids, etc. in an extremely noisy and obnoxious manner. Everyone cringed in horror, especially for the family that will be gaining this woman as an in-law. I guess this could have happened anywhere, not just in a restaurant, but I think this woman would have queried a waiter or waitress regarding their religion or ethnicity if she was "curious" as well! The host, guest of honor and all the other guests were mortified to be sure.

Chris Schlessinger has a great gazpacho recipe in his "Thrill of the Grill" that uses... Clamato juice. I was skeptical when reading the recipe but I first had this when a friend made it and I didn't know what was in it. So again, as hummingbirdkiss suggested, this mgiht be a good way to combine clams and vitamin C. His recipe doesn't have clams in it (just the Clamato juice) but as the flavors do seem to work well maybe it would be worth trying a gazpacho w/the clams added when summer rolls around. Here are the ingredients for his soup: 1 grilled red bell pepper 1 grilled green bell pepper 1 small red onion, grilled 1/2 of a small eggplant, grilled 3 garlic cloves 2 slices day old bread salt and pepper 5 Tbs olive oil 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar 1 quart Clamato juice 2 Tbs chopped fresh basil 4 Tbs lemon juice Blend olive oil and garlic in processor until finely chopped. Slowly add in 5 Tbs oil and then add in vinegar. Season to taste. Whisk this mix into the Clamato juice, add grilled, chopped vegetables and chill. Before serving, add lemon juice and basil and taste again for seasoning. Try adding clams... Here's the nutrition composition of Clamato juice which is bastically a mix of tomato and clam juice: click There is some iron in the Clamato juice (~ 3% of RDA in a serving). I like stuffed clams (famous in Rhode Island as "stuffies". It's a mixture of bread crumbs, chopped clams, clam juice, chopped parsley, lemon juice, mustard or hot sauce, etc that are usually placed in an empty large clam shell and then baked. Ohter flavorings could be fennel, or oregano and garilic. One could make up this mixture, heavy on the clams and cook them in bell pepper halves for a meal or appetizer. I hadn't thought of baking this in bell peppers until hummingbirdkiss got me thinking about the vitamin C synergy wrt to iron absorption and looking back again at the Schlessinger recipe. You could also bake this mixture inside a portabello mushroom for a different flavor combination. Another idea leveraging from the stuffed clam filling idea above might be to make a casserole dish along the lines of scalloped tomatoes (day old cubed bread, butter and tomatoes, salt, pepper and thyme baked in the oven) with clams added. Clam fritters were also mentioned earlier. Here's a recipe for Rhode Island clam cakes: click I might also try adding chopped cooked green beans to the mix as this works well in Thai fish cakes. Along with the other Asian ides mentioned above, I would look around for a recipe for Clams in Black Bean Sauce. (the small, dried, very flavorful Chinese beans). Here's an example: click

Thanks for sharing your recipe for Caldo de Res, hummingbirdkiss! It sounds and looks wonderful. It sounds like a great January dish to make. Hope your days are a bit brighter as well; I'm sure your food will help the whole household.

Me too! Thanks for the lovely photos from around Silver City to set the stage, gfron1! It sounds like I'll have to wait until Kerry is in New Mexico to hear a reply but I'm curious how the altitude in Silver City (over 6000 ft?) will require adjustments for the candy making. gfron1 certainly seems successful at turning out baked goods at altitude but I guess the temperatures for sugar work might be different at that altitude.

Oh yeah ... there is a lot of recent, and better, weight loss punditry that points out that the more muscle mass you have, the more revved your baseline metabolism gets, because muscle tissue burns up a good bunch of energy just in maintaining itself (it's also constantly active--even when you're just sitting there, after all, muscle is holding your body upright and in balance). So in addition to aerobic exercise, many instructors are now making sure their weight loss clients are pumping at least a little iron. It doesn't take much--those little hand weights or elastic bands are certainly enough for many of us ... so why is the danged elastic band my Kaiser Permanente instructor gave me mouldering in a basket four feet from where I am now sitting? Because I need to get on with that part of the program too! Oops! Just turned 11am here--back later! ← Such a good suggestion! I tend to be pretty slim but adding in a modest weight training program (20-30 min routine with hand weights at home, every other day) helped me successfully jump start some weight loss when I wanted to lose 15-20 lbs. Since then I just kept it a part of my regular routine. It's easy to do while watching TV.

I'm a big fan of Bob's Red Mill muesli! Only 110 calories per serving for the cereal...when you measure out the quarter cup serving, which I do. Another fruit option I like to add to it is grated/diced apples or pears along with the yogurt. Sometimes it's nice to mix it together and let it soften with the yogurt for half an hour or so. You get a different texture that way with the softened grains. I usually add a small drizzle of honey or a sprinkle of raw sugar for a little sweetness. Another good healthy breakfast cereal option I like is steel cut or Irish oats. They have a chewier texture from 'regular' oatmeal that I like better and a nice nutty flavor. I'm also less hungary at lunchtime which I have these for breakfast.

No, it's not just you, I've noticed it as well......the sweetness has actually become more pronounced recently I think and I'm finding it off-putting lately. I think I'll go back to regular.....(of course, West of the Mississippi, it's Best Foods.......) And Sandy, WHERE is your snow??? It's almost Mid-January in Philly, and it looks like Spring !!! Yikes.......... ← One trick to cut calories in a tuna or chicken salad meal that I use is to use half regular mayo and half plain yogurt. (I also add lemon juice and black pepper, maybe capers.) I don't find any substantial change in flavor or texture with addition of the yogurt, especially in a sandwich. I also usually add a fair amount of chopped veggies (carrot or celery) or add a can of garbanzo beans. I like the crunch and texture they add and they also serve to reduce the calorie count for the serving. Adding lettuce to the sandwich also adds some substance with essentially no additional calories. Thanks for blogging, you three! I hope this week helps you all and the rest of us get off to a good healthy start in the new year!

Merci, thank you and Dank je wel! edited to add: The soup garnish of fried garlic, walnuts, chestnuts and parsley sounds fabulous; I'll definately be trying that. And all the photos are fabulous!

citrus nuts quince pomegranates

Here's a basic recipe for pasta frolla from Nick Malgieri: 2 1/3 cups flour 1/3 cup sugar pinch salt 8 Tbs (1/4 lb) unsalted butter, cold 2 large eggs Combine dry ingredients and then add in cold butter cut into small pieces. Work together quickly using your fingertips so that the dough stays dry but the butter is incorporated. Beat eggs lightly in a small bowl and then add to dough. Mix gently w/a fork until the dough begins to come together. Turn out of bowl and finish squeezing dough together with lightly floured fingers. Form into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill. What do you plan to fill your tart with?

If I was in the Bronx, I'd be crusing Little Italy for delicious Italian coldcuts and cheeses. I wonder if there might also be some nice prepared or semi-prepared items in the shops there. I'm guessing she wouldn't have time to work with the fresh chickens and rabbits you can buy there but there are probably lots of nice things to make nice antipasti platters or pasta dishes!

And after baking???? (It's so magical how the cuts turn out in the end!)

Great save and thank you both (+ bleudauvergne) for a wonderful blog! edited to add: Happy to see also that you have inspired some old time egulleteers to peek back in too!

I've been making a recipe from Chez Panisse Vegetables that is similar to this but a bit simpler even. Thinly slice sprouts and saute in some butter/olive oil (I use a mix.) for a few minutes. Add about a quarter inch of chicken stock to the pan and cook a bit more until tender. Season with salt, pepper and some fresh herbs (I use thyme) and add a little lemon juice. You wind up with an emulsified sauce that coats the sprouts. Very tasty and quick. In this prep I like the sprouts to retain a little bit of firmness. The recipe with the shallots sounds very good as well.

I had trouble finding veal breasts/bones here in Albuquerque, NM and I went to several places. One place was able to get me the veal breast at that price you listed, but it turns out that is the price for it when it is boned. Seems a lot of folks don't want veal breasts with bones anymore. They want it to stuff, if they want it at all. The other place, where I eventually ordered, was able to get them for much less, and it was much less expensive if I ordered in a larger quantity. And the lower price they quoted was for unboned veal breasts. My point is, check to see if the price is for veal breast with bones, or without them. Christine ← Where were the places you checked out and eventually had success with? (I'm new to the Duke City)