tejon

I usually add some cumin and a bit of habanero sauce for a little kick (or Crystal if that's all I have on hand). Basically I start like a pilaf with chopped onions sauteed in oil, then add the rice and cook until it gets golden, then add broth and tomato sauce. Cook that down a little, then cover and cook like any other rice. Comes out subtle but a good contrast to more fiery foods.

Wonderful article - the pictures and descriptions left me literally drooling. I'm now craving a good dal and cursing the fact that it's almost time for bed.

My favorite planned leftover is a big roast chicken. I shred the leftover meat, then make up chimichangas or chicken with two sauces or tacos. Other than that, leftovers end up as lunch for me or frozen as future lunches for my husband (he's not a lefover fan).

While losing weight while nursing is fine, Atkins induction plus nursing is a bad idea, since you go into ketosis. No wonder you are feeling shaky! Going lower carb would be fine, but you are a terrible candidate for that initial extremely low carb period - you are craving veggies and some carbs because you need them! I would look at simply cutting down on desserts and empty calories foods and starting to exercise regularly. Go on a long walk each day with your children, buy a small trampoline and jump on it for a while each night, take an exercise class at your local park & rec. dept. The key is to make a lifestyle change that you can live with, instead of going on a diet until you've lost the weight.

Soup. I love soup in all it's forms: cream soups, clear asian broths, minestrone brimming with vegetables, filling lentil soups, chicken soup that fills the house with that wonderful smell. I adore soup and make it again and again. Dal comes in close second - if I can't think of anything else interesting to do for dinner, dal with some basmati rice and spiced vegetable of some sort wins out every time.

Definitely not just one signature dish - I love to experiment too much, and love too many kinds of foods to focus on just one thing. Most often people will simply ask me to make whatever I feel like doing, even when I ask for requests. Here are the things people always ask me to bring or make: * chocolate chip cookies - these have a little oatmeal, but are crisp on the edges and chewy in the center and really delicious * samosas - my favorites, too * guacamole - I make a mean guacamole! * marinated green beans - these are garlicky and really good * bastilla - this takes a good bit of work, but the end result is worth it * rolls from my grandmother's recipe - these are legendary, and demanded at every family celebration. This last Thanksgiving I got the ultimate compliment - my grandmother loved my rolls

My mom was a bad enough cook that I pretty much took over fixing dinner by the age of 12, though she still would tell me what to make. We had steamed vegetables every night, which doesn't sound bad, but it was always a mix of vegetables steamed together - broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onion, etc. They all ended up tasting vaugely similar in a slimy sort of way. Wasn't allowed to make the veggies any other way, since steaming was "healthy". I've only recently started steaming vegetables one kind at a time, and have been surprised at how good they are. She could make some pretty impressive dishes when she really set her mind to it, but lacked any idea of what would work and what wouldn't in a recipe. She was also extremely frugal, to the point of using meat that tasted funny, cheese that had mold on it ("just cut that part off!"), produce that was going bad, spices that were older than I was. The worst dish ever was a horrible fish soup. I've blocked most of what was in it, though the broth was tomato based somehow. It was cooked so long that the whole house reeked of fish, and even my seafood loving stepfather couldn't stand it. Put me off fish for the rest of my life. Runner up was the eggnog she made one year to take to our family Christmas celebration. I've never been a big fan of eggnog, so I didn't have any. Everyone was raving about how tasty it was, when my little sister piped up, "mommy made that in the same blender she mixes the puppy food in!". My mom blushed red. It was perfectly true - she was breeding Beagles at the time and used to mix puppy chow with milk in the blender to feed to younger puppies. The blender never really got cleaned out well. Made me glad I don't like eggnog.

1) In N Out cheeseburger with grilled onions 2) Jack In The Box Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich (not very spicy, but I love them anyway) 3) Arby's hot Ham & Swiss Sub .....and favorite side of all time, Sonic Chili Cheese tater tots

Feeling pretty tame here as well. The waskiest thing I've ever eaten was mountain lion (cougar) jerky. Someone at work brought it in. The mountain lion in question had been shot on his father's property and they didn't want the animal to go to waste. It had an odd flavor, very gamy and stringy.

I cook practically all meals, aside from the occasional night out to dinner (which happens perhaps once a month or so). I do almost everything from scratch, aside from some baked goods. Combination of reasons for this - we don't have much disposable income, I love cooking, and we have two very small boys (see recent thread on children and restaurants - they are way too young to foist on other diners as of yet!).

Do you have any of the Gluten Free Gourmet series of cookbooks? I have a dear friend with celiac disease who has made some truly delcious things out of them. I believe pizza crust was one thing that he finally worked out. A bread machine is very helpful when baking gluten free breads - the dough acts quite differently than wheat dough and it's easier to have one less thing to try and control.

Very good results - I have sucessfully fought off bronchitis several times with Oregon Grape Root. It's action is very similar to Goldenseal. Raw garlic is also an incredibly antimicrobial (as seen in your rasam, where it's almost raw!). I'm feeling much less congested, though still hurt like crazy all over. But the soup definitely helped

Oregon Grape Root is also a great sub for Goldenseal, if you have trouble finding it.

Wow. Just made some up and am sipping away. It's hitting the spot so far - have to report back how I feel a bit later.

I'm going to see if I can stumble to the kitchen and make some of this. I have a bad, bad flu and it sure couldn't hurt. How would it be without the tomato? Or would canned be all right (no running out to the store for me right now).

Very true. The choices for someone on WIC are very limited, and often include very little nutritious food (unless you count the juice). Not knocking the program too hard - I know several women who made up the difference between hunger and feeding themselves properly through WIC - but it doesn't encourage wise food choices by any means.

As usual, wonderful pictures and commentary, Tad! And many thanks to Joanne and her parents for helping us all navigate Korean BBQ properly.

The highlight was definitely the company . The beef was indeed quite beefy and very good. I think we were all amazed when the bill came - it seemed way too low for so much food! Can't wait to do the next restaurant foray, though I'm really waiting for the pot luck .

Definitely not harmless for me. I tried some of the WOW chips, thinking an essentially fat free chip would be the ultimate snack. Following said snack (only a couple handfuls of chips), I had terrible cramping and pain for several hours. I tried some again a few weeks later, to see if perhaps the cramps and pain were coincidental to eating the chips - same results. So I steer very clear of Olestra, since eating it causes me pain.

Oh, yes - Taco Mesa!!! Yum.

Woo-hoo - I'm in (plus one)! Garden Grove is even a quick drive for me

So maybe dinner? Looks like I might be able to come along and bring my husband, just need to figure when we need a babysitter :-).

In the case of sodas, there is no decaffeinating process - soda with caffeine has it added to the mix, caffeine free does not. Don't ask me to tell regular versus decaf coffee...can't stand either. Spent my first thirty years trying to learn to like it, finally realized it just wasn't going to happen. I love the smell, but the taste is horribly bitter and just plain bad to my taste buds.

I've made something quite similar, and found that marinading for up to 24 hours or so came out really well. Don't add any additional salt, and don't place on skewers until you are ready to cook.

Might simply be an unripe Meyer. Did they have any that weren't greenish? I wonder if it's another lemon variant, something similar. Meyer lemons are so completely different, both in taste and especially in aroma. The scent is heady and very unmistakable once you've experienced it. Just scratching the peel a little will release a lucsious scent. The flavor is much less acidic than typical lemons, more delicate as well. I grew up with a Meyer lemon tree in my back yard. Needless to say, we made a killing come lemonade stand time. I have a small potted tree on my porch now - one of the few things I will fight to grow wherever we end up.