Acorn squash was the squash I remember eating as a kid. My mom would cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, add margarine (these were the 80s) and brown sugar, and bake the halves in the oven and serve the family a side dish for dinner. Easy right? I guess it isn’t bad. It’s…
Category: Autumn
How To Make Popcorn, The Cheapest Snack Food At The Store
Save money and make this healthy snack yourself. When people talk about the high cost of food, I can’t disagree. No one wants to waste money, but prepared foods at the store will start to add up fast if you are not careful. I’m not always in touch with grocery store trends, but after seeing…
Weed Control in the Organic Garden
The recent rainy weather has made weeds a priority chore in the garden. I want to preface this article with the fact that unless you are going to grow all your food, there are no perfect choices, and we all have to make the best decisions for ourselves. But you can’t make those decisions without…
Roasting a Whole Winter Squash: Passive Cooking at its Best
I was speaking with another chef, and we came up with a cooking style we described as Passive Cooking. My definition, if it needs one, is cooking with the least effort, saving the chef’s time. I feel that historically, humans could not have spent as much time in the kitchen as we do now. They…
Brighten Up Heavy Wintertime Food: Garnishes exist for a reason
This time of year, food can get heavy, and flavors meld together from longer cooking times and cooking methods that take longer since we don’t mind the extra heat from a pot simmering on the stovetop or in the oven or in your crock- or instant-pot. Winter is the prime time of year to come…
How the weather affects what you eat
A tale of two years beans I have been beside myself for the past few weeks, staring at my green bean plants with just a few flowers on them and then watching the little ones make no progress in their growth. The picture above is from last year’s bumper crop. Last year I had more beans…
Is Seedless Watermelon Genetically Modified?
Overthinking a Piece of Fruit I have two watermelons on the counter. They were grown here at our home, in the front yard, in my small planter bed that I have been reclaiming to use as more garden space. It still has three rose bushes, but the rest of the ground is unused, so it…
Ease or Tradition: Which Would You Choose?
I love many things old fashioned. Food is usually better if you spend the time to make something from scratch. This has led me to value traditional preparations over the quick and easy in many recipes. I’ll take 2 days to make sourdough bread, or smoke a brisket overnight, simmer a pot of stock for…
How much work for a bowl of soup?
This past week I cooked something that made me question my mission of cooking at home. I love to cook. I can make a complete healthy and tasty dinner in less time than it takes to get in the car and go through the drive-through. It does help that I have many years of experience,…
Winter Time Gardening
Once we have less that 10 hours of daylight, plants don’t grow very much. For most of us in the U.S., this is from November 21 to January 21. And probably in my backyard, where everything has some shade, most things are getting less than their required allotment. I have know this fact for a…