Last week we asked for your help build out our Top Ten School Snack list. We asked for snacks that 1. kids will actually eat 2. taste good or great 3. add, not detract nutritional value 4. are easy to prepare 5. are cheap We got lots of great and interesting suggestions – you folks sure are a creative bunch!  Some ideas seemed to require just a tad more preparation than most people would invest in on a hectic weekday morning. You can... 

For the first few years I moved away to the US, my family would always ask me to bake brownies when I’d come back to visit. There is a little of an unspoken love affair for that simple square of dark chocolate, sometimes studded with nuts, sometimes often adorned with a scoop of ice cream. Almost always with a short cup of espresso. I can’t even recall where I found my first recipe for brownies and I admit I go through what B. dubbed my... 

When big corporations make pledges to improve their sourcing practices, it’s important to hold them accountable. After all, it’s easy to hold a press conference pledging a new green policy; it’s not so easy to fulfill the pledge. This was one of the action points in an article in the journal Oryx that I reviewed for the Ethicurean a few months ago. As an example, the authors noted that in a 2006 press release “Wal-Mart... 

Recipes for pepper salad, chicken with apples and squash.  Read More →

Last week, I was in the Cape, existing more or less solely on seafood. One dish, if you will, that has transcended New England appeal and now is making a showing in the trendiest spots in NYC (including out of basements in Brooklyn ) is the lobster roll. Simple in preparation, it consists of about four ounces of cold lobster meat, a mix of claw, knuckle and often tail. This is delicately coated with mayonnaise that may include a other herbs... 

ConAgra’s Chef Boyardee brand is out with a whole grain canned pasta product – Chef Boyardee Pasta, Whole Grain, Beefaroni – and they’re letting the world know about it. Take a look at this  “silent” commercial where parents are hiding the whole grain truth from their daughter. If she thinks it’s healthy, she’ll refuse to eat it. OK, we’ll just out and say it – double dumb family.... 

Following on from last weeks facts about wheat flour, I wanted to explore the world of flours that are based on anything but wheat . And what a world it is. I also wanted to experiment with baking with different flours and have come up with a wonderfully simple 5 ingredient peanut butter brownie. A brownie that totally lives up to its name and delivers on the key brownie strengths of moist, chocolately goodness . Paired with the fact that it’s…  Read More →

The Times’ restaurant critic eats between sets.  Read More →

BLT Restaurant Group says Laurent Tourondel’s LT Burger restaurant in Sag Harbor is unfairly using much of their menu.  Read More →

They’re the bane of urban and suburban areas alike: the vacant, boarded-up K-Marts and Home Depot Expos, squatting like concrete cowpies amidst a landscape of weedy parking lots. But where most people see blight and a waste of space, San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneur Gene Fredericks sees opportunity: to grow food. Lots of food. Neither a farmer nor a foodie, Fredericks is a technology veteran who’s designed several large, complex... 

Ed Schneider’s spicy corn stir fry tasted great. But the next time, char the corn first.  Read More →

Mark Bittman makes his own version of bottled French dressing.  Read More →

The finer points of rice pot cooking, and some favorite food movies.  Read More →

Chinese noodles, flavored with sesame oil, sesame seeds and cilantro and fired up with crushed red pepper, are topped with tender strips of grilled flank steak seasoned with cumin, chili powder and… [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]  Read More →

Pasture raising the animals we count on for meat and dairy products is healthier for everyone. A website that helps you find grass-fed food locally is the subject of my latest post on the USA… [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]  Read More →