February 2015 | Simple, Good and Tasty

Hunting for Dinner: Attempting the perfect polenta

Posted in on Fri, 02/27/2015 - 4:28pm by Jamie Carlson -

Nobody is ever going to mistake me for a vegetarian, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like vegetables. I just don’t think I could live off them alone. After all, meat is a central part of most everything I do. I hunt, fish and trap a lot of meat. There really isn’t anything out there that I won’t eat.

But that said, it is probably time I started making more vegetable-themed meals. I don’t even know what is considered vegetarian. I have a few friends and family members that are vegetarians but they still eat fish and eggs and cheese. I’m not sure that counts as being vegetarian but what do I know.

My interest in vegetables has grown ever since planting my first garden a few years ago. I do a fair amount of canning and freezing and enjoy vegetables from my garden year-round. I enjoy them next to some kind of meat, as a side dish. I have never really considered them anything other than a side dish until recently.

Kids Cook French: Eggs Jeannette

Posted in Books & Media on Fri, 02/20/2015 - 10:20am by Claudine Pépin -

As a society, we have tried to encourage kids to eat healthy foods by hiding them, disguising them as something else, or pouring processed cheese sauce on them, and I think that we do a disservice to children by doing so. Children don’t come into the world eating only chicken nuggets, pizza, and french fries. They will eat the food that they are given. That’s the food that they will become used to and like.

So, if we feed them only “kid” food, those are the tastes they will develop. If, however, we feed them all sorts of foods, they will eat them as well. Our daughter, Shorey, eats almost everything. Now, though, at ten years old, she doesn’t like asparagus, tripe, polenta, sweet potatoes, or head cheese. We’re okay with that — and her grandfather says that she will change anyway.

Kitchen DIY: Tumeric and cumin spiced potatoes

Posted in Recipes on Sat, 02/14/2015 - 7:22pm by Shamim Rashid -

The potato craving usually hits hard in the winter when I need some good ol’ comfort food that will stick to my ribs and satisfy my need for warmth — if only for a while. These potatoes, spiced with turmeric and green chilies does just that.

I usually use sweet potatoes in my cooking since it's the healthier option and they contain a ton of good stuff, especially vitamins A and C. But for this recipe only a good old-fashioned potato will do, in a dish I call "batata fry."

Tear off a warm piece of ghee-soaked roti, use it to envelope a couple of spiced potatoes and a bit of the green chili and pop it into your mouth. With each bite, the warm heat from the green chilies will slowly creep into your body and the comfort of the potatoes will have you floating into an abyss of happiness. I would suggest grabbing a warm comfy blanket and head off for a nap after this comforting meal. Sigh…

Batata Fry

Cooking with Cast Iron: 4 reasons to love your cookware

Posted in Health on Sat, 02/07/2015 - 6:10am by Leigh Ahmad -

Having burned and scraped my way through various pots and pans and spent a pretty penny for new issues every five years or so, I have a few reasons for reverting to old ways and adopting cast iron into my cookware family.

Formed by a pouring molten pig iron into casts, the technology behind the creation of this age-tested cookware is very simple. The earliest references to civilization’s use of cast iron can be traced back to fourth century BC and its debut into the kitchen scene was around the 17th century.

Though the cast iron skillet was chucked aside by most and Teflon-coated pans became commonplace, there are many worthy qualities to be examined and preserved. Here are four reasons you should consider giving this time-honored cookware a try: