Family & Home

This is the second post in a series on making your own sourdough bread. Last week, Jillian explained why make your own sourdough

One of the things I love about writing about food is trying new ingredients. When I run across something at the farmers’ market or in the grocery aisle I haven’t cooked before, it almost always ends up in my cart. When amaranth (pronounced ah-mah-ran-th) found its way into my kitchen last month, I was skeptical but curious about what this tiny grain had to offer.

Trying new ingredients usually ends up one of three ways in my kitchen:

As a hunter, one of my primary thoughts when I am out in the field or forest is: How am I going to use whatever I kill? One of the complaints I hear from people who hunt is that they get tired of the same old ways of preparing wild game. It seems like a lot of hunters let their wild game go to waste or give it away because they don’t understand how versatile wild game can be. I grew up in a family that took most of the venison we shot and turned it in to summer sausage or jerky -- not very creative. We ended up giving a lot of it away because after eating the first 30 pieces of jerky or summer sausage sandwiches every day for a week, you lose interest and don’t want to eat either anymore.

This is the first post in a series on making your own sourdough bread. Stay tuned next week for the full starter recipe and the step-by-step, day-by-day process of growing a sourdough starter.

If you asked me to name my favorite flavor profile, it wouldn’t be salty, sweet, or bitter, but sour. I adore sour things—yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, cultured butter…the list goes on. Part of the reason may be that when it comes to food and drink, sour flavors feel balancing to my palate. Combining tangy sauerkraut with corned beef balances its saltiness. Eating plain yogurt with fruit balances the fruit’s sweetness. Adding a squeeze of lime to pad Thai can elevate the dish to a new level, simply by bringing all of the other flavors together.

This is the sixth post in our Co-op on a Budget series, which explores the different ways that we can shop co-op effectively and affordably. Also check out posts on shopping bulk, the Wedge Co-op vs.

As I chop this ingredient and sprinkle that ingredient into my cereal bowl each morning, I wonder: Am I finally in tune with my body's nutritional needs or have I just become a totally anal eater?

This is the fifth post in a series about hunting for food -- truly meeting your meat.

I’d been using a slow cooker for several months before taking Jeff Woodworth's Slow Cooker & Pressure Cooker class at the Wedge Co-op this winter. Life for me as a part-time student is hectic and heavily scheduled and finding time to cook often takes a backseat to studying, work, social life, and a myriad of extracurricular activities. Encouraged by the prospect of producing lots of food with minimal effort, I decided to invest more time in learning these do-ahead techniques.

This is the tenth post in the series Great Grains, highlighting unusual whole grains and easy ways to incorporate them into your diet.

This is the fourth post in a new SGT series that looks at CSA -- community supported agriculture -- from the farmer's perspective.