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Fresh: The Movie

Last week I saw a screening of a Fresh, new documentary by Ana Sofia Joanes. If you follow Michael Pollan the way I do, you already know most of the issues covered, but it’s nice to hear about it from the people actually involved.

The subject is the way food is produced in the U.S., from “conventional” agriculture — meaning large-scale industrial monoculture operations — to more traditional mixed-use farming, to urban gardens in greenhouses on what used to be vacant lots.
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Posted in Review | Tagged , | 9 Comments

How To Make Razorback Potatoes

This recipe came from my wife’s cousin, Heather. It’s a really easy way to add a ton of flavor to plain-old baked potatoes. And once you’ve done it, you’ll start thinking of all kinds of ways to change it up to match whatever you’re going to serve it with.
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Posted in Side, Technique, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Random Food Tips


Photo by: laffy4k

Today I’ve got some random food tips. I couldn’t figure out how to stretch any of these into a full blog post on their own, so I’m just throwing them all together. If you’ve got any other good ones, let’s hear them down in the comments.

  • Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
  • Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.  It will stay fresh much longer and not mold. (I’m passing this one along even though I haven’t tested it. Seems reasonable, though.)
  • Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.  Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. (This one doesn’t make any sense to me. Anyone else heard this? Got an explanation for it?)
  • Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic, and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic. Same with pepper.
  • Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm.  This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.
  • To reheat biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
  • For deviled eggs without the cleanup, put cooked egg yolks in a zip-top bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up.  Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly. Cut the tip off the bag, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done.
  • If you’re in a hurry and buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount.
  • When you start your garden, after working the nutrients into the soil, put layers of wet newspaper around the plants, overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic.  They will not get through wet newspapers.
  • To find a local source for grass-fed meat and dairy products, check out EatWild.com.
  • And for local sourcees of produce, as well as more meat producers, check LocalHarvest.org.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 16 Comments

How To Make Ham and Cheese Rolls

If you were here last week, you saw the first version of these as asiago cheddar rolls. The wife and kids didn’t get any of those, so I made them again, but this time added some ham and turned them into the main course. Sort of like mini-personal pizzas but without the sauce. You can do just about any toppings you like with this method.
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Posted in Bread, Dinner | Tagged | 6 Comments

Onion and Pepper Variations on Larry’s Sourdough

Remember Larry’s sourdough bread method? In case you missed it, Larry, the Keep It Simple Engineer, has got sourdough bread making down to a science. He shared a four-part series showing how he does it.

Larry mentioned in the introduction that he does a jalapeño-cheese variation, which I’m still waiting to see. (Hint-hint, Larry. :-) ) While we’re waiting for that one, here are an onion version, and one with pepper.
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Posted in Bread | Tagged , | 1 Comment
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