How to Make Healthy, Homemade Veggie Chips

Curried Sweet Potato Chips

We know we need to eat more vegetables. The challenge is to do it with flavor and variety. So we've become creative.

Put all your vegetables in a blender, pulverize and serve. There's a booth at my local farmers market dispensing cups of green slop to devotees of that religion. I've tried it. I haven't converted.

Another approach is to chop up whatever you find in your vegetable drawer and put it on lettuce. This is more viable but looks and tastes an awful lot like salad, something that's been around for a while.

Or, take a mandoline to your vegetables, toss with olive oil and a dash of salt and serve them hot alongside a sandwich as chips. This vegetables-as-chips innovation has gone viral and can be found in grocery stores, restaurants and food trucks across the country. I've leapt onto this bandwagon with both feet.

Please click here to continue reading the post at NPR.org and to get recipes for Curried Sweet Potato Chips, Chili-Lime Plantain Chips, Kale Chips, Simple Salted Beet Chips and Smoked Paprika Carrot and Parsnip Chips.

Kale Chips

Mother's Day 2012: Memories of Sunday Suppers with My Mom

Mom and Me, 2012

Sundays are for suppers. Not just any suppers. Suppers made patiently, slowly, lovingly. Like the way your mother or grandmother used to do.

When I was a child, most Sunday mornings were spent rolling the meatballs. From the time I about four years old, I’d stand on my mom’s rickety yellow step stool, and eagerly dig my hands into the cold pork and beef mixture she had waiting for me on the counter top. I’d add the eggs (yes, I was an egg-cracking prodigy), the bread crumbs, the parsley, the grated cheese, and I’d being to squish and mash the mixture with delight. That is, until my hands turned purple from the cold. Then my mom would run my hands under warm water, rubbing them with her own, before she’d let me start rolling the meatballs again.

Click here to continue reading this post. 

Spring 2012 Fashion Trends: Color Block and Raw Beet Salads

According to Glamour magazine, one of this season's most wearable fashion trends is cheerful color block. Another colorful fashion trend is raw red beet salad. Wouldn't you love a dress this color?

Raw beets are nutrition powerhouses: They're packed with folate, fiber, potassium, and vitamin C. In this salad, they're tossed with protein and fiber-rich lentils and a zesty lemon vinaigrette, making it a satisfying and stylish vegetarian meal. If you really want to be cutting-edge, then make it vegan by omitting the feta cheese.

Raw Beet, Lentil, and Pistachio Salad
Makes 4 servings
Printable recipe.

2 large red beets, washed and peeled
2 cups cooked brown lentils
6 Kalamata olives, chopped
2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons pistachio nuts
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
Salt and black pepper, to taste

1. Using a cheese grater or a food processor with the appropriate attachment, shred beets. Place them in a medium bowl. Add cooked lentils, olives, feta, and nuts, and lightly toss.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, rosemary, salt, and black pepper. Pour over lentil-beet mixture. Serve at room temperature.

You might also enjoy these beet recipes:
Pickled Beets with Feta recipe from A Thought for Food
Chilled Corn and Golden Beet Soup recipe from No Recipes
Fresh Beet, Feta and Pistachio Salad recipe from Worth the Whisk
Warm Bulgur Salad with Beets, Fennel and Oranges recipe from Food Blogga
Red Rice Salad with Roasted Beets, Cherries and Nuts recipe from The Perfect Pantry

Espresso-Maple Pulled Pork and Egg Breakfast Burritos

Are you planning to go out for brunch this weekend? You may want to stay home and cook instead. Here's why: Espresso-Maple Pulled Pork and Egg Breakfast Burritos. Yes, they're as good as they sound.  Actually, better. The dark, roast-y espresso flavor contrasts deliciously with the sweetness of the maple syrup of the saltiness of the pork.

I suggest serving these pulled pork breakfast burritos with a mug a strong cowboy coffee or a colorful tequila sunrise. Whatever makes you happy. Cause isn't that what Sundays are all about?

Get the recipe here!

How Do You Cook with Fennel?

Cashier: Picking up the two fennel bulbs I was buying and examining them. "Do you cook with fennel a lot?"

Me: "Oh, yeah. All the time."

Cashier: "I’ve always wondered what to do with it. It just looks so cool, you know?"

Me: "Oh, I can give you lots of idea about how to cook with fennel. You could put it in salads or saute --"

Cashier: Waving the hands as if she were trying to stop traffic, she interrupted,  "Oh, no, no! I don't want you to tell me. I won’t actually do it. I’ve just always wondered."

In case you're wondering about fennel bulb, it's actually an herb that has been enjoyed since antiquity. When eaten raw, you'll appreciate its crunchy, refreshing celery-like texture and sweet licorice flavor. When sauteed or roasted, you'll find it morphs into something more savory, with an earthy depth of flavor. It gets along well with many ingredients but has a special affinity for citrus fruits, figs, olives, nuts, and hard cheese like Pecorino Romano and Parmesan. And those feathery fronds? They're edible too. Toss them in your salad or munch on them as a digestive aid.

So, tell me, dear readers, 

how do you cook with fennel? 

Lemony Roasted Fennel and String Beans
Makes 4 servings
Printable recipe.

1 fennel bulb, cut into 8 wedges
1/2 pound string beans, trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
The zest of 1/2 lemon (about 1/2 teaspoon)
The juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut of fennel stalks. Cut bulb in half. Then in quarters, then in eights, for a total of 8 wedges. Place fennel and string beans in a large baking dish.

2. In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Pour over vegetables and toss until coated. Cover tightly with tinfoil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the tinfoil. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons parsley and toss. Cook uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and a few brown spots appear.

3. Transfer vegetables to a platter or large bowl and drizzle with juices from the baking dish. Sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper and remaining 1/2 tablespoon parsley.

You might also enjoy these fennel recipes: 

Warm Barley and Fennel Salad recipe from Food Blogga (pictured above)

Apple, Fennel and Celery Salad recipe from Food Blogga

Shaved Fennel Salad recipe from 101 Cookbooks

Fennel, Pear, and Olive Salad recipe from The Perfect Pantry (pictured above)

Fresh Fig and Fennel Pizza recipe from Food Blogga

Roasted Zucchini and Fennel Soup recipe from Dianasaur Dishes

Pickled Fennel Agrodolce recipe from Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook (above)

Tagliatelle with Pan-Seared Shrimp and Fennel recipe from Food Blogga

Spicy Spaghetti with Fennel and Parmesan Cheese recipe from Cookin' Canuck

Cheesy Chile, Fennel, and Potato Gratin recipe from What We're Eating