New Year’s fiber fix: hummus

Hummus Who’s coming to dinner? This hummus recipe satisfies every generation. 1 cup cooked chickpeas 3 cloves garlic, crushed juice of 1/2 lemon 2 tablespoons tahina (sesame) 1/2 teaspoon salt olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped paprika Reserve 1/4 cup of liquid from boiled chickpeas (garbanzo beans). Mix crushed garlic, lemon juice, tahina and […]

Separation anxiety?

With canned chickpeas, your beans are ready to rinse. If you prefer to prepare dried beans for hummus, separate the chickpeas from their skins during the preparation process.  No worries. After an overnight water soak, bring chickpeas to a full boil in the water in which they’ve soaked, stirring occasionally, for two to three hours, until […]

Hummus for the holidays

Check your pantry. Do you have any garbanzo beans on hand? Here’s a healthy menu stretcher. We’re serving hummus during this holiday season.

He knows if you’ve been bad or good

. . . with a few cookies here, some chocolates there. This kid friendly fruit salad (prepared by the kids in this kitchen) makes any holiday meal look good.  We’ll ration the figgy pudding and double up on fresh fruit the rest of this season.

Leave your shoes at the door–except in the kitchen

Strappy sandals, cowboy boots or bare feet?  What works in your kitchen? We leave our shoes at the front door–with the exclusion of the cookery. Double standard? Just basic safety. From home kitchens to commercial operations, those feet need more than the floor beneath them. The savvy shoe crowd over at the Foodie BlogRoll has been talking it […]

Gingerbread Lane

The Cookery was at its best this afternoon with 13 kids working their magic.  They decorated cookies and gingerbread houses and taste tested a few gum drops.  Worth the fuss of clean-up?  Yes!  This is the fifth year we’ve participated in a neighborhood gingerbread decorating fest which generates nothing but smiles.

Straw and Hay from the Frugal Gourmet

If you want to celebrate simplicity around your table this time of year, you may like breaking bread with The Magi, The Camel and the Little Lamb. I’m browsing “The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas.” Though I don’t own this cookbook (it’s currently on loan from the Austin Public Library) and never really knew much of […]

Don’t call him Santa

His name’s not Santa, but the jolly man in our family did it again. Pa’s Famous Fudge arrived yesterday.  Six pounds of chocolate temptation. This is a Christmas present we can’t wait to open early. We don’t make our own fudge here in the cookery because Pa’s fudge always finds us. The kids love this family tradition, packaged […]

Counter Point

Can you sustain yourself (and others) by preparing edible food without spacious counters and expensive gadgets? Read Mark Bittman’s point on the issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/weekinreview/14bittman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Mark%20Bittman%2012/14/08&st=cse