Time for Change Chili

Time for Change Chili – that’s the fiery hot dish about to be served at a celebration (location to remain undisclosed) this evening. The gourmand who hailed the chili buzz plans to chase the chili with Obamatinis. If you must tempt faraway friends, please share the recipes.

Austin priceline: Hass avocados

Keep it affordable, and dress up your menu with a little help from HEB. At two for $1, Hass avocados may make the cut in your food shopping budget. Likely imported from Mexico this time of year, the Hass green fruit will enhance my tortilla soup later this week.

Skip-the-moon-bounce Blog Birthday

Drop by to moon bounce Rattle a few pots and pans with me today. That’s what I’ll be doing around The Cookery in Austin as I mark this blog’s first anniversary.

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.

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 […]

Ladle this soup for supper

       Soup Supper If you’ve ever tried Sancocho, a hearty stew known to please palates in Columbia, this may look like a distant cousin. Savor your meat and potatoes, but add a splash of broth to justify this affordable meal. Don’t have all these ingredients on hand? Run an inventory of what you do have […]

Warm Up With Latkes

What’s so wonderful about potato latkes?  If you can overlook the starch, they warm you right up in cool weather. We sampled a fantastic homemade version (Sharon’s recipe) in our Austin neighborhood and tried to duplicate them here in the cookery.  Served with apple sauce, they’re a treat. Try this recipe from epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Potato-Latkes-104406

Ring in Cookie Season

It’s high season for cookie baking and the real treats often roll out in December. If you’re looking for an oatmeal-cranberry take on cookies, sample this recipe. Cookie cheers to Cookie Madness for exactness in preparation–fantastic batch served up in Austin! Drop by Cookie Madness http://www.cookiemadness.net/ and from there, skip on over to Oatmeal Cookie Guy’s […]