Whoever you are, reading this, you deserve a tasty, healthy, homemade lunch! This one is easy, inexpensive, and low in environmental impact, so there's no need to feel guilty about it. Perhaps you're not struggling with that and would like me to get on with telling you the recipe. Well, first I'm going to show … Continue reading Hummus and Vegetable Flatbread Sandwich: You deserve this lunch!
Recipes
A Robot’s Cookbook, Chapter 4
See Chapter 1 for explanation of this unusual recipe collection. SPECULOOS: Add Brussels sprouts, not the bechamel sauce, and very little cayenne. Baste often with a few raisins or two dessertspoonfuls of an edge and dip them quickly with thick consistency in the flour you have sprinkled with vinegar. Then roll in sherry and a … Continue reading A Robot’s Cookbook, Chapter 4
Can you eat carrots that look like THIS?!
In our 17 summers of buying a share in a community-sponsored agriculture farm, we've developed a 5-step plan for making good use of our weekly veggie crate--but our long-range planning still isn't perfect. When I put "carrots" on the shopping list in late summer, Daniel bought the 5-pound bag because it was the best value … Continue reading Can you eat carrots that look like THIS?!
A Robot’s Cookbook, Chapter 3
See Chapter 1 for explanation of this unusual recipe collection. HAM WITH EGGS: Take a few pickled walnuts, flattening through the mutton the same weight of buttered paper through a quart of herbs. In a Belgian manner, take the liquor; mix the pan, adding pepper torn apart from the paste and all the threads. Cut the … Continue reading A Robot’s Cookbook, Chapter 3
DIY Vegan Bacon from Potato Peels!
Smoky, salty, greasy, crispy! Nobody will think it actually is bacon, but it fits that culinary niche better than anything else you can make out of garbage in 5 minutes!
How to make it from scratch instead of a package: Chipotle Simmer Sauce
My son Nicholas is 12 years old and often tells us about meals and snacks he enjoyed in his friends' homes. Last month, when we were shopping at Target, he pointed out a package of sauce that was the exact type his friend's mother had used on the delicious fajitas. I told him I wasn't … Continue reading How to make it from scratch instead of a package: Chipotle Simmer Sauce
Vegetarian Yuletide Stew
Food styling and photography by Nicholas Efran. My brother Ben Stallings invented this meal last night, and all 8 assembled relatives liked it! The red and green colors are appropriate to the season. It's healthy, inexpensive, and quick to make. To make about 10 main-dish servings, you will need 1 small onion 2 Tbsp. olive … Continue reading Vegetarian Yuletide Stew
Coleslaw All Year Long–made with yogurt!
Coleslaw is a summertime food, right? It's true that it makes a tasty accompaniment to burgers or cold sandwiches, and its chilly crunch is refreshing on a hot day. But the main ingredient in coleslaw is cabbage, and in temperate climates cabbage is in season (therefore, inexpensive) in the autumn and winter. It makes sense … Continue reading Coleslaw All Year Long–made with yogurt!
Turnips Armored in Self-Defense
For my latest article at Kitchen Stewardship, Kitchen Shortcuts for Busy Times, I needed photographs of at least one of the shortcuts, and the one I chose was cooking rice at the beginning of the week to use in three different meals. Naturally, I found myself doing this at a busy time...which got busier...so that … Continue reading Turnips Armored in Self-Defense
4 Easy Homemade Sauces for Instinctive Cooking
Are you good at following recipes but wish you had the knack for just throwing together a meal from ingredients you happen to have? The way I got started on developing that knack was to learn to make a basic sauce from scratch. Over at Kitchen Stewardship, I explain how to learn 4 sauces and … Continue reading 4 Easy Homemade Sauces for Instinctive Cooking
Homemade Halvah: A sweet, nutritious, energy snack! (GF) (vegan)
Halvah is a Middle Eastern snack/dessert made mostly of sesame paste and sugar with various flavorings. I've usually had the chocolate flavor and liked it, but I never felt a craving for halvah until about six weeks ago. Suddenly, late one night, I found myself wishing I had halvah and wondering if I could make … Continue reading Homemade Halvah: A sweet, nutritious, energy snack! (GF) (vegan)
Yogurt Sundaes: A healthy treat!
I've been eating Yogurt Sundaes since I was a teenager. This versatile bowlful of food can be a yummy breakfast, a light lunch, a late-night snack that keeps you full until morning (crucial for fighting pregnancy nausea!), or a satisfying treat when you want the fun of eating a sundae without the calories and sugar … Continue reading Yogurt Sundaes: A healthy treat!
Drowning in Veggies? 5 Steps for Using a CSA Farm Share
It’s dinnertime on a Wednesday, and you’ve just been handed 10 pounds of fresh, organic, locally-grown, assorted vegetables! You’re eager to get some of them onto your family’s plates tonight and make sure you use every bit as wisely as you can before next week—when another load of vegetables will arrive—and you never know what … Continue reading Drowning in Veggies? 5 Steps for Using a CSA Farm Share
3 Super-Simple Homemade Frosting Recipes
I've seen many recipes for cake frosting that require separating eggs, using ingredients unfamiliar to many people (like cream of tartar), cooking for 7 minutes whisking constantly, using a double boiler, or some other complicated technique. It's no wonder that so many people have the idea that homemade frosting is very difficult to make! Even … Continue reading 3 Super-Simple Homemade Frosting Recipes
Whole-wheat Zucchini Bread
This is a great high-fiber food for breakfast, snacks, or side dish and an excellent way to use the zucchini that is abundant at this time of year. I just made a batch yesterday and served it with baked beans from a can (traditional Fourth of July food, and easy to prepare after all that … Continue reading Whole-wheat Zucchini Bread
Kale Marinara Sauce
This is a very easy way to add nutrition to a convenient, inexpensive, real-food meal anyone can cook! Other dark-green leafy vegetables, such as Swiss chard, can be substituted for kale. To make 2 servings, you will need: a big handful of spaghetti noodles (For more protein, fiber, and B vitamins, use whole-wheat spaghetti. We … Continue reading Kale Marinara Sauce
A Really Real-Life Meal Plan
When life gets hectic, it's tempting to quit spending time on food preparation and just live on junk from the convenience store. The trouble with that approach is that it deprives your body of nutrients and gives it extra fat and salt to process, at just the time when you most need your body to … Continue reading A Really Real-Life Meal Plan
5 Fish-Free Family-Friendly Meals for Lent
UPDATE: Just before the beginning of Lent 2020, I'm linking up to Meatless Monday--because these are great meals for Mondays as well as Fridays or any other day! I've added some links to more recent articles. It's the third week of Lent, and if you observe the custom of fasting from land-animal meat on Fridays … Continue reading 5 Fish-Free Family-Friendly Meals for Lent
Get FREE Breadcrumbs for All Your Recipe Needs!
Did you make a new year's resolution to waste less food, to do more cooking from scratch, or to buy less over-packaged food? If you did, or if you have ever bought a canister of ready-to-use breadcrumbs, this article is for YOU! And if you don't fit into any of those categories, but you do … Continue reading Get FREE Breadcrumbs for All Your Recipe Needs!
Coffee Hour at Midnight (how to host on short notice)
I've written before about hosting church coffee hour. The people in my church are willing to eat packaged coffee-cakes and things of that ilk, but most of them prefer healthier snacks, and so do I--our coffee hour begins just before noon, so my stomach is ready for lunch, not just simple carbs! I try hard … Continue reading Coffee Hour at Midnight (how to host on short notice)
The Earthling's Handbook 