Sometimes it’s not about the recipe at all. It’s just about sharing a good meal and its cooking with a couple of friends or, in my case, family visiting overnight from across the border. Three sleepy cooks and a remarkably delicious Sunday morning breakfast.
Why is it that food cooked together always tastes better and is remembered more vividly than food cooked alone? Continue reading
With appreciation, I share this guest post from Deirdre at Plan It Healthier. Deirdre, a health and nutrition coach, writes about creating wellness through whole foods nutrition, lifestyle adjustments and natural remedies. Plan It Healthier is a beautiful blog, with healthy, delicious recipes and lots of good information. Thank you, Deirde, for sharing this post with Nourishing Words!
“For pottage and puddings and custards and pies
Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies,
We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon,
If it were not for pumpkins we should be undoon.”
Lyrics to popular song in the 1600s
Pumpkins. We buy them whole in October to perform surgery on, and then expect to see them again in November in a pie. We’ve come to think of pumpkin pie as one of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Probably not. Continue reading
Thanksgiving is all about family, good friends and food traditions. As you’re preparing for this year’s Thanksgiving, try digging deep and getting in touch with your Thanksgiving roots. There’s still time to ask your siblings, parents and (if you’re lucky) grandparents what vegetable accompanied the turkey on their childhood Thanksgiving tables.
You won’t dig too far before you find root vegetables, and lots of them. Continue reading
Thirty-eight years ago today, my mother died. I’ve had a hard time with the month of November ever since.
Unlike the the November 1973 memories so vivid—even today—in my mind, this November 4 is a bright and mild day. A comforting day, wrapping me in the warmth of late autumn sun pouring through the windows. The sunshine, rather than the cold, gloomy rain that conjures Continue reading
The humble cabbage conjures images of simple, old-fashioned meals and victory gardens. For many, cabbage is cole slaw and that’s it. For some, it’s the slimy, smelly vegetable that makes its appearance on Saint Patrick’s Day. But these days, cabbage is increasingly finding its way into the kitchens of creative and health-conscious cooks, and the culinary possibilities are endless. Continue reading
A few hundred years ago, preserving food through fermentation was commonplace. It’s easy, doesn’t require fuel or special equipment and, best of all, fermented foods are healthy. Fermentation is the naturally occurring process by which “friendly” bacteria, fungi and molds pre-digest a food, changing its nutritional make-up and flavor along the way. Some of our favorite foods—cheese, wine, beer, chocolate, sourdough bread and yogurt—depend on the fermentation process. Other foods, perhaps less familiar, like kefir, kim chee, kombucha and miso, are the products of natural fermentation as well. All offer complex, interesting flavors and nutritional advantages. Continue reading
Are you afraid of spinach? Does it conjure up images of green, flavorless mush? Popeye, perhaps, downing can after can of the stuff?
Well, it turns out that Popeye knew what he was doing, eating all that spinach. Spinach is one of the most nutritious of the leafy greens, rich in iron, calcium, cancer-fighting antioxidants, vitamin K and vitamin C. Continue reading
This introduces “Fresh Today,”a new, regular feature of Nourishing Words: helpful tips on cooking with fresh, in-season vegetables. For me, that means cooking with what’s fresh and in-season here in New Hampshire. Local definitions of “in-season” may vary, of course but, unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, we’re all sharing the same season, more or less. No fancy recipes here, no family secrets. Just simple techniques to start the creative cooking process.
Will planting squash seeds nearby make you more fertile? Maybe not, but eating this beta carotene- and B vitamin-rich, high-fiber food that’s also low in carbohydrates and calories may very well make you healthier. And, who knows what that could lead to? Continue reading
In my small city, good restaurants are few and far between. When one comes along that serves creatively prepared food with seasonal ingredients (local is even better), many of us respond by supporting it wholeheartedly. Even so, I’ve watched more than a few good ones come and go. Sadly, the chain restaurants remain and even proliferate.
A few years ago, one such restaurant graced downtown Concord, New Hampshire. The atmosphere was hip; the food was delicious. Served on small plates, it was fun to try several unusual dishes, to share food and wine and to stretch outside of our daily food routines. This restaurant lasted a couple of years before disappearing, leaving area foodies with one less option.
It was there that I tasted a sublimely simple soup, thick and creamy, made from roasted root vegetables. Continue reading
Make no mistake, I’m committed to the CSA movement, both as a means to support local agriculture and as a way to keep myself supplied with healthy, organic produce.
I love the routine of paying months ahead of time, then picking up a “surprise” share every week. I love the challenge of toting that bag home and figuring out what the next week’s meals will be. I’ve gotten to know vegetables that I didn’t used to pay much attention to, and exchanged old, comfortable routines for new culinary adventures. I’ve learned to use collard greens, celeriac, parsnips and daikon radishes, and find myself wishing for ever stranger vegetables to appear in my share. Continue reading
