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The Ten Most Recent Comments By greenkitchen

From Talk

Meyer lemons in the DC/Maryland area

Cookie Pie, thanks for that great tip about freezing lemons. I'm planting a Meyer lemon tree in my garden this year and was wondering what to do with any extra fruit!

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______

Canned chick peas, red and black beans are good. Central Market in Texas has a line of organic ones that don't taste too canned. I've found that if I rinse them and then roast them in a non stick pan for about 10 minutes the canned flavor goes away completely. Sometimes I flavor them with olive oil and herbs or spices, sometimes not, depending on what my plans for them are. The beans tend to split a little but they get nice and nutty.

I also use corn and tomatos in all forms, pumpkin and organic broths.

From Talk

What challenges do left-handed cooks face?

My husband is left handed and he has adapted to right hand oriented kitchen tools pretty well. Our challenge is when we cook together we have to have prep on opposite sides of the kitchen so we don't bump into each other since I naturally step to the right first and he goes left first.

From Talk

My most seldom used spice or herb is _____

I have a little bag of dried lavender that I bought after devouring my first New Tree 'Tranquility' chocolate bar. My intention was to make chocolate lavender ice cream or ganache but I've never gotten around to it. Maybe I should add it to my herb de provence mix... :)

From Talk

When good people do "bad" things in your kitchen…

This thread is cracking me up. It's so nice to know I'm really not a total b****!
Here's mine. When I am experimenting with ingredients after being inspired by a cooking show or food website or cookbook or friend or my own random thoughts pleeeeeeese don't ask me what I'm doing and then make a snide comment or a face! How many times in the past have I made you something new that you've never heard of or never thought to combine and you loved it!

And while we're on the subject, those things in my kitchen are tools not toys and the space is a work area, not a depository for your car parts, gym clothes, fast food wrappers (aaagghhhhhh can you tell I'm a foodie married to -- gasp-- a non foodie!!!) and other junk! Dear.

From Talk

Bring PB&J up a notch!

Peanut Butter & Co. The Heat Is On with Rasberry jam. Hot!

From Talk

Kitchen Gadgets to chop, dice and mince into small pieces.

It's called a Flavour Shaker and is available for sale on Jamies site, www.jamieoliver.com. You put your herbs and dried spices, peppercorns, cloves, etc., in it and shake them up. There's something in there that breaks everything open so the flavors meld. It reminds me of the ball bearings in nail polish bottles. If you check out the chat threads on the site you can see what people in the UK, OZ and Canada have to say about it. There's a post there now complaining about the thing leaking.

One tip I did pick up from Jamie was to pound my herbs in my mortar and then add oils and other liquids right into the bowl when making marinades and dressings. Keeps you from making another bowl dirty and you don't lose any residue of flavor from the mortar.

From Talk

Trader Joe's Torture: What one thing do you have to buy?

No TJ's in Texas so when I go home to L.A. I always get several bottles of the muscat orange vinegar. It's fab!

From Recipes

EVO and Yogurt Loaf Cake

Dorie, I've been searching for a recipe like this. I like a good coarse cake in the winter time. Just right with a nice piece of Wensleydale or Cotswold cheese and a neat whisky!

From Recipes

A Toast to the New Year, Serious Eaters: Tangerine, Campari, and Soda

Tangerine and Campari, why didn't I think of that?! I love Campari and soda with lime, so I must try this New Years Day while watching football :)

Responses to Comments by greenkitchen

From Talk

Trader Joe's Torture: What one thing do you have to buy?

They have cheap brie and those 100 calorie chocolate bars. Also, the dried fruit and veggie chips. Oh! There's also almond milk, trail mix, spinach pies when I'm too lazy to make my own...

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______


Cans are recyclable where I am too. They, along with newspapers were the first and that's been over twenty years. In fact, along with aluminum they are very recyclable and save tons of energy as written at "Thrifty Fun" website:

Reclaiming one ton of steel or tin saves 1.5 tons of ore. Tin recycling saves an estimated 2,600 kilowatt hours per ton. Steel recycling saves and average of 4,300 kilowatt hours per ton or 47% of the energy required to process steel from raw materials.

That said, I had to read through the thread to even think of canned products I wouldn't have besides peas since they are soooo not a part of my world.

Canned potatoes. I still wouldn't have a clue about these except for a British BF who ate them for breakfast. I did try a bite and am still getting over the trauma.

Canned Asparagus. Same in that who would of thought... but this was a Kiwi BF who made me an omelette of which he was quite proud. Wasn't helped by being told GF prior introduced him to the whole concept.

Canned Mushrooms. I don't eat any kind but canned seems a special abomination. My brother has been known to take a can of shrooms and a can of tomato sauce on noodles and call it spaghetti. I call it making BK on the way home seem gourmet.

Canned Spinach. I wouldn't eat spinach until deep in adulthood because of the bad memories from school lunches. Empty milk cartons were filled, and even ceilings were not safe to be under...

Canned Beets. See spinach above.

Canned Carrots. Eeeek!

I do like several canned beans but probably not like others here. I especially like black beans or black eyed peas heated up in their broth (organic) and then adding a dollop of butter. That's it. YUM! However, I can't seem to stomach canned chickpeas and so those get cooked up from dried and divided into servings in stackable containers and frozen. Very handy. Plus the bean stock is a rich add to soups. My goal is to do that with all beans.

I also like canned black olives and those are the only olives I seem to like. An indulgence once or twice a year.

Canned tomatoes actually are often more nutritious than fresh because they are at their peak when processed. They work better in some things but are too much in others. So they are seasonal for me.

Canned coconut milk and canned pumpkin (both organic) make a fabulous quick soup especially with a bit of curry. I'm told that some black beans are a great add too but I like the black beans so much the way I do that I haven't been able to part with them for soup. :)

I also have a can each of mango slices and lychees. My emergency food I guess. Sometimes they just hit the spot especially if I've been ill for few days and there's little else quick in the place.

Nothing in the fruit department is like the wonderful pears and peaches my best friend's grandma made and stored in her basement.

Probably the worst thing I've ever seen canned is a whole chicken. :(

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______

Cans are recyclable here...

No to:
canned vegetables except corn, beans (not green) and tomatoes
canned pizza sauce (don't know why, just like jarred better than canned for tomato products...maybe it's the acid reacting with the metal?)

Yes to:
black olives
canned corn, beans (see above) and tomatoes
canned soup (lots more variety than there used to be)
spaghetti-o type products (3 kids ages 10 and under, and a hubby...'nuff said)

Undecided on:
canned fruit (those peeled grapes are truly horrible, but peaches aren't bad - however almost all of the good canned fruit is now available in plastic jars...same stuff, different packaging)
canned tuna (due to above-mentioned 3 kids, I can't justify the added expense of tuna in pouch...though this one's a moot point because no one but me likes tuna anything, anyway)

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______

when we lived where the fresh foods came in about every eight weeks, I made the Spam spread Cassandra mentioned - it's pretty good. I buy the Italian tuna in oil from Italy - more expensive - and it's good. I also like the Del Monte peaches in a jar in the winter in fruit salad and most of the beans mentioned above - rinsed! - coconut milk and tomatoes in all forms. Green Giant corn will do, but frozen is better. I like the brown bread, but it's difficult to find. Cooking for one, tinned baked beans are the answer - add sliced onion and a little brown sugar and bake them for 20 minutes. Almost awesome.

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______

Any canned vegetables except tomatoes and beans. Meats, even tuna (would rather have the pouch), and most definitely never those little cans of "deviled stuff."

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______

I cannot eat canned corn. Or frozen corn, for that matter. On the cob only for me!

Oh, and canned asparagus = yuck. And being the HUGE mushroom fan I am, I do not like canned mushrooms. Canned mushrooms are the reason I though I hated mushrooms for the first 25 years of my life.

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______

Hm, I think the list of things I WILL eat in a can is much shorter: black beans, chick peas, niblets (guilty pleasure), San Marzano tomatoes, Campbell's tomato soup and Progresso Minestrone.

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______

i keep a can of pumpkin and a can of sweetened condensed milk around for baking, but that's about it for me.

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______

Mmm Spam. I could eat that every day! Crisp-fried with shoyu, little bit of sriracha and sesame oil or fried with Pietro sesame dressing...over rice and a little bit of kewpie mayo on the side. I wish they sold Tulip in Ohio. :(

From Talk

I'd rather not eat canned ______

Asparagus was the very first item to jump into my head. That's truly vile stuff.

Shrooms would be second. They bear no resemblance to the real thing and are rubbery. No matter which brand I tried, they taste "off."

And WTF is Deviled Ham anyway???

Living in Florida, SPAM is a necessary evil product that needs to be in the Hurricane Kit. I have to force feed the stuff to myself if I expect to get through a hurricane - or a year like 2004. I don't, however, have to like it. And never, ever store brand SPAM (shudder).

I'd have to say canned beans are the #1 convenience product in terms of the time it would take to make their fresh counterpart and they suffer the least in the canning process. Other than a few Goya disappointments, canned beans are a Godsend and should be in a rainbow of colors in the pantry for so many quick meals.

Nipping at the heels of those beans - Tomato products. I need at least five different varieties of canned tomatoes at the ready.