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From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

Pasta salad, with chicken, feta, and fried tomatoes. Yes. Nom.

From Talk

6 leftover egg yolks...need some ideas!

Do you like to bake bread?

Challah would be excellent.

Usually the number of egg yolks required is what throws me off (at least in the richer recipes) so if I had that many lying around I know what I'd do!

From Serious Eats

Store Bought vs. Homemade: What's More Cost-Effective?

These aren't completely accurate - the main flaw I see with most of these "do it yourself - it's cheaper!" price comparison articles is that they don't include energy costs.

I love to bake, but including the energy my oven uses up per loaf/pan/sheet etc. it's not worth it to make everything at home, despite the cost of raw materials :(

Does anyone know of any places that actually do the energy cost breakdown as well? I know people tend to disregard it because they think it isn't that much, but it actually adds up if you have to keep heating your oven to 350 or 450 or 500 or whatever.

From Talk

What Do You Think Of Boiled Peanuts?

@tinat -

I was just going to add that boiled peanuts are not only popular in the South but also in Asia. I remember them as a ubiquitous part of the rice congee breakfasts my grandma would prepare for us, along with steamed vegetables, you tiao, pork floss etc... Her house always had some in a bowl somewhere.

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Recent Posts

From Talk

5 Large Artichokes...Suggestions?

From Talk

Recipe Request: Mini Bagels

From Talk

Greek Yogurt - Recommendations?

From Talk

Lots of cilantro...

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Recent Comments | Response to Comments

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

Pasta salad, with chicken, feta, and fried tomatoes. Yes. Nom.

From Talk

6 leftover egg yolks...need some ideas!

Do you like to bake bread?

Challah would be excellent.

Usually the number of egg yolks required is what throws me off (at least in the richer recipes) so if I had that many lying around I know what I'd do!

From Serious Eats

Store Bought vs. Homemade: What's More Cost-Effective?

These aren't completely accurate - the main flaw I see with most of these "do it yourself - it's cheaper!" price comparison articles is that they don't include energy costs.

I love to bake, but including the energy my oven uses up per loaf/pan/sheet etc. it's not worth it to make everything at home, despite the cost of raw materials :(

Does anyone know of any places that actually do the energy cost breakdown as well? I know people tend to disregard it because they think it isn't that much, but it actually adds up if you have to keep heating your oven to 350 or 450 or 500 or whatever.

From Talk

What Do You Think Of Boiled Peanuts?

@tinat -

I was just going to add that boiled peanuts are not only popular in the South but also in Asia. I remember them as a ubiquitous part of the rice congee breakfasts my grandma would prepare for us, along with steamed vegetables, you tiao, pork floss etc... Her house always had some in a bowl somewhere.

From Talk

What Do You Put on Your Biscuit?

Clotted. Cream.


(oh wait, you're talking about biscuits, not scones...)

From Serious Eats

U.S. Food Safety Has Not Improved In Three Years

Like that's news...salmonella scares left and right! What nut will be next?!

All the more reason to eat local/grow your own so you at least have some idea of what the food goes through. But eh, that opinion is sadly not always practical/ widely shared.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: ''Wichcraft'

Yet another dolled up grilled cheese on super fat slices - I'm sorry, can't help myself!

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Urban Italian'

Pasta and Seafood.

BLASPHEMY. but it's delicious.

From Talk

What makes the perfect Irish soda bread?

Out of curiosity, anyone have a recipe that makes a sweet soda bread with a nice crust and scone-like texture?

They've been selling them at my local Whole Foods lately and they're delicious but not worth it at 5$ a pop.

Anyways, I like the sweeter kind of soda bread. It's basically an excuse to eat sugar with dinner.

From Talk

How Long does it take Your Household to Finish a Loaf of Bread?

I can eat a whole loaf of bread by myself in less than a day, homemade or not.

While currently my metabolism can keep up I worry a little for the future.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Kneadlessly Simple'

Challah is the love of my life. Reinhart's recipe from the BBA is pure win.

From Talk

What time do you eat dinner?

Strange - I always find myself making dinner and eating at around 5 to 5:30pm and I have a small snack in the evening. Sometimes I'll even eat earlier... perhaps my lunch just isn't big enough.

On a related note, does anyone eat earlyish like me/ even earlier? :)

From Talk

How to get my sweet potato fries crispy in the oven?

Oh - deseree beat me to it. I was just going to suggest throwing them under the broiler. Some healthy char=crisp? Right? It works for me. ;)

Another problem is you might not be using enough oil? I've discovered that you really have to lather them up good or they just turn out like strips of baked potato.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: The Essence of Chocolate

The first time I tasted a flourless chocolate cake was at the birthday of one of my high school friends - it was a while back and the chocolate wasn't even that good but mmmmm I think that's what finally made me a convert.

From Serious Eats

Valentine's Day Giveaway: Macarons from Itzy Bitzy Patisserie

In my odd mind, I've had avocado gelato and I would wonder if that'd translate well to a macaron...:)

Maybe avocado with some kind of filling? olive oil and salted caramel?

From Talk

Uncommon food allergies that nobody believes?

I have a close friend who's allergic to watermelon. It's strange, considering how much of it's made up of water, but every time she tries to eat it her face puffs up and swelling develops and it's not pretty.

She's also mildly allergic to cantaloupe. I wasn't predisposed to disbelieve her but it's one of the weirder food allergies I've encountered.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Baking Unplugged'

The first time I baked after moving to a new neighborhood in high school I decided to make some cookies for my friend's birthday. I didn't have any measuring cups, so I basically just used a little bowl and eyeballed it.

The cookies turned out like gooey, poisonous little puddles. They got warm after I carried them to school and spread out and started dripping and melting out of the package I'd wrapped for her. She ate them nevertheless (she's far from picky) but it was by far the worst thing I've ever baked.

From Talk

Recipe Request: Mini Bagels

They're Mediterranean-type crackers, usually savory and shaped like rings - kind of like Italian taralli?

My point is my attempt turned out crisper, chewier, and less puffy in texture than I would have liked for bagels.

But I'm also on the lookout for recipe suggestions if anyone has had any success..

From Serious Eats

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: D'Artagnan Boneless Heritage Ham

Nothing else matters unless there's honey mustard.

That and the bread has to be good.

From Talk

You learn something new every day....

@josdean

Yup, it's ethylene :) Bananas and apples among other fruits give off that gas while they ripen which help ripen stuff that's surrounding. After learning about plant hormones multiple times during biology and life science courses I was stunned to realize they had an actual impact on my life...

Another eureka moment: using a potato to clean the grill.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Into the Vietnamese Kitchen'

Upon the arrival of my brick of instant yeast, I'm going to bake with yeast as often as possible and try lots of new recipes. Hoping to become a more advanced bread baker by 2010! :)

From Talk

Greek Yogurt - Recommendations?

I stumbled upon this thread and wanted you all to know that Costco now sells Fage!

From Talk

What Do You Put on Your Biscuit?

I realize this is an old topic but I had to comment. Before I fell victim to a most unpleasant allergy to tomatoes I always enjoyed tomato gravy and biscuits. Now its butter and maple syrup. I also have to agree with many of ya'll....a good plain biscuit is its own type of heaven.

From Talk

Food blogs

Cocina Savant
http://cocinasavant.blogspot.com/
Avid husband and wife cooking team exploring new ideas and twists on traditional cooking form different cultures.

From Talk

Uncommon food allergies that nobody believes?

I am allergic to raw mushrooms, can't eat anything that has been cross contaminated with it. I ate some fresh veggies that had a few flecks of mushroom in it that I didn’t see and within 5 minutes it had triggered my asthma, my mouth swelled up and the lips, tongue and all the rest of the symptoms that go with it. I can eat them when they are cooked though and I now love canned mushroom, since I can’t eat the raw thing anymore. I can’t even handle raw ones (my husband hates mushrooms) so I can’t eat them freshly cooked unless I go out.

I have found that since I have given birth to my twins 3 years ago that my allergies and asthma have gotten exponentially worse. I can’t even be in the same room with cats, dogs, any animal with hair. My allergies to the great outdoors have had the same consequence. I also have developed an allergy to Celery, I have the same reactions as I have to mushrooms but I stopped eating it, so I haven’t found out if it gets worse with every exposure.

My main concern right now is that I have a reaction when I eat in combination tomatoes and bread. I can eat bread alone and tomatoes but when they are eaten in the same meal I get an overwhelming reaction to throw up. It can be as mild as a slight queasiness or I can start to throw up. I have looked and looked but I can’t find anything anywhere that mentions allergies when foods are combined. Since the birth of my twins the tomato and bread reaction has gotten worse as well. I have never cared for pizza because it always left me feeling sick afterwards which I just thought that it was the grease in it.

I feel like an idiot when I say anything about the t&b thing....I know it is not in my head but nobody has heard of it and people just think I am being picky. Since I was about 13 apples have made me feel the same way. Sometimes the reaction is worse than other so I will every once and a while eat a bit of an apple but never a whole one. The T&B reaction is worse than the apple one though because my mildest reaction to T&B is the worst I have had to apples.

From Talk

Uncommon food allergies that nobody believes?

My aunt is allergic to corn! She can have things with High Fructose Corn Syrup and the like, but things like corn tortillas and such give her an allergic reaction.

I myself am not allergic to anything, but I am very sensitive to certain foods, like candy that is strongly grape or pineapple flavoured or oily tree nus (I love cashews, though). I can't eat doughnuts, certain cookies, or cake unless I'm craving it. All of these foods (plus some others I'm not thinking of) give me bad headaches that progress into strong migraines if I don't treat it with something strong near the beginning. It's even worse if it's hot, if something's on my forehead, or if I'm staring at a screen (I.e. TV, Gameboy, computer...)

My youngest sister is allergic to nectarines. It was way worse when she was younger, though. She would break out into hives all over her face.

My other younger sister has wierd time periods every few years where she's violently lactose intolerant. It usually leaves in a few months, though.

My grandmother (on my mom's side) is (was) lactose intolerant, and so is my father. I find it strange that I'm not.

My grandmother used to drink milk every day when she was younger (teens, I believe) but one day she just woke up and was lactose intolerant. She couldn't have ice cream, or even too much cheese. She was like that for 30-40 years. In the last year or so she hasn't been lactose intolerant at all. It just disappeared, oddly enough.

Another one of my aunts is allergic to tree nuts, but she can have small portions of walnuts.

Whew! That was a fun (long) post. I guess my entire family is weird. O_o

From Talk

Skyr yogurt

I love Fage, but I am trying to be objective.

So I bought Skyr and found it too creamy and sour. Fage is more cheesy and firm.

I tried to buy Siggi's, but it's $2.39 at Whole Foods, while Skyr is $1.99. Whole Foods couldn't tell me why. So could you tell me why Siggi's is actually worth 40 cents more than either Skyr or Fage? Thanks!

From Talk

Greek Yogurt - Recommendations?

Chobani! Love it, but it must be on sale for me to buy it. Great texture, not insane on the sugar content.

From Talk

Greek Yogurt - Recommendations?

Mmm...Fage. I figure the price is worth it, if only because trading my morning routine of a giant bowl of cereal and a banana for Fage Total 2% with Honey and blueberries has definitely made a difference in my weight. Ed, take note!

From Talk

Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's ?

Ben & Jerry's all the way! The Half-Baked is so delicious! It's the Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream mixed with their Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream---swooning now!!

From Talk

Why do people think Whole Foods is so expensive?

My 2 cents about all the people who mentioned high employee wages as a factor in the WF costs- my sister worked at WF for a long time, and she would regularly run in to coworkers doing her shopping at the inexpensive grocery store across the street. They may pay more than your average grocery store, but it's still not enough for the line-level employees to be able to afford to shop there!

From Talk

Why do people think Whole Foods is so expensive?

their beauty products are marked up to a ridiculous degree. the organic hair gel i buy for six bucks and change at fairway is 9 bucks at whole foods. the exfoliating scrub and the moisturizer i use are also much, much less expensive at fairway.

they charge organic prices for conventional produce a lot of the time, and often don't have things you'd think would be total staples. for instance, i can't get bags of organic romaine hearts there, and they're ubiquitous all over the rest of manhattan.

but what can i say, i shop there anyway. i do try to make it a point to only buy things there i can't get anywhere else, like vegan sugar.

From Talk

Why do people think Whole Foods is so expensive?

Its been a while since this thread has been refreshed, but I would just like to add my two cents...

While reading many of the previous posts to the OP, I noticed that people were comparing Whole Foods to other grocers like Wegermans, TJ's, Fresh Market, etc. IMO, these are all "high-end" grocery stores: Grocers that offer high-quality artisan products and an aesthetically pleasing decor. In a nutshell, they are selling more than just groceries: they are selling a shopping experience. The classical music, the distinct aromas in the store, helpful staff, samples.... In business, this is called "branding". I think we all recognize, know (and love!) the Whole Foods brand, just as by comparison we know and recognize the Wal-mart brand as well.

But when you compare two high-end grocer's to one another, I would say its more of an apples-to-apples comparison than, say, comparing any one of those high-end grocers to a Safeway or Albertson's. Prices between grocers like New Seasons, Wild Oats, or Whole Foods are all going to be roughly the same because they all are targeting the same demographic with similar brands.

I think the reason some people are offended by Whole Foods is that they already are used to the prices at their "go-to" grocers. Like many people have said, items (even "staple" items) are typically 2-3 times more expensive than other grocers, and some people have a hard time justifying why anyone in their right mind would want to spend that much money on, for example, pasta or flour .... even if their is a good reason for it (organic, free-trade, sustainable, local, etc.).

Now, I love places like Whole Foods: Like many have said, they offer high-quality products, many of them organic, and a lot of stuff that I just can't find anywhere else. (I have recently read "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and it has really gotten me thinking about the health benefits of buying organic .... There really is a big difference, and not just in taste!). I was never a big "cheese" person, but I am always impressed by their charcuterie, and beer and wine selection.

The problem is that I just can't afford to do all of my shopping there. I would love if I could buy all of my groceries there, because I do see the difference in quality that these kinds of stores offer. But when balancing the checkbook with things I need to buy and things I would like to buy, I wish I could say groceries were a higher priority for me. When I grocery shop, I still tend to buy mostly staples: bulk items, produce, meat, etc. I try and not to buy any processed or frozen foods, limited canned or packaged items .... this has helped me stretch my food budget. But when even staple items are usually 3-4 times more expensive than my local WinCo, its hard to justify the expenses, ESPECIALLY now that "times are tough" (or so I'm told by the news everyday).

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Kneadlessly Simple'

Multi grain bread! This looks like a great cookbook!!!

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

Thank you for participating, and congratulations to our winners:

page48
piccola
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Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

Carbonara pasta... gotta love bacon and egg and pasta!!! YUMMY!!!

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

whole grain pasta, olive oil, chopped garlic, sauteed spinach with some grilled chicken. Love it.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

Easy italian here means also making fresh pasta in the time it takes to boil the pot of water. I use Jamie Oliver's friend Gennaro's method to make pasta in about 3 minutes - check out this podcast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boSyVjkf4to

While the pasta rests 5-10 minutes before rolling and cutting, I pull out the food processor and mix 1 cup of toasted walnuts, 1/2 cup of fresh basil, a clove of garlic and olive oil (adding slowly, probably around 1/2 to 3/4 cup in total) until I get a decent pesto. I usually season it, adding salt and ground pepper.

Now the pesto's done, just quickly roll out the pasta, roll it up into a tight jelly roll and slice to the thickness you want...easy!

Boil the fresh pasta (takes far less time - watch it), top with sauce and freshly grated grana padano.

A very easy way to impress your date!

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

My favorite make at home pasta is any pasta, I just love pasta. I am craving pesto at the moment though. I'm a southern girl who loves Italian food so I'd love to have this book.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

I like to make my own homemade pasta. It's time consuming but worth it.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

I like making a cold spaghetti salad in the summer. I use whatever I happen to have on hand at the moment. Cooked spaghetti mixed with some diced tomatoes, red onion, green pepper, black olives, etc. Add some EVOO and red wine vinegar with some garlic salt, pinch or two of sugar, some salad supreme and some parmesan cheese. Yum!

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

Pasta Roni and Hamberhelper!I'm in dire need of a cookbook *smiles*

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Bottega Favorita' by Frank Stitt

My favorite is angel hair pasta, with tomatoes, onions, green peppers, olive oil salt and pepper.

Recent Posts

From Talk

5 Large Artichokes...Suggestions?

From Talk

Recipe Request: Mini Bagels

From Talk

Greek Yogurt - Recommendations?

From Talk

Lots of cilantro...

From Talk

Eats in Downtown Atlanta?

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About jazzinx

Website: http://studiousbites.blogspot.com

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Favorite foods: Chocolate, pastry, pasta, olive oil, all kinds of nuts, really fresh bread, breakfast foods, baked sweets.

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