Use It or Lose It Day

I designate one day a week as “Use It or Lose It Day.” This is the day when I go through the fridge and methodically take care of all the leftovers, vegetables about to go bad, and other odds and ends. By having one day a week when I regularly do this, I’ve found that [...]

Lunchtime Strategies: Have a Picnic Every Day

Image via Wikipedia

Since I have been working at home, I have also been eating lunch at home. Here’s the problem: I don’t usually think about making lunch until I am already very hungry and/or I have a hungry baby to feed. That means I can’t usually take the time to cook something just for lunch.
I [...]

One Pack of Tortillas Makes a Whole Lot of Meals

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When you think about it, there’s really not much difference between a burrito, an enchilada, a taco and a tostada. The main differences are presentation and heating method. But you can essentially use the same fillings for all of these (and other tasty Mexican-style dishes). That’s why I always keep a pack of [...]

How to Make Croquettes

I have been making croquettes — or little fried cakes — for a long time now. They are always popular, and for me they are comfort food. I usually make them with mashed potatoes or beans. It didn’t occur to me that I could use another vegetable until I found Mark Bittman’s recipe for spinach [...]

Salad Anytime

Since I am working at home now, I have been making my own lunches a lot more. I have to say, making your own lunch saves both money and calories. Between not going out for lunch as often and avoiding all the goodies that show up in the office break room, I have had a [...]

Weeknight Meal Idea: Twice-Baked Potatoes

My challenge recently has been cooking well-balanced, tasty meals on weeknights while taking care of a 9-month-old without sitting down to dinner at 9 p.m. (we aren’t that sophisticated around these parts). Cooking while putting the baby to bed is a challenging endeavor. The other night I was braising chicken during the bedtime routine, which [...]

Managing Leftovers: Use It or Lose It

With the costs of food rocketing up and more awareness about how food production and distribution impacts climate change, I’ve been seeing a lot of news lately about food waste. Apparently, we Americans (and the British too) waste a lot of food. Well, it’s no wonder with food being so cheap and plentiful here, but [...]

Breakfast Burritos (or Tostadas or Enchiladas)

Here is an idea for a quick and easy meal that is so simple, it doesn’t even really need a recipe. Breakfast “burritos” are not just for breakfast, but can be eaten anytime. This is one of my favorite kinds of dishes because it fulfills the basic requirements for getting a good meal into you [...]

Eat Your Vegetables! Prepping, Blanching and Revitalizing Vegetables

colors in the market, originally uploaded by Zé Eduardo
Sometimes it seems like a lot of work to sneak in those 5 servings of vegetables per day. When I’m trying to throw together a quick weeknight supper, I often don’t want to spend time making side dishes. And I’m not going to eat fresh vegetables for [...]

Fried Rice to the Rescue

I don’t know about you, but I always have leftover rice whenever I make rice. It’s impossible to make just enough rice for two people; I can’t find a good method that serves less than four and still makes good rice.
But fortunately, for every leftover problem, there’s the perfect leftover dish. For rice, it’s fried [...]