Tag: quick & easy

The Myth of The “Perfect” Omelet

21 March 2010 by local kitchen

The omelet is one of those recipes: devastatingly simple, yet fraught with mystique and angst. There are hundreds of treatises out there, in various cookbooks and on the Web, discoursing on the One True Secret to the Perfect French Omelet. The advice is never-ending and largely contradictory: a large pan, a small pan, high heat, low heat (or broiler heat), cover, don’t cover, whisk eggs “barely” or for 80 strokes, whip in the pan with a fork, with chopstick, with […]

Categories: 100% local, breakfast, cheese, eggs, herbs, Locavirgin, quick & easy, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Heidi’s Peanut Butter Cookies

19 March 2010 by local kitchen

Quick & easy yet delicious and healthy peanut butter cookies. Twenty minutes from bowl to stomach – so you can get back outside and enjoy this amazing Spring weather! Happy weekend, everyone. Adapted from Peanut Butter Cookies by Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks ————————————————————– Heidi’s Peanut Butter Cookies INGREDIENTS 1 cup (4.5 oz) whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/8 tsp salt 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed 3/4 tsp vanilla 2 […]

Categories: baking, dessert, quick & easy, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Tuscan White Bean Bruschetta

15 March 2010 by local kitchen

An easy way to use up leftover cooked beans, yet a delicious appetizer that tastes celebratory and rustic at the same time. A win-win! It’s been all flageolet beans, all the time, around here lately, but that’s what happens when you cook up a pound at once and then keep finding new ways to enjoy their deliciousness. This recipe is quite simple, uses basic pantry staples, and is a great way to use the tag ends of frozen kale or other leafy […]

Categories: appetizer, kale & leafy greens, quick & easy, spinach, spring, vegetarian, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Dark Days: Crunchy Baked Chicken Strips

15 March 2010 by local kitchen

A little spice, a little crunch. A few minutes to put together and you have a simple lunch or dinner that even the kids might like. This was a very haphazard recipe; I had been planning on making spicy chicken strips, chicken breast fingers essentially braised in a hot sauce until cooked through. They are quite delicious and handy to have on hand for sandwiches, salads and snacking. Yet I felt the need for something crunchy. So I changed plans, […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, chicken, Dark Days Local, main course, quick & easy, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Pink Pickled Shallots

9 March 2010 by local kitchen

Easiest. Canning. Ever. Really people, it doesn’t get much simpler than this. Shallots, vinegar, water, honey. A couple of herbs, you know, just ’cause we can. (Ha! Get it? We can! Ah, I slay me.) Pack it all in a jar, process for 10 minutes, and hey! presto! you’re a canner. Cross that off your life list. The devoted Local Kitchen reader (all 7 of you) may furrow your gentle brow, wondering why I would pickle shallots, knowing that I loathe all […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, condiments, preserving, quick & easy, thyme, year round • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, pickles, preserving, quick & easy, recipes, shallots

Dark Days: Preppy Spring Salad

8 March 2010 by local kitchen

Ah, pink & green, every Prepsters stock wardrobe must, especially in Spring. While my days of popped Izod collars and matching Tretorn-stripe tennis shoes are long gone, I can still show my love the for Pink & Green – locavore style. Three days in a row of 50-degree temps, not to mention lots of fresh Spring vegetables at the farmer’s market this Saturday, inspired a crunchy, fresh and altogether delightful pink & green salad. The pink: crisp & crunchy radishes, […]

Categories: appetizer, citrus, Dark Days Local, parsley, quick & easy, radish, salad, scallions, spinach, spring • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Flageolet Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

5 March 2010 by local kitchen

Flageolet beans are quite wonderful. They’re small and a beautiful mix of white and pale green when dried. Cooked, they hold their shape and color well and smell amazingly wonderful while simmering away on the stove. They have a slightly spicy, very distinctive, very hard-to-describe aroma and taste, that somehow reminds me of Spring. I was lucky enough to receive some Rancho Gordo flageolet beans for Christmas from my friend Christina (the gift that keeps on giving!) and they were […]

Categories: beans, heirloom beans, main course, quick & easy, side dish, spring, tomatoes, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

26 February 2010 by local kitchen

Buttermilk + butter + extra butter = one delicious biscuit. These are a snap to make and truly delicious – cripsy, golden on the outside and moist & fluffy on the inside. The recipe is based on the James Beard cream biscuits, but since I did not have any cream in the house, I used buttermilk and added back some fat with melted butter in the dough. So easy, so good. The one change I would make is to omit […]

Categories: 100% local, baking, breakfast, quick & easy, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Locavirgin: Thick Cut Pork Chops with Simple Pan Sauce

19 February 2010 by local kitchen

Pork chops can be frustrating. In my opinion, few things are as simply, wonderfully good as a pan-fried pork chop. Simple, she says? Ah, therein lies the rub. As with so many “simple” recipes, it is all about the quality of the ingredients and the execution of the technique. When a recipe has only 3 or 4 ingredients, each of those ingredients really needs to shine. And, when the whole point of the recipe is to allow those beautiful ingredients to shine, there will be […]

Categories: 100% local, fall, herbs, Locavirgin, main course, pork, thyme, wine, beer & liquor, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Nachos

11 February 2010 by local kitchen

Satisfying. That’s the word for these nachos. Basic, yes; merely four ingredients make up the basis of this dish; but endlessly versatile and oh-so satisfying. We’ve all had our share of nachos – they’ve practically become as American as hot dogs and apple pie. They are the easy bar food that everyone can agree upon; the post-soccer fuel that you shovel in with abandon; the football-watching crowd favorite. But how often have you had really good nachos? The kind with a perfect ratio of […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, beans, cheese, quick & easy, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, nachos, party food, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Flaxseed Sandwich Bread

4 February 2010 by local kitchen

Now with wings! I tried a new bread recipe yesterday, my first from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Bread Bible. Though I bought the book last Spring, and I’ve read through several of the recipes, I hadn’t gotten around to actually trying any of them. And while I don’t bake a lot of sandwich loaves, preferring the chewy texture and hearty crust of a more artisan-styled hearth bread, I was looking for something that did not require an overnight rise, or a […]

Categories: 100% local, baking, breads, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, bread, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, whole grain breads

Stovetop Popcorn

28 January 2010 by local kitchen

Despite my other addictions, popcorn is my one true love, my desert island item, my No. 1 favorite food. (I’m so very sorry bacon… better luck next year). I make popcorn nearly every day, always on the stovetop, always with oil or butter (Fat is Food, people – don’t be a hater). It may actually approach the level of a physical addiction, if such a thing is possible. When I am Were I ever to stomp around the house crankily (not […]

Categories: 100% local, corn, grains & legumes, quick & easy • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Orange Muffins with Blackberry Surprise

22 January 2010 by local kitchen

Deeeeelicious. These muffins defy the stereotype of ‘whole-grain muffin’ as heavy, gritty, dry, flavorless and yet “good for you.” (Remember the early 90’s when those brick-hard, dry-as-bone, tasteless bran muffins were all the rage? <shudder>). These muffins are light and fluffy, not overly sweet, with a citrusy tang and a surprise middle of gooey baked blackberry: in short, pretty darn close to Muffin Nirvana. And yet, they are good for you: whole grain flours from Wild Hive; organically-grown blackberries, packed full […]

Categories: baking, berries, breakfast, citrus, quick & easy, summer, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, berries, breakfast, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Chickpea Stir-Fry

21 January 2010 by local kitchen

I must confess that it has never occured to me to stir-fry chickpeas (or any bean, for that matter). I had cooked chickpeas in the fridge, leftover from making hummus the other day and I was looking for something quick & easy, yet delicious, for dinner. I also had some romaine lettuce (clam-shell packed and shipped from California, which Mom left here at Christmastime) that needed using, but somehow I couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for month-old-California-lettuce-mid-winter salad. (Shocker, that.) Enter chickpea […]

Categories: beans, carrot, chickpeas, cilantro, garlic, grains & legumes, hot chile peppers, lettuce, main course, quick & easy, salad, stir-fry, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Easy Homemade Hummus

14 January 2010 by local kitchen

I know what you’re thinking: “Hmmph. Easy. Says she of the 3-day pie crust and the day-long chicken pot pie.” But, really, this recipe is easy. Easy as pie. Well, way easier than pie, actually. Easy enough for Rachel Ray (although why make hummus when it’s so much more convenient to buy it in the store? And why do I pick on this woman when I’ve never even seen her show? I’m sure she’s a lovely person. Really.). Anyway, you […]

Categories: appetizer, beans, chickpeas, chives, citrus, herbs, quick & easy, spreads, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian