This year’s jack-o-lanterns are scared and scary, but both were filled with many, many pumpkin seeds. If you haven’t carved yours yet, there’s still time to do so and to roast the seeds for snacking. Another kind of free food (if you’re making a jack-o-landtern, anyway)! The way we do it around here is to […]
Entries from October 31st, 2008
Mushrooms seem to be everywhere
October 29th, 2008 · 6 Comments · General, local food
If you’re looking for mushroom eating and cooking advice, you’d better look elsewhere. I could take or leave mushrooms as food. But learning I had chanterelles in my front yard earlier this year raised my mushroom consciousness, so I thought I’d share with you examples of mushrooms available around my neighborhood, all shot since Sept. […]
Apples, pears join quinces for fall preserves
October 28th, 2008 · 4 Comments · Food preparation, local food, recipes
Remember the ornamental quinces? Well, they’re all cooked up and ready to eat, with a little help from apples (local), pears (local and free) and sugar. I got some ideas from Joy of Cooking and adopted the name of one recipe there to produce these sweet-tart and pretty preserves. Or maybe it’s jam. Or conserve. […]
Roundup: Food and books get our attention
October 27th, 2008 · Comments Off on Roundup: Food and books get our attention · Books about food, Roundup
This roundup has a definite Kansas City and book bent. On the menu. Maybe you remember seeing photos from the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats on the Time magazine website. Now you can see the photos in person at the Kansas City Public Library through Jan. 18. (KC Public Library) Food maven from […]
Tags:Books about food·Roundup
Braising makes for succulent grass-fed beef
October 22nd, 2008 · 3 Comments · Food preparation, local food, recipes
If you’ve hesitated to try grass-fed beef because you’ve heard it’s tough, you might reconsider. Just be sure to braise it. “Low and slow” are the watchwords for grass-fed beef, such as the roast I got from my friends’ cattle. And braising is a nice way to cook on a chilly, rainy day. Can you […]
Tags:beef·main dishes·meat·turnips
Ugly’s only skin deep when it comes to apples
October 20th, 2008 · 7 Comments · Farmers markets, Food selection, local food
Would you pay more for an apple if it was produced with fewer chemicals? Probably not if it’s ugly, according to a paper by Chengyan Yue, Helen H. Jensen and others at Iowa State University. But maybe you’d reconsider if you knew that ugly apples can taste great. Take this apple, for instance. From the […]