Ah, the power of the “use by” or “pull date.” While these codes can be helpful in making sure that the products we purchase have not gone stale, they also can lead the overly cautious to waste food unnecessarily. While a “fresh” package of scallops past its pull date would be a very iffy purchase,…

Sometimes, silly mistakes turn out well. I have one sweet potato left in the pantry and wanted to combine it with lentils for a great curry. In a hurry to get the lentils cooking, I pulled the “lentils” jar out of the cupboard and emptied the pound bag into a pan. It was only when…

The recipe I just posted calls for the grated zest of a few lemons, and the flavor boost that lemon boost gives is really important. However, I sometimes delay making anything using grated lemon rind (or orange rind for that matter) because of this: You don’t see the problem? Well, look a little more closely….

Here is a dessert with a buttery crust, a raspberry layer where sugar does not overwhelm the tang of the fruit, and a smooth lemony topping–a perfect ending to a light spring or summer dinner. The addition of raspberries to the long favorite lemon bars makes these more than just a cookie. In fact, if…

Confession:  I have never been an asparagus lover. When I was growing up in Wisconsin, there were three foods that signaled spring: chives (or wild onions, depending on what your yard held), rhubarb, and asparagus. The chives meant Mom’s wonderful potato salad would soon grace the table, and that was good. The other two, however,…

Has chili and soup fatigue set in on your efforts to incorporate more dried beans and lentils into your diet? Are you completely out of the seasonings needed to make those really wonderful east Asian dishes your local Indian restaurant serves? If you are a fan of sausage, peppers and onions, this might be a…

There was a time when muffins were the plain Jane cousins of cupcakes, back before they were laden with chocolate chips and dried cranberries, covered with thick layers of streusel topping and loaded up with butter or oil and lots and lots of sugar. They had few ingredients and were usually served with butter and…

Consider the lentil for a moment:  cheap, easily stored, quick cooking, high nutrition, and eminently flexible. And did I say cheap, er, inexpensive? Yet here in the US, the lentil is an ingredient probably the majority of home cooks have never tried to prepare on their own. Time to change that, perhaps with a resolution…

Part of my extended family loves rice, with just about anything and everything; part of my family does not. Some of the latter are great lovers of bread. Pita bread, whole wheat bread, bread. So when I was thinking of making a lentil and sweet potato curry, I began to think about naan along with…

Sometimes the best place to start with a cooking or baking project is with the sides or accompaniments. Think about your basic boneless, skinless chicken breasts. On their own, they are really pretty tasteless and, well, dull. However, prepare some great sauce or cook up a vegetable side and add some marinaded and braised chicken…