Blogging on the Powwow

I am finally getting to the point with my cooking that I can use parts of previous recipes to try and figure out what might go well together. It's very rewarding! Tonight I made a white pizza with Brussels sprouts and red onion. I based this on two recipes (white pizza with artichokes, rosemary, and olives-- Real Simple, April 2013 edition, link not available yet ; broccoli rabe with pecorino tart ) and came up with the following: 1/2 gluten-free pizza dough, Gillian's , rolled out 50g reduced fat, 4-Italian cheese blend 30g grated parm 20g grated pecorino  1 oz goat cheese, crumbled 1/4 red onion 4-6 sliced green onions (greens only) roasted Brussels sprouts, 4 cups? fresh/dried rosemary, as desired Lightly drizzle with olive oil infused with hot red pepper Gillian's pizza says to cook at 375 for 18-20 minutes. I roasted the Brussels sprouts (at a higher temp, of course) in olive oil with salt & pepper, while I prepared the pizza; then...

There are lots of fancy ways to organize one's spices and I have tried many of them: shelves, uniform glass bottles with little labels, swiveling racks, etc. But, I always come back to the wooden soap box that came out of my grandfather's childhood barn in Gardner, Maine.  For a long while, probably more than 10 years, every time I would grab for a spice, I would grumble to myself that "this arrangement just isn't working!" - spices stacked on top of each other, unable to see the labels, etc. It can take several tries before one finds the desired spice. During one of these grumbles, I remarked to Neil that I needed a different system. He remarked that it would be a tragedy to put this old box out-of-use.  I gave it some thought and I couldn't agree more. This old, wooden soap box traveled from the barn of the Perkins' family farm to join our family and deserves to be put to good use. Now, it is. Well, it always was,  but now it is appreciated as we...

I always said that I didn't have time to cook. Neil thinks that all things food-related are a colossal waste of time, so there were no expectations or complaints from him. When Dorothy was still at home we shared cooking duties, but we spent very little time in the kitchen. That isn't to say that we didn't eat healthy meals. We ate the kind of meals that one would prepare if one was in a hurry or didn't want to spend much time in the kitchen, such as pasta, red sauce, broccoli, and a glass of skimmed milk. (In fact, this was what I ate every night as a college student in my apartment.) Or, baked potato, melted cheese, and microwaved broccoli. Pan-fried boneless, skinless chicken breasts, carrots, peppers, and a jar of sweet and sour sauce. Grilled cheese with cut apple pieces. See? Healthy, but easy. I always maintained that I could  cook and when we had company, I usually did  cook, but it was not a priority for me or my family.  A couple of years ago, someon...