Healthy and Green Living » Basics

5 Favorite Raw Vegan Salad Dressings

Melissa Breyer — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:00:01 +0000

They call these the dog days of summer; I’m calling them the the salad days. It’s so hot where I am that I can barely consider eating anything warm, let alone cooked. I have been cradling Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenny (Gibbs Smith, 2008) and wandering through its pages, wishing Matthew himself were in my [...]

Hot News: Life Without Jalape�os

Melissa Breyer — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:30:13 +0000

The FDA just announced that a bacterial strain found on fresh jalape�os in a Texas distribution plant matched the strain responsible for the recent� salmonella outbreak. Darn. Not only will this have major repercussions for people in the pepper and salsa business–but it is going to leave a gaping culinary void in my summer eating [...]

Artichokes for Health: Get to the Heart of It

Annie B. Bond — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:00:34 +0000

Artichokes originated in the scorching Nile Valley and today are grown most prolifically in the sun-baked soil of Castroville, California. So perhaps it's not surprising that the artichoke, which is actually the immature flower of the thistle plant, may provide protection against skin cancer.

The Green Dish: Dandelion Syrup

Melissa Breyer — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:00:44 +0000

I�ve been wild about dandelions lately. Dandelion greens proffer their fleeting sweetness at the first nod of spring and inspired me to write about harvesting and eating them a few weeks ago, immediately followed by a recipe for Cream of Dandelion Soup. So next up, I thought, I just have to make dandelion wine. I�ve [...]

The Green Dish: Make Butter

Melissa Breyer — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:00:09 +0000

I have to say, the comments left for the introduction of The Green Dish were very touching! I knew that I wasn’t the only city mouse playing country life, but it was so nice to hear from those of you paddling around in the same boat. Also lovely to hear from those of you in [...]

Super Easy Homemade Baking Powder

Melissa Breyer — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:16:29 +0000

I love to bake. I love throwing a mess of ingredients together and watching the charming chemistry that transforms that mess into something flakey and divine. But I don't like baking powder. All too often it imparts a bitter-salty-chemically flavor that my animal instinct reacts poorly to. (As in, that tastes toxic, spit it out.) But alas, no baking powder, no leavening. So I have started using a very simple recipe for homemade baking powder that nixes the extra chemicals and doesn't taste like a mouth full of metal. Hurray!

Simple Organic Ricotta Substitute

Melissa Breyer — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:26:00 +0000

Even in the food-obsessed city that I live in, organic ricotta cheese is hard to come by. This would be fine if I didn't have lasagna-loving kids and a sentiment verging on unhinged neurosis about feeding them non-organic dairy products. So I make my own. The truth is, it may not taste exactly like the real thing, but my homemade organic "ricotta" takes about 30 seconds to make, and nobody's the wiser, just healthier.

Once I thought that making homemade cheese would be the best way to get it organic. There are many brands of organic cheese on the market, but making it at home seemed like such a good idea. Twelve dollars worth of local organic milk and a few hours later, I had an impossibly squeaky little ball of homemade mozzarella that somehow missed the tender creamy boat and bounced right on over to the rubber food department.

Alice Waters’ 4 Essential Sauces

Annie B. Bond — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:27:53 +0000

These four sauces, though basic, add so much flavor, dimension, and color to meals that I can't imagine cooking without them. Any one of them can pull a meal together and turn a simple plate of meat and vegetables into a finished dish; and they're so easy to prepare that once you've made them a few times, you'll never have to look up these recipes again.

Give Honey Love

Melissa Breyer — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:58:17 +0000

It�s hard to improve upon the perfection of honey�the darling of edibles. But perfect as it may be, playing around with infusions of flavor can result in some significant deliciousness. And what great gifts flavored honeys make! Read on to learn how to make warming spice honey, tart fig honey, rose petal honey, and more.

The Healthiest Quick Oatmeal

Melissa Breyer — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 00:30:14 +0000

I find myself irresistibly drawn to packets of instant oatmeal�with so little time in the morning it seems such an attractive alternative to 30 minutes of stirring the much healthier steel-cut oats. The devil on my shoulder entices me with whispers of "quick, easy, the kids will love it." The hemp-wearing angel on the other side advises, "over-sweetened, over-processed, less-nutritious." Turns out, I can kick the devil to the curb on this one�here's how to make healthy, fruit-laden, steel-cut oats in minutes.