AWEsome Cookery

  Tapioca ranks right up there in the Cute and Curious Food category. People may have vague memories (good or bad) of tapioca pudding, but if you’re in the Special Diet camp you probably are quite familiar with tapioca being in the ingredient list of gluten free products.   Tapioca pearls are made from the cassava root, a tropical plant native to Brazil but is widely used throughout the world. Its sticky quality works well for thickening sauces and is a common ingredient in

  Making hominy gets to the core of slow food cooking.  It’s a process that takes forethought and time, and though the concept is understandable the Complexities of Simplicity emerge.  Simple is not necessarily simple.   Pre-Columbian cultures began the practice of ‘nixtamalization’ in Mesoamerica.  It involes soaking the kernels of maize in alkaline wood ash to release protein, calcium, niacin and other micro-nutients, and removes fungal-mycotoxins from stored corn.  They then rinsed and slow-cooked the soaked corn in clay pots and

    Skis without skiers and skis with skiers at the North End Classic. It’s a small but sweet classic-only race organized by the North End Ski club, complete with the Cookie Classic for shorter people.   And while we’re on the subject of ski racing… I’m sure you already know, but this week Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) and Jesse Diggins (Stillwater, Minnesota) won the first-ever Olympic medal for the U.S. women, and not just a medal but a GOLD medal, in

  Yes, they really are this color. At least before cooking, but it’s amazing to work with a food that is such a stunning hue!  It made me happy.  This was going to be a post just in time for Valentine’s Day, but the internet access was far away from the coziness of the cabin so we’re going with Valentine’s Week.  Any day can be a good day to make a fun meal for loved ones. There are a few recipes out there for

  The Upper Peninsula sunsets have been spectacular here in the sub-zero air.  This is the view from just outside our cabin, right next to the outhouse that I did not include in the photo—you’ve already seen numerous scenic outhouse photos over the years.  These views, along with the blindingly bright Super Moon or glittering falling snow, make the outhouse treks fairly memorable.  Sub-zero air can be pretty memorable too…     A Skiers Little Helper at the end of

. Something old, something new, something gifted and something almost-but-not-quite-blue. There’s been a lot of great reading here in the North Woods.  Life is good.      Soups! It’s the time of year when a Simmering Pot can be one of your best friends—providing warmth and good smells while slowly transforming ingredients into tasty sustenance, they are our kitchen’s ‘external stomach’ partially digesting our food so we spend less calories on digesting and more calories on having bigger brains.  Healthy as raw

  Spice mixtures, they are limitless! Chinese 5 Spice, Za’atar, Harissa, Shichimi, Jerk, Chermoula…like musical notes creating an infinite number of songs, the combinations and variations of spices are equally endless.   Baharat is the Arabic word for ‘spices’, and spices they are.  Generally the mix includes black peppercorns, paprika, cumin, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon.  Turkish Baharat usually contains mint, in Tunisia rose petals are added, and other areas might mix in ginger, allspice, sumac or saffron.  I’m

  I came across my post from 2014 that sounded perfect for the simpler meals of post-holiday excess so we’ll give it another go around.  This little recipe was initially from Food Renegade that I made with a few adaptations.  I used canned coconut milk but if you have access to fresh I’m sure it would be divine. I see this mostly as a savory dish but a person could also make this into a sweet lime rice by adding

  I recently came across a recipe for Vegan Nacho Cheese at Brita Britnell’s food blog: Life, One Meal at a Time.  Always looking for special-diet options for catering I gave this a try.  Yum!  I did make a few modifications to increase the creamy factor but it was really quite tasty all on its own without any meddling on my part. This is great as a chip dip if you’re wondering what to make for a New Years Eve

. Beginning in Sälen and ending in Mora, Sweden, the 90 kilometer Swedish Vasaloppet is one of the largest ski races in the world.  Tens of thousands of skiers pilgrimage to Sälen in mid-March to ski, enjoy the spectacle, and some to winter camp along the race course in a good spot to cheer on the racers.  During the week prior to the Vasaloppet between 50,000 and 80,000 people ski the course as a fun family event leading up to

  Pickled cauliflower would be great in the summer heat but I’ve been enjoying the brightness of this veggie alongside my denser fall foods like squash, stews, and slow cooked meats.  There are countless versions of marinated brassicas, though many of us don’t have access to a wide variety of southeast Asian spices so this adaptation is relatively simple.     Here is a little video with two ways to cut cauliflower into florets.  We’ve also been frying and roasting

  Are you in need of some simple meals during this season of heavy holiday feasting?  Rice and steamed vegetables with this sauce could be your dinner tonight.  Maybe add a little tofu or chicken for protein.  Then drink some tea, take a walk, breath good air.  Sleep well.  Get ready.     What a surprise to find local ginger at a Midwestern farmers market in November!  This is good news for locavores.  This bulb is fresh and uncured with beautifully thin skin, I

  Chermoula is one of my favorite flavor bombs of all times. To quote a comment from my friend Heather on my Chermoula post of years ago: “One word…MAGIC. This little gem creates magical alchemy with anything it touches. And I have been introducing it to everything I eat. It is indescribable on veggie tacos. As I was conjuring it, I thought ‘Oh, this doesn’t make very much.’ A mother of five, quantity is always lurking in my consciousness. Chermoula

  I’m seeing so many of these ingredients at the Farmer’s Market it seemed like a good time to re-post this little chutney treat from November of 2011.  Enjoy!    Chutneys-–pungent enough to raise your eyebrows, but sweet and savory enough that you close your eyes and let out an involuntary groan of pleasure.  Eaten alone it should be almost too much flavor, and eaten as a condiment to chicken or beans or rice…it should make you glad to be

.   My boat!  We found this cutie resting near the shores of Lake Superior in Bayfield, Wisconsin.   There is not much downtime in the summer for Scott and me but we did manage a quick trip to hang out on Lake Superior, our midwestern ocean.  We stayed at a sweet little 50’s era place in Ashland called the Bayview Motel, right on the shores of big lake.  No online reservations—you’ll have to call or email to contact them,

  When creating a catering menu that highlights locally grown ingredients there is a certain amount of ambiguity that is necessary, especially if the menu must be decided upon months in advance.  No one can possibly know what will be available at an exact date so I cannot promise any particular vegetable in a dish.  Even with protective measures like hoop houses there are countless factors affecting crops–things like temperature, rain, no rain, early spring, late freeze, hail, floods, bugs, slugs, deer, raccoons—the list of variables

  Need a bacon substitute for a BLT?    Oh my, the bacon lover in me says there is no substitute for the Fruit of the Pig…but these tamari drenched roasted eggplant pack a load of flavor that gives satisfaction to the Umami Itch.  I made this little sandwich with parmesan but I’m positive a fresh ripe tomato would be a perfect match on top. I often use a marinade with equal parts tamari and cider vinegar—Roasted Tofu Skewers is another example

  Horchata The horchata we had in Mexico was made from rice, sugar, and cinnamon, and maybe rice milk added in.  Many a Mexican restaurant will have the churning white liquid in a countertop fountain dispenser, mesmerizing to watch as you wait for your tacos de asada.  Originating in Spain using tiger nuts, horchata can also be made with almonds, barley, sesame seeds, morro seeds, or peanuts depending where in the world you might be. I found an interesting recipe at oneingredientchef.com that includes

  The Weavers were back! June is a full and demanding month for me but I get to end it by providing meals for a lovely group of basket weavers from around the world at the Willow Gathering.  This session I peeked in on traditional basket styles from the Catalan region of Spain, and I’ll post the photos from two other sessions later…         The fresh willow is soaked in water so it bends easily, then kept wrapped in plastic

  In honor of the first day of summer here is a refreshing green tea with a light sparkle.  Give yourself the gift of an afternoon to sit in the shade, sip this delicate treat, listen to the birds, and enjoy the day.   (and no, those are not jasmine flowers in the photo…)     For centuries jasmine tea has been made by infusing tea leaves with jasmine flower petals letting the tea leaves absorb the sweet flower scent.  The tea leaves