cdkitchen > feeddaily blog
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Over the last year I have gotten into the habit of going to the grocery store right after hitting the gym in the evening. I know that the story is that you should never go shopping for food when you are already hungry. But it's so convenient because they are right across the street from one another. And I usually like to shop for my ingredients pretty close to the time I will actually be cooking them. Recently, I noticed I wasn't the only one to go food shopping at the same time every evening. There is a firehouse in my neighborhood and each night at about 7:30 PM, you...
by
Just before the recent winter holidays, my husband had the misfortune to slip on a patch of ice and break his right leg in two places - the ankle and the tibia, while out walking our dog. This event happened to coincide with one of the busiest times of the year. The following week we would be hosting our son's first birthday party and just a few days later, Christmas dinner. Our son is a Christmas baby who was born just a couple days before the big holiday. I have a good deal of guilt that Mother Nature saddled him with such a poorly timed date of birth. I had heard...
by
I recently went out to dinner at Buddakan, a hipster Asian fusion restaurant in Philadelphia, with some friends. We enjoyed an absolutely fantastic meal, and I could write a series of articles on each dish we enjoyed, but you can read the consistently rave reviews somewhere else. Even though we were stuffed to the gills, we decided that dessert was definitely in order. We went with the Chocolate Bento Box. Bento boxes have a long history of use in Japan and are still used today. Bento means...
by
"Good soups I hold in as high regard as great breads and together they make some of life's sublime moments." -- Anna Thomas. Soup, I believe, in all its simplicity, can be one of the most transcendental foods. Its instantaneous warmth on the palate and down into the belly has the healing powers that are the stuff of old wives tales and legendary Seinfeld episodes. And this time of year, a few months into the bitter winter, what chilled bones couldn't use a bowl of steaming goodness to take us far away from our snowy surrounding? Although institutions such...
by
If life handed you lemons and you made lemonade would anyone care if the lemon were already sweet? Would calling a clunker of a car a "lemon" have quite the impact if the thought of biting into a lemon wedge didn't automatically make one's eyes squint and mouth pucker? Good thing the clever folks who came up with these sayings and catchphrases weren't thinking of Meyer lemons when they coined the terms. Citrus limon is the garden variety lemon we think of when we are turning sour lemon juice into lemonade or making sweet and tart curd as the base of a lemon meringue pie...
by
With one more month of Lent remaining on the calendar, if you are of the Catholic faith, you might be on CDKitchen looking around for new seafood recipes for the next few Fridays. Fasting, or abstinence from meat, is performed as a penance in this religion and is common throughout many predominately Catholic regions in the world. Although I did not grow up eating fish on Fridays (or pizza, as was also common in my area!), each summer for a couple weeks we would visit my grandfather, a strictly practicing Catholic, and would follow this tradition. My grandfather always...
by
In an attempt to try something new this week, I made a cauliflower pizza crust recipe. It's been posted all over the internet lately and had received a ringing endorsement on an internet pin board. It seems like the perfect fare for a Tuesday night dinner, a gluten free pizza crust made with a healthy base of ground cauliflower in place of the flour. The reviews from a Facebook friend promised that the dough would turn out exactly like a regular pizza crust; your family wouldn't be able to tell a difference. Ideal for pizza lovers who need to avoid wheat or want to include...
by
Doesn't there always seem to be a starch of the moment? At one time couscous, the pointillist pasta of North Africa, was all the rage. Then people began forgoing wheat and the wind shifted west to the Americas and quinoa, a gluten-free seed more toothsome than couscous with all the same ease and speedy cooking. Great grains like barley and farro have had their moment, tossed into salads, cooked à la risotto, and posing as pedestals for filet mignon and seared sea bass. Each newcomer treads the ground of the mashed potatoes and rice pilafs that have come before it, trying...
by
After experiencing my first success with creating a cheesecake in the slow cooker (did you try last week's Chocolate Cheesecake?), I've been off-and-running like a thoroughbred at the Kentucky Derby. I really was getting the hang of this now, so I went looking for some more recipes. Why not attempt a different flavor? Why not push the limits of recipe development and see if I couldn't come up with a passable 'regular' cheesecake version? You know, for those that don't get giddy over chocolate. For those who would like a mild citrus-tinged end-of-meal refreshment. I...
by
I've never been to Burma, but I think I know what Burma tastes like. Spicy tomato sauce curries bath river fishes. Tea leaves and garlic blend together in punchy salad dressings. Chewy long noodles breathe fire with the power of clove upon clove of garlic. Close my eyes tight enough and I can almost picture myself there. This time of year I find myself taking frequent vacations in my mouth. As the winter drags on I would kill for a beach vacation, but time and money are not permitting. So a meal born of warmer, tropical climates is all it takes to satisfy my travel...
by
Growing up my father was known to cook one dish: stir-fry. My dad was not like other dads in a lot of ways. Cooking was no exception. Where other fathers mastered the domain of the barbecue, specializing in smoke and big hunks of meat, mine was the king of vegetables and tofu fried up in an ancient wok. I was thinking of my dad and his stir-fry this week as I was working with some vegetables lying around the house. Dad's stir-fry was not a complicated dish but he made that it into an art putting out a large platter with a side of brown rice once a week for most of...
by
Have your kids ever asked to have cookies for breakfast and you said NO WAY?! Hey, I hear ya. I've got a dessert lover and sweet tooth, and just the other day that was the scene at our house. But - get this: I said YES. Cookies for breakfast? Oh, yeah. You know the deal: Some days I'm just glad that there's something that the kids want to eat, much less haggle over the how, what and where of it. So we paired those chocolate cookies (yum!) with a tall glass of milk to help offset the damage...
by
Poof! With just one quick poke of my cooking fork, a mini explosion erupted from the golden baked brown Idaho to release shards of fresh and tender potato all over the bottom of my recently cleaned oven. Why is it when I'm in a hurry I somehow end up making more work for myself? That's what happened recently when I was in a bit of a rush and slipped some potatoes in to bake while I put groceries away and then hustled around taking care of some other household business. There's a simple yet divine delight in knowing that those humble...
by
One of the most important things you can do to be a more competent cook is to know your inventory. Not only do you need to be aware of the fresh foods and dry goods you have in stock (see New Years Resolutions for Competent Cooks), you must be familiar with and have appropriate access to all your kitchenware. If you know what you have and, more important, can access it easily, you will always make the right equipment choices when cooking in your kitchen. A Case Study. Last month I helped my close friend, Nancy, organize her kitchen cupboards in her new downtown loft...
by
My good friend, Lauren, always gives a fondue pot as an engagement present or housewarming gift. She firmly believes that every household should have this equipment because fondue is easy, fun, festive and delicious. She is absolutely right, and I thank her for giving me my elegant fondue pot several years ago. Fondue is an oldie but goodie, especially when it is cold outside. Fondue literally means "melted" in French, the past participle of the verb fondre, "to melt." This dish absolutely originated in Switzerland, not France as has been said...
by
Ah, Breakfast, you beautiful beacon of sustenance and motivation. I am personally a huge fan of breakfast. I'm hungry almost as soon as I wake up and if I don't get breakfast (and that doesn't happen very often), I am a cranky, scary person until I get sustenance. Breakfast is one of the most forgotten meals, especially to Americans, but also is one of the most important. According to all sorts of official studies, people who eat breakfast are often more slender, perhaps because breakfast kick-starts their metabolism early in the day, helping to burn more calories...
From The Editors At CDKitchen: Feed Daily
by
Over the last year I have gotten into the habit of going to the grocery store right after hitting the gym in the evening. I know that the story is that you should never go shopping for food when you are already hungry. But it's so convenient because they are right across the street from one another. And I usually like to shop for my ingredients pretty close to the time I will actually be cooking them. Recently, I noticed I wasn't the only one to go food shopping at the same time every evening. There is a firehouse in my neighborhood and each night at about 7:30 PM, you...
by
Just before the recent winter holidays, my husband had the misfortune to slip on a patch of ice and break his right leg in two places - the ankle and the tibia, while out walking our dog. This event happened to coincide with one of the busiest times of the year. The following week we would be hosting our son's first birthday party and just a few days later, Christmas dinner. Our son is a Christmas baby who was born just a couple days before the big holiday. I have a good deal of guilt that Mother Nature saddled him with such a poorly timed date of birth. I had heard...
by
I recently went out to dinner at Buddakan, a hipster Asian fusion restaurant in Philadelphia, with some friends. We enjoyed an absolutely fantastic meal, and I could write a series of articles on each dish we enjoyed, but you can read the consistently rave reviews somewhere else. Even though we were stuffed to the gills, we decided that dessert was definitely in order. We went with the Chocolate Bento Box. Bento boxes have a long history of use in Japan and are still used today. Bento means...
by
"Good soups I hold in as high regard as great breads and together they make some of life's sublime moments." -- Anna Thomas. Soup, I believe, in all its simplicity, can be one of the most transcendental foods. Its instantaneous warmth on the palate and down into the belly has the healing powers that are the stuff of old wives tales and legendary Seinfeld episodes. And this time of year, a few months into the bitter winter, what chilled bones couldn't use a bowl of steaming goodness to take us far away from our snowy surrounding? Although institutions such...
by
If life handed you lemons and you made lemonade would anyone care if the lemon were already sweet? Would calling a clunker of a car a "lemon" have quite the impact if the thought of biting into a lemon wedge didn't automatically make one's eyes squint and mouth pucker? Good thing the clever folks who came up with these sayings and catchphrases weren't thinking of Meyer lemons when they coined the terms. Citrus limon is the garden variety lemon we think of when we are turning sour lemon juice into lemonade or making sweet and tart curd as the base of a lemon meringue pie...
by
With one more month of Lent remaining on the calendar, if you are of the Catholic faith, you might be on CDKitchen looking around for new seafood recipes for the next few Fridays. Fasting, or abstinence from meat, is performed as a penance in this religion and is common throughout many predominately Catholic regions in the world. Although I did not grow up eating fish on Fridays (or pizza, as was also common in my area!), each summer for a couple weeks we would visit my grandfather, a strictly practicing Catholic, and would follow this tradition. My grandfather always...
by
In an attempt to try something new this week, I made a cauliflower pizza crust recipe. It's been posted all over the internet lately and had received a ringing endorsement on an internet pin board. It seems like the perfect fare for a Tuesday night dinner, a gluten free pizza crust made with a healthy base of ground cauliflower in place of the flour. The reviews from a Facebook friend promised that the dough would turn out exactly like a regular pizza crust; your family wouldn't be able to tell a difference. Ideal for pizza lovers who need to avoid wheat or want to include...
by
Doesn't there always seem to be a starch of the moment? At one time couscous, the pointillist pasta of North Africa, was all the rage. Then people began forgoing wheat and the wind shifted west to the Americas and quinoa, a gluten-free seed more toothsome than couscous with all the same ease and speedy cooking. Great grains like barley and farro have had their moment, tossed into salads, cooked à la risotto, and posing as pedestals for filet mignon and seared sea bass. Each newcomer treads the ground of the mashed potatoes and rice pilafs that have come before it, trying...
by
After experiencing my first success with creating a cheesecake in the slow cooker (did you try last week's Chocolate Cheesecake?), I've been off-and-running like a thoroughbred at the Kentucky Derby. I really was getting the hang of this now, so I went looking for some more recipes. Why not attempt a different flavor? Why not push the limits of recipe development and see if I couldn't come up with a passable 'regular' cheesecake version? You know, for those that don't get giddy over chocolate. For those who would like a mild citrus-tinged end-of-meal refreshment. I...
by
I've never been to Burma, but I think I know what Burma tastes like. Spicy tomato sauce curries bath river fishes. Tea leaves and garlic blend together in punchy salad dressings. Chewy long noodles breathe fire with the power of clove upon clove of garlic. Close my eyes tight enough and I can almost picture myself there. This time of year I find myself taking frequent vacations in my mouth. As the winter drags on I would kill for a beach vacation, but time and money are not permitting. So a meal born of warmer, tropical climates is all it takes to satisfy my travel...
by
Growing up my father was known to cook one dish: stir-fry. My dad was not like other dads in a lot of ways. Cooking was no exception. Where other fathers mastered the domain of the barbecue, specializing in smoke and big hunks of meat, mine was the king of vegetables and tofu fried up in an ancient wok. I was thinking of my dad and his stir-fry this week as I was working with some vegetables lying around the house. Dad's stir-fry was not a complicated dish but he made that it into an art putting out a large platter with a side of brown rice once a week for most of...
by
Have your kids ever asked to have cookies for breakfast and you said NO WAY?! Hey, I hear ya. I've got a dessert lover and sweet tooth, and just the other day that was the scene at our house. But - get this: I said YES. Cookies for breakfast? Oh, yeah. You know the deal: Some days I'm just glad that there's something that the kids want to eat, much less haggle over the how, what and where of it. So we paired those chocolate cookies (yum!) with a tall glass of milk to help offset the damage...
by
Poof! With just one quick poke of my cooking fork, a mini explosion erupted from the golden baked brown Idaho to release shards of fresh and tender potato all over the bottom of my recently cleaned oven. Why is it when I'm in a hurry I somehow end up making more work for myself? That's what happened recently when I was in a bit of a rush and slipped some potatoes in to bake while I put groceries away and then hustled around taking care of some other household business. There's a simple yet divine delight in knowing that those humble...
by
One of the most important things you can do to be a more competent cook is to know your inventory. Not only do you need to be aware of the fresh foods and dry goods you have in stock (see New Years Resolutions for Competent Cooks), you must be familiar with and have appropriate access to all your kitchenware. If you know what you have and, more important, can access it easily, you will always make the right equipment choices when cooking in your kitchen. A Case Study. Last month I helped my close friend, Nancy, organize her kitchen cupboards in her new downtown loft...
by
My good friend, Lauren, always gives a fondue pot as an engagement present or housewarming gift. She firmly believes that every household should have this equipment because fondue is easy, fun, festive and delicious. She is absolutely right, and I thank her for giving me my elegant fondue pot several years ago. Fondue is an oldie but goodie, especially when it is cold outside. Fondue literally means "melted" in French, the past participle of the verb fondre, "to melt." This dish absolutely originated in Switzerland, not France as has been said...
by
Ah, Breakfast, you beautiful beacon of sustenance and motivation. I am personally a huge fan of breakfast. I'm hungry almost as soon as I wake up and if I don't get breakfast (and that doesn't happen very often), I am a cranky, scary person until I get sustenance. Breakfast is one of the most forgotten meals, especially to Americans, but also is one of the most important. According to all sorts of official studies, people who eat breakfast are often more slender, perhaps because breakfast kick-starts their metabolism early in the day, helping to burn more calories...