cdkitchen > feeddaily blog
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With four rambunctious children under tow, my mother may have been something of a Super Mom during my childhood. As a working mother, her efforts to run us kids between baseball and ballet practice while making it home in time to cook our nightly family dinner seems nothing short of miraculous in hindsight. But come holidays, such as the big one, Mother's Day, us kids sometimes had reason to pause and wonder how stereotypically MOM our mother really was. At holidays, magazines and store displays inundate you with images of what your mother is supposed to be like. If we...
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China: inventor of pasta, birthplace of dim sum, hot pot hot spot, and home to some of the early thinkers of heat preservation during dinner preparation. I suppose I always assumed that issues of getting a hot meal on the table for the family was an issue exclusive to hyper-scheduled kids and over-worked American parents. Not so. In fact it turns out that even prior to the invention of the microwave people in lands as far away as the Far East grappled with dinner and how to get a hot meal on the table at the time you need it to be hot. So halfway around the world, on my...
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We've been deluged by requests to make scones for some of our wholesale clients, so scones have been on The Monkey's brain in recent days. Whenever we've had some spare time, we've been playing around with different recipes and reading as much as we can about making scones. Let's start out with the basics. A scone is a sweet biscuit. And a biscuit is a savory scone. The only difference is the choice of words across the pond. Americans use the word 'biscuit' to describe a fluffy, butter-laden, chemically leavened (meaning baking powder or baking soda is used instead...
by
On the east coast, every year about this time we start to see fresh corn at the local farmstand. Corn is one of those foods that really shows how much better local and in season produce can be. Buy it too early in the year, and the kernels are too starchy and not sweet enough. Wait too long and it'll be past its peak, seedy and tough. At those times, I think it's better to buy frozen or canned corn than to get it in the produce aisle. But there is a magical period of time, smack in the middle of the summer, when fresh corn is at its peak of flavor. You'll see it...
by
"There is nothing better than waking to sunshine streaming in the windows, and the smell of pancakes and bacon in the kitchen. Hurry! Climb out of bed, slip on your bunny slippers, and join your family at the breakfast table ..." That's the jacket introduction from the book Like Butter on Pancakes, written by Jonathan London and illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Simple and poetic, it's a book that captures the beauty of breakfast in the most delightful of ways. It's all about pancakes and kids. The perfect combination. The ideal breakfast, really. And that's...
by
You may not know it, but sometimes I am a bit of a philosopher. This particular trait of mine manifests itself on occasion, especially at parties and/or after consuming a bottle of champagne plus some Jell-O shots. It was during one such philosophical moment last weekend that I bestowed some advice on a DJ. There was no dance-worthy music playing at this party, and I advised him that sometimes you just have to do things for the people.
by
I will never forget my first day of cooking school. I was an absolute nervous wreck. It was a very hot August morning as I made my way through the streets of SoHo dragging my big bag containing my uniform, a notebook, and a couple of pencils. I arrived at the locker room and looked around. There were about ten other women there and they all looked as frightened as I did. Phew! Fellow mortals! I put on my brand new crisp double-breasted chef's coat complete with the French Culinary Institute's logo in blue above the right pocket. I donned my black and white...
by
Chopping, pulverizing, pureeing and crushing... sometimes working in the kitchen requires heavy-duty equipment and power tools. Certainly squashing, pummeling and mashing the next meal are not techniques recommended for many dishes, yet they can attract your little (and big) helpers - especially those who like heavy-duty power equipment. My teenage son still loves to use the coffee grinder, the food processor, and the blender - and since he's quite good managing regular power tools like drills, jigsaws and grinders, he's my biggest helper when we go the power route in the kitchen.
by
Corn is no better than it is right now. White or yellow, it doesn't matter. In the husk, on the cob, fresh off the grill, with butter or without, salt and pepper dusted or Plain Jane, there is nothing better in the world of quintessential summer foods than corn. In fact, corn is so good by itself it is easy to forget how well it pairs with other summer favorites.
by
As I've written before, every time I move to a new state I attempt to master the local cuisine. I grew up on Georgia soul food, so I have the collards and deep-fried this-and-that down. When I moved to Minnesota, mastering the cuisine was something of a challenge since, well, since there really isn't one. Cooking authentic Minnesotan meant you went to the state fair for fried cheese curds (something you can't really do at home).
by
There is nothing like the taste of homegrown fruits and vegetables. If you have a successful vegetable garden at home, then you are probably in the midst of enjoying the fruits of all your labor right now. Even if you have a neighbor or a coworker with a green thumb, they may be dropping off a prodigious supply of zucchini, cucumbers or melon at your doorstep or desk. Towards the end of the summer, many fresh fruits and veggies ripen to perfection, and it's the best time to enjoy a variety of seasonal produce.
by
It's one bite that is the quintessential taste of summer: the chin-dripping, ripe goodness that is also my favorite fruit. Peaches. Whether eaten fresh out-of-hand, in a crisp, cobbler, pie - or even as wine - peaches and nectarines are the flavor that reflect August's last great summer fling. And we've been enjoying them with wild abandon.
by
In our Northern climes, soup is a dish we tend to relegate to colder temperatures. It is a dish we serve in order to warm bodies and cure colds. Yet this is not the way in other parts of the world, say the steamy South of Vietnam where bowls of spiced beef broth with noodles are a breakfast staple or the Mexican desert where stew-like posoles and tripe-filled menudo fill the bowls on weekend tables. All that being said, I still gravitate to hot soups in cold weather. In hot weather I sometimes crave the same soothing texture and liquid hydration of a good bowl of soup...
by
What is green and grows all over? The answer, as even the most black-thumbed gardener knows, is herbs. This time of year, the height of the summer harvest, even if your lettuce wilted in a heat wave and your cabbage was left looking like Swiss cheese by some unseen pest (as mine did), herbs have somehow survived. If a few twigs of thyme and a hardy bush of rosemary are all you have left of the so-called garden that is far from something to be ashamed of, rather it is a feat worth celebrating.
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As you read this, I'll be in the beautiful Outer Banks on the coast of North Carolina, enjoying the sun, sand, and surf. But at the moment, as I write this article, I am lost in a sea of errands and packing, getting ready for vacation. With a small child and dog to think about, one week of vacation takes up almost the whole week prior with organizing and getting ready. And I just realized I have one more chore on my list: to use up all the fresh food and veggies we have in the fridge. You see, I hate to throw away good food. I recently made the mistake of going...
by
Just the other day my friendly farmer neighbor bestowed us with some rhubarb. "Hmmm, is it not quite ripe yet?" I asked, for the only rhubarb I had ever seen was the red variety. Indeed it was, he said. "This is green rhubarb!"
From The Editors At CDKitchen: Feed Daily
by
With four rambunctious children under tow, my mother may have been something of a Super Mom during my childhood. As a working mother, her efforts to run us kids between baseball and ballet practice while making it home in time to cook our nightly family dinner seems nothing short of miraculous in hindsight. But come holidays, such as the big one, Mother's Day, us kids sometimes had reason to pause and wonder how stereotypically MOM our mother really was. At holidays, magazines and store displays inundate you with images of what your mother is supposed to be like. If we...
by
China: inventor of pasta, birthplace of dim sum, hot pot hot spot, and home to some of the early thinkers of heat preservation during dinner preparation. I suppose I always assumed that issues of getting a hot meal on the table for the family was an issue exclusive to hyper-scheduled kids and over-worked American parents. Not so. In fact it turns out that even prior to the invention of the microwave people in lands as far away as the Far East grappled with dinner and how to get a hot meal on the table at the time you need it to be hot. So halfway around the world, on my...
by
We've been deluged by requests to make scones for some of our wholesale clients, so scones have been on The Monkey's brain in recent days. Whenever we've had some spare time, we've been playing around with different recipes and reading as much as we can about making scones. Let's start out with the basics. A scone is a sweet biscuit. And a biscuit is a savory scone. The only difference is the choice of words across the pond. Americans use the word 'biscuit' to describe a fluffy, butter-laden, chemically leavened (meaning baking powder or baking soda is used instead...
by
On the east coast, every year about this time we start to see fresh corn at the local farmstand. Corn is one of those foods that really shows how much better local and in season produce can be. Buy it too early in the year, and the kernels are too starchy and not sweet enough. Wait too long and it'll be past its peak, seedy and tough. At those times, I think it's better to buy frozen or canned corn than to get it in the produce aisle. But there is a magical period of time, smack in the middle of the summer, when fresh corn is at its peak of flavor. You'll see it...
by
"There is nothing better than waking to sunshine streaming in the windows, and the smell of pancakes and bacon in the kitchen. Hurry! Climb out of bed, slip on your bunny slippers, and join your family at the breakfast table ..." That's the jacket introduction from the book Like Butter on Pancakes, written by Jonathan London and illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Simple and poetic, it's a book that captures the beauty of breakfast in the most delightful of ways. It's all about pancakes and kids. The perfect combination. The ideal breakfast, really. And that's...
by
You may not know it, but sometimes I am a bit of a philosopher. This particular trait of mine manifests itself on occasion, especially at parties and/or after consuming a bottle of champagne plus some Jell-O shots. It was during one such philosophical moment last weekend that I bestowed some advice on a DJ. There was no dance-worthy music playing at this party, and I advised him that sometimes you just have to do things for the people.
by
I will never forget my first day of cooking school. I was an absolute nervous wreck. It was a very hot August morning as I made my way through the streets of SoHo dragging my big bag containing my uniform, a notebook, and a couple of pencils. I arrived at the locker room and looked around. There were about ten other women there and they all looked as frightened as I did. Phew! Fellow mortals! I put on my brand new crisp double-breasted chef's coat complete with the French Culinary Institute's logo in blue above the right pocket. I donned my black and white...
by
Chopping, pulverizing, pureeing and crushing... sometimes working in the kitchen requires heavy-duty equipment and power tools. Certainly squashing, pummeling and mashing the next meal are not techniques recommended for many dishes, yet they can attract your little (and big) helpers - especially those who like heavy-duty power equipment. My teenage son still loves to use the coffee grinder, the food processor, and the blender - and since he's quite good managing regular power tools like drills, jigsaws and grinders, he's my biggest helper when we go the power route in the kitchen.
by
Corn is no better than it is right now. White or yellow, it doesn't matter. In the husk, on the cob, fresh off the grill, with butter or without, salt and pepper dusted or Plain Jane, there is nothing better in the world of quintessential summer foods than corn. In fact, corn is so good by itself it is easy to forget how well it pairs with other summer favorites.
by
As I've written before, every time I move to a new state I attempt to master the local cuisine. I grew up on Georgia soul food, so I have the collards and deep-fried this-and-that down. When I moved to Minnesota, mastering the cuisine was something of a challenge since, well, since there really isn't one. Cooking authentic Minnesotan meant you went to the state fair for fried cheese curds (something you can't really do at home).
by
There is nothing like the taste of homegrown fruits and vegetables. If you have a successful vegetable garden at home, then you are probably in the midst of enjoying the fruits of all your labor right now. Even if you have a neighbor or a coworker with a green thumb, they may be dropping off a prodigious supply of zucchini, cucumbers or melon at your doorstep or desk. Towards the end of the summer, many fresh fruits and veggies ripen to perfection, and it's the best time to enjoy a variety of seasonal produce.
by
It's one bite that is the quintessential taste of summer: the chin-dripping, ripe goodness that is also my favorite fruit. Peaches. Whether eaten fresh out-of-hand, in a crisp, cobbler, pie - or even as wine - peaches and nectarines are the flavor that reflect August's last great summer fling. And we've been enjoying them with wild abandon.
by
In our Northern climes, soup is a dish we tend to relegate to colder temperatures. It is a dish we serve in order to warm bodies and cure colds. Yet this is not the way in other parts of the world, say the steamy South of Vietnam where bowls of spiced beef broth with noodles are a breakfast staple or the Mexican desert where stew-like posoles and tripe-filled menudo fill the bowls on weekend tables. All that being said, I still gravitate to hot soups in cold weather. In hot weather I sometimes crave the same soothing texture and liquid hydration of a good bowl of soup...
by
What is green and grows all over? The answer, as even the most black-thumbed gardener knows, is herbs. This time of year, the height of the summer harvest, even if your lettuce wilted in a heat wave and your cabbage was left looking like Swiss cheese by some unseen pest (as mine did), herbs have somehow survived. If a few twigs of thyme and a hardy bush of rosemary are all you have left of the so-called garden that is far from something to be ashamed of, rather it is a feat worth celebrating.
by
As you read this, I'll be in the beautiful Outer Banks on the coast of North Carolina, enjoying the sun, sand, and surf. But at the moment, as I write this article, I am lost in a sea of errands and packing, getting ready for vacation. With a small child and dog to think about, one week of vacation takes up almost the whole week prior with organizing and getting ready. And I just realized I have one more chore on my list: to use up all the fresh food and veggies we have in the fridge. You see, I hate to throw away good food. I recently made the mistake of going...
by
Just the other day my friendly farmer neighbor bestowed us with some rhubarb. "Hmmm, is it not quite ripe yet?" I asked, for the only rhubarb I had ever seen was the red variety. Indeed it was, he said. "This is green rhubarb!"