

Everyone Went Crazy Over Cauliflower Gnocchi, This One's Gonna Be Love It Or Hate It
A couple of years ago the Internet went crazy for Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi, but is cauliflower really anyone's favorite vegetable? Do you like it? Well, that's the question you have to ask yourself with the new Trader Joe's Kale…

There's a lot of eyerolling and sighing when someone mentions kale. But the fact is, we eat a lot of it in the fall and winter. Already, we had a kale salad last night with a tahini yogurt dressing. I made crostini last week with red Russian kale and delicata squash. If you stop worrying about…

This balsamic delicata squash and kale mixture is what to eat now. Are you ready for kale? It's been a gorgeous long summer of tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers and whatever else, but now I feel it. The chill is in the air, the flannel shirts are out of their long sleep, it's time. It…

Kale Malfatti with Brown Butter and Pumpkin from Chef Jenn Louis' next cookbook, Book of Greens.
The Book of Greens from Portland Chef Jenn Louis comes out in April, but I’m not going to be able to wait that long to talk about the kale malfatti with brown butter and pumpkin.By then, we’ll be at the very…

-- Devoured: From Chicken Wings to Kale Smoothies -- How What We Eat Defines Who We Are by Sophie Egan
Sophie Egan’s Devoured is what most food culture books aspire to be: academic yet totally engaging. It’s sociology, marketing, a little psychology and chock full of interesting data…

How often do you eat lunch at your desk?
Whether you’re in a corporate environment, or working from home, researchers suggest getting away from your desk for even a short break can dramatically impact creative thinking. It’s not even so much about the food, it’s about a change of scenery.
I have to admit, until recently, I’ve…



Sliding in to the second week of January, it’s so-far-so-good on getting more exercise, eating more vegetables and whole grains and less meat and butter. Of course, while the new year always feels like a good time for a fresh start, I had the “benefit” of a blood test in late November that reminded me I needed to get moving and pay more attention to my cholesterol. So yeah, even if you feel like you're doing (most) of the right things, you really should have it checked every five years. Everything is documented in a food diary, and I’ll tell you, soup has been a savior as a vehicle for extra veg, beans and grains, whether its vegetarian chili, chicken tortilla, or this minestrone.

My first "Build a Better Burrito" post was more for meat eaters and focused on Alton Brown's Taco Potion #19. This time around, I'm doing a vegetarian burrito -- starring home-cooked black beans.
I was a hold out on dried beans for a really long time. At New Year's, I'd make red beans and rice (yeah, I know it's technically supposed to be black-eyed peas), but I never just made beans on the regular to have them ready to go. And then, I made this pot of black beans and a light finally flicked on in my head. It took a little time, but they tasted better, cost a fraction of the canned version and froze well. I'd heard all that before, but like I said, a light flicked on.

The first step in this recipe is pour yourself a glass of wine. Or at the very least, a glass of patience. But seriously, wine I have more of, patience, not so much. I'll just give it to you straight. Farro is an ancient grain, and it's not going gently into that dark night. It'll…