Have you seen the word “shallot” used in a recipe and just don’t know what they are?  Have you confused them with scallions?  I did at first but now know the difference.  I finally got brave and decided to try using shallots to see why so many people like to cook with them.

Shallots offer the best of both worlds when you want an onion and garlic flavor.  They are milder than most onions, and they don’t leave your breath a disaster zone like garlic.  Shallots are perfect when you’re making a savory sauce using wine.  They carmelize just like onions, but you have to be sure and saute them on a lower heat because they are quite delicate.

Now, when to use them and what to make with them.  I don’t think they are suitable for every purpose.  For instance, I wouldn’t cut up a bunch to use in my chili or spaghetti sauce.  But I would saute them in a base for any nice cream soup.  Also, any sauce for salmon, or really any grilled fish would be good. 

Have you made any dishes that would sing praises to the Shallot?  I’d like to find more ways to use them, but I’m running out of ideas.  Help!

Even though alfalfa sprouts have taken a hit due to some outbreaks of salmonella back in the 1990’s, I’m still a huge fan.  I love those crunchy little things! I’ve even sprouted my own years ago, but now prefer to buy them from my friendly neighborhood grocery store.  They’re flavorful and packed with nutrients. 

Take the same care with sprouts as you would any other vegetables, and you should be able to enjoy your fair share. Choose only crisp sprouts with the buds attached that are being kept in a refrigerated section of the grocery store. Do not buy any musty or slimy sprouts. Be sure to keep the sprouts refrigerated at home in a cold setting, no higher than 40 degrees Fahrenheit. As always, wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling any raw foods. Give your sprouts a good bath in cold water and thoroughly rinse and drain them with clean water before use.

Now that we’re done with that, what am I going to make with my sprouts?  I love them on salads, but what have you tried that made you go “yummy!”  I do enjoy a nice grilled provolone cheese and sprout sandwich.  What do you think about some sort of soup?  Have you mixed them in a meatloaf?  Tossed them into a pot of spaghetti sauce?  I know there must be different ways to eat sprouts, but can’t think of anymore right now.

That’s why I look forward to your ideas! 

Guess who lost track of a big bag of onions in her pantry?  You’ve got it… yours truly.  They have just the first signs of sprouting so it’s not a total loss, but now I’ve got to use them immediately.  So, what do you suppose I should do?

The easiest thing that comes to mind is make some French Onion Soup.  I’ve only made this a couple times in my married life as my husband doesn’t seem to rally around meatless meals. 

The quick and easy method I use for French Onion Soup is this:

Peel onions and cut into circles.  Throw in a big pot with some oil and a little butter and saute until transparent.  Then add some canned beef broth until it looks like you’d expect French Onion Soup to look like.  Pretty simple.  Then to serve, lay a toasted piece of hearty bread with mozzarela or parmesan cheese on top. 

You see why I’m looking for help.  Not very imaginative.  It’s okay, but how would you make onion soup or any other onion dish that’s really spectacular instead of just edible?

I’ve discovered a new favorite vegetable at our farmer’s market.  Beautiful, bright green, crunchy Kale.  It took some doing to figure out not only what it is, but how to cook the stuff. 

Kale has a distinctive flavor.  It may look like turnip greens, collard greens, or mustard greens, but it has a very different flavor.  Kale is somewhat “spicy”; I wouldn’t say bitter, but it could be if not cooked correctly. 

The first time I cooked a batch of kale, I just pan seared it in a huge skillet with some oil, salt and pepper, until it was all wilty.  It was okay, but not good.  The flavor was a little bitter. 

The next time I cooked kale I basically boiled it in a big pot in chicken broth.  That was very disappointing because the kale was really limp.  I missed the crunchy texture I had by pan searing.  And the kale was still a little bitter, not spicy like they were before cooking.

Then I remembered some collard greens we had at a potluck one time.  They were fabulous and the lady who made them told me she just made them like normal, pan seared them with some bacon, salt, pepper, and a little touch of brown sugar.  Ah ha!  Back to the drawing board.

The results were perfect!  I put some cut-up bacon in a giant skillet and cooked the pieces down a little, but not until they were crispy.  Then I mixed just about a tablespoon of brown sugar into the bacon and bacon fat and piled the kale in, stirred it together a bit, added some salt and a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper.  I put on a cover and let the kale simmer for a good 15 minutes or more, until it was just nice and tender but still a touch crispy.  Yum!  The natural spicy flavor was somehow restored with the brown sugar and bacon combination.  Great!

Do you have a success story to share about cooking kale?  It’s an unusual green, but well worth the effort.  The crunchy green leaves hold up so well, I think that’s why I prefer it now to most other greens.  Are there soups or casseroles that you’ve tried making with kale?  Other than making kale as I have, are there some recipes and methods that you’ve had success with?

My husband makes the most fantastic cranberry relish I’ve ever had!  It’s so easy and delicious; all he does is puts whole, fresh cranberries in the food processor with a cut up orange, peeling and all, with just a dash of sugar.  It’s so yummy!  But, he makes gallons of it at a time.  Okay, that’s a little bit of an exageration.  We still end up with a pretty big container leftover after every Holiday meal.  His cranberry relish is delicious, but I can’t eat that much.  I also don’t want to throw it away.  Help!

I did see a delightful recipe recently for a, believe it or not, grilled sandwich made with cranberry sauce or relish.  You take pumpernickle bread, butter one side of each piece of bread, then you layer some sliced turkey (presumably leftover as well) with some cheese (whatever you have, they recommend Brie, but I never have that in the house, so maybe Monterray Jack or Swiss) and, finally, a little cranberry sauce or relish.  Put your bread together and grill your sandwich in a skillet until toasted on both sides and cheese melts a bit.

I haven’t tried this sandwich yet, but the next Holiday meal we have, I’m sure I’ll have an opportunity to give it a whirl.  It will be interesting.

Have you ever used leftover cranberry relish or sauce in any sort of dish and had good results?  Let me know… Christmas dinner is coming soon and we’ll have plenty of leftovers to experiment with.

The produce aisle is once again bulging with those big, beautiful, and inexpensive heads of cabbage.  I can NOT resist them!  Nor should I.  For one thing, the nutritional value and fiber in cabbage is astounding.  And considering the price for a head of cabbage, everyone on a budget needs to consider the under-appreciated cabbage as a new staple in their home’s refrigerator. 

Now comes the hard part.  How many ways is there to cook a head of cabbage?  I’ve tried a couple basic, simple soups that are great.  But, I don’t want to get tired of my same old recipes.  And I certainly don’t want to bore my family so they stop eating cabbage altogether.  Also, there is the always popular Cole Slaw, which needs an update at this point.

I’ll share my very simple, but delicious, cabbage soup here for you.  You can follow these easy steps, but I suggest you add your own touches to make your Simple Cabbage Soup uniquely yours.

You’ll need:

1 nice head of cabbage, clean and cut into about 8 wedges, then cut in half again.
1 – 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
1 large can chicken broth
salt to taste

Basic steps:

In large soup pot, heat oil, add onion, garlic, and black pepper.  Heat over medium heat until onion just softens, adding a bit more oil if necessary.  Once the onion, garlic, and black pepper is nice and fragrant, add the cabbage.  Stir thoroughly, wilting the cabbage just a bit in the pot.  After the cabbage has cooked down a little, add the chicken broth.  Set pot to simmer, taste for salt, and cook until the cabbage is nice and soft, about 20 – 30 minutes.  You may need to add a little more broth, depending on the size of your head of cabbage.

That’s it.  The chicken broth gives the cabbage soup a real “buttery” taste.  With this basic soup, I create more substantial meals by adding a little fresh fish, or diced chicken, and maybe some carrots. 

What I would like is some recipes for casseroles, or some Asian inspired dishes that use cabbage.  I’d appreciate any ideas on how to use this gorgeous vegetable.

I had a lot of questions about artichokes, besides what to make with them.  Like what are they and how do I prepare them?  They are so pretty and elegant, I wanted to find out how to serve them to my family and friends.  So, I did a little research and found out a few things, like they are actually not a vegetable, but a blossom bud belonging to the sunflower family. 

So, now how do I cook them?  It’s not as difficult as I thought, really. Cut off the bottom stem, cut off the top a little, and stand it up in a big pot of enough water to cover the artichoke completely, and add some lemon or vinegar to keep the color bright.  Bring water to a boil and gently boil the artichoke, covered, for around 30 minutes depending on the size of the artichoke.  Pull it out and put it upside- down to drain.  When drained and cool enough to handle, turn it over, gently spread the pedals out a little and give the top “plug” a tug, discard, and scoop out any loose purplish stuff inside.  This cavity is where you would put some nice sauce for dipping.  You can have your serving dish and eat it too!

Simple enough.  But then comes the intimidating part… how to eat it.  I had to watch somebody eat an artichoke before I would try it.  I was in a restaurant and discreetly, I hope, peered over my husband’s shoulder to observe the fascinating technique.  Again, relatively simple… just pull off the pedals one at a time by grasping the end and gently tugging down, dip the end that you pulled off into the sauce or butter provided, put pedal in your mouth and pull out between your clenched teeth.  How funny is that!  You get all the pulp off the pedal, the yummy stuff, and discard the little pedal skeleton. 

Now for the dipping sauce.  From my understanding, this is where you can go wild.  There are Thai dips, Mustard dips, Seafood dips, and the list goes on.  I haven’t tried any of the recipes I’ve found yet because I’m a little leery.  I’m wondering if anyone has a favorite.

We have an abundance of farmers markets in our neck of the woods, and with Fall here now, we are greeted by rows and rows of “root” crops to feast on.  The trouble usually is, like most folks, we run out of new ways to cook some of our old favorites.  Long before the supply of turnips, and similar crops, run out, we’ve exhausted our recipe file. 

Apart from boiling turnips, and mashing them with a little salt and pepper, there are other ways to enjoy turnips.  Of course, there’s the hearty harvest stews that I grew up with;  a big pot of beef surrounded by turnips, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and all your favorite Fall flavors.   I have a friend who has successfully oven fried them, coated with oil, Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper, for a tasty and healthy alternative to regular white potato oven fries.  Also, I have seen a few recipes for turnips in Chinese cooking, but haven’t tried any yet.  It appears that if you thinly cut most root crops on a sharp angle, you can stir fry them and include them in a variety of dishes.  Turnips are a tasty surprise in your stir fry, when you are expecting only carrots, celery, and green or red peppers.  Also, pickling turnips is a unique recipe that may be worth trying.  I’m wondering now what other unusual recipes are out there for using our current root crop – turnips.  

I believe the only beets I’ve ever eaten in my life have been pickled.  Does that sound strange to anyone?  I’m not sure if it was just a family recipe, or if it’s common practice to pickle beets.  I do remember liking them, and that they stained anything they came into contact with red.  Which was fun, for a kid. 

Now that I think about it a little further, I do recall some beet salads at our school picnics when I was a kid.  I’m sure, because I was a kid,  I didn’t actually try any of the salads, but I remember they were really bright and pretty.  And, like a lot of brightly colored vegetables, beets are rich in antioxidants, folic acid, and calcium.  Also, since I’ve been following a low-glycemic diet, on and off, for a few months now, I checked on where beets fall on the glycemic index scale.  They’re in the medium range, but still lower than a white potato or parsnips.  And, really, I don’t think you can sit down and eat a whole plate full of beets in any shape or form, so a glycemic rating of medium isn’t too disastrous.  I’m curious to see if anyone is serving beets for dinner, and how they’re preparing them. 

It’s October… all those beautiful, orange pumpkins are lined up on hay bales in front of every store, and I am trying to figure out what to make with a pumpkin other than a jack-o’-lantern.  Besides pumpkin pie, are there recipes for using fresh pumpkin in soups, casseroles, and other desserts?

One thing I know for sure is the pumpkin you carve into your jack-o’-lantern, or set out among your Fall decorations, must not be the pumpkin you cook.  If it has been out in the weather for awhile, it’s not suitable for eating.  After your carved pumpkin has done its duty decorating your landscape, please add it to your compost pile or feed it to the deer. 

Now, back to recipes… when I buy my fresh pumpkin and get it home, what will I make?  I’m partial to winter squash and have heard you can substitute pumpkin in recipes that call for squash.  Has anyone had success doing that?  Also, there were some dessert bars that I had at a potluck some time ago that were delicious.  I’m sorry I didn’t track that person down for the recipe.  I’m wondering if anyone has a great bar or cookie recipe using fresh pumpkin.  One more thing;  how does using fresh pumpkin differ from using canned pumpkin?  Hope there is someone out there who can help!