Although I’m not a healthcare expert, I’ve spent a certain amount of time as a workaholic. More accurately, I’ve spent time as a pre-tenured college professor, pouring myself into my job in an attempt to prove myself worthy of keeping it.* During those years, I relied heavily on diet as a way to control my energy levels, and the lessons I learned are worth repeating. Today’s post goes out to anyone who is dreading...
Basic Formula: Biscuits From Scratch
I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve made biscuits. They were one of the first things I learned to cook with my mom and have been a staple of my diet for much of my adult life. You can serve them with soup. You can eat them for breakfast. You can add sugar and have shortcake (see “Additional Notes,” below), or add scrambled eggs and have a low-key dinner. Over the years,...
Which Cookbook Is Right For You? How To Figure This Out For Yourself
I was in grad school and had decided to buy a cookbook. I didn’t cook, except for scrambled eggs and pasta. I had stopped using the crisper drawer in my fridge because it had become a kind of graveyard for apples. And yet here I stood in Barnes & Noble, staring down an entire wall of options. I had only a vague idea what I wanted and no idea where to find it. If...
Emergency Meals: 30-Second Scrambled Eggs
If you are the person who chronically oversleeps and skips breakfast, this post is for you. If you are the person who can’t deal with yogurt or oatmeal or fruit within thirty minutes of waking up, this post is also for you. If you are going paleo, gluten-free, or just trying to kickstart your metabolism first thing, this post is for you, too. If you are spending $3 per day at Sonic/McDonald’s/Starbucks/Whataburger/Chick-fil-A because you...
Step-by-Step: Clam Linguine
This dish is one of the reasons my husband and I rarely eat at Italian restaurants: we like this pasta better than much of what we might order. I started making it on a whim because I wanted more iron in my diet, and clams are an excellent source. Give yourself a good 45 minutes to prepare this dish so the sauce has time to simmer, which will allow the flavors to develop more...
Stolen Salads: Avocado-Citrus
Try this salad. I ordered the original at Omar’s Uptown in Jonesboro, Arkansas and have never had any course at any restaurant that has made a more profound impact on my concept of an entire category of food. Before that meal, I didn’t eat salad. Afterwards, I not only made this salad several days a week, I also started looking for other salads to adapt–which ultimately led to this series of posts. If you...
Step-by-Step: Plum Pie
Last summer I had a few plums sitting around and, since raw plums sometimes upset my stomach, I decided to bake them on a whim. They were so delicious I’ve spent this summer waiting for plums to go on sale, and last weekend fortune swung my way. I purchased six plums, let them ripen through the week, and turned them into a weekend pie. If you don’t have plums, you can make this recipe...
Why You Need a Toaster Oven
I’d like to make a case for toaster-oven ownership. No, I don’t receive sponsorship from Black & Decker. (Or Cuisinart, for that matter, which made the toaster oven I’ll be rhapsodizing about in this post.*) It is true that my husband loathed my first toaster and complained whenever the bread got stuck in the prongs (which happened about fifteen times per week). It is true that we do have an oven, and it is...
To Smoothie or Not to Smoothie: A Question of Costs and Benefits
There’s a lot of hype about smoothies. They’re full of nutrients! You can make them in a flash! You can sneak kale into the mix and never know! They can curb your hunger without making you fat! In my experience, homemade smoothies are: Expensive. Time-consuming. Complicated. Delicious. It’s kind of a problem. It’s a problem I’ve been trying to solve, however, because I’ve upped my exercise game since moving to Arkansas, and when you...