American Food My teenagers complain that I make hippie food and not American food, so this is an effort to make something their friends will recognize when they decide to stay for dinner. But without any processed foods, sugar, or meat in it. The friends liked it anyway. How to make chili and cornbread: In …
Author Archives: Karen Carr
Chickpeas on polenta
Canned chickpeas or dried ones? Yes. Really, it depends how organized you are. Dried chickpeas are cheaper, and they aren’t canned so you don’t have to worry about cancer-causing bpa in the can lining. But you have to remember at breakfast to soak them for dinner. If you forget, use the canned kind. Or make spaghetti, …
Chickpea crepes
Why chickpea flour? You could just make wheat flour crepes, but these chickpea flour crepes are not much harder and have a lot more flavor. Plus, they don’t have any gluten, so if you’re cooking for a vegetarian with a gluten allergy, this is a good direction to go in. How to make chickpea crepes: …
Chicken with clementines
Another one from Ottolenghi This recipe was originally from Yottam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem cookbook, where he does it with fennel root instead of potatoes and arak instead of wine, and serves it over rice or bulgar. That might be interesting to try sometime, but this is a one-pot meal, and I was able to make it with …
Chicken soup and matzo balls
Chicken soup for a cold: Official scientific studies have finally shown it: chicken soup is about the best thing you can do for the common cold. So enjoy! Raw chicken or leftover chicken? The great question in making chicken soup. My grandmother always used a fresh chicken for chicken soup, never leftovers. I hate to …
Chicken pot pie
Frozen Banquet Pies or make at home? Everyone loves those cheap frozen Banquet chicken pot pies – my mother used to make them for us as treats, and my kids love them too. But they do take a pretty long time to make, if you need five or six of them, even now that you …
Cheese blintzes
First Cooking Memories When we visited my grandma in Brooklyn, she used to keep my parents up too late talking. But we kids woke up early. My grandma always let the other adults sleep, and took me and my younger brother downstairs to make cheese blintzes for everyone. Making blintzes for nine people took all …
Chawanmushi
Japanese breakfast for dinner? We ate this at Smallwares on Fremont Street in Portland, and it was so delicious I wanted to figure out how to make it at home. It was surprisingly simple and cheap, and delicious too. Also, open to endless variations. How to make Chawanmushi: Put on a pot of beef broth: …
Celery-mushroom soup
Celery Season Celery’s one of the first spring vegetables to come into season, because it’s basically a stem, like rhubarb or chives. It’s so exciting to have a new food after all those root vegetables and apples in the winter! But you can’t just be eating celery sticks all the time, so you need some …
Cauliflower curry
How to make cauliflower curry: First put on a pot of rice. In a small saucepan, put 1 1/2 cups of rice and 3 cups of water. Cover and heat over high heat until the water boils; then turn the rice down to medium-low heat and keep cooking, covered, until the rice has absorbed all …