Better than my mother’s oatmeal My mother was a good mother and she made us good hot bowls of oatmeal every winter morning and we hated it. Her oatmeal was terrible: gloppy stuff like jello. Then I got married, and my husband made oatmeal, and it was nothing like hers at all – this oatmeal …
Tag Archives: vegetarian
French toast
Pain Perdu Did you ever wonder what they call French toast in France? They call it pain perdu – lost bread – because you lose the pieces of bread in the eggs. In England, they call French toast “eggy bread.” Either way, French toast is popular all over, whereever people eat eggs and bread, because …
Bagels from scratch
Not by Bread Alone I grew up on bagels; in Ithaca, New York, bagels were like the default food. People had them for breakfast, lunch, and snack, and then had pizza bagels for dinner. No respectable bagelry would sell a bagel more than two hours old – after that, they gave them away free out …
Zucchini eggs
Mediterranean Thyme The summer I spent on an archaeological dig on the island of Cyprus, digging up an Early Bronze Age village and cemetery, the hillside we worked on was covered with wild thyme bushes, as you can see in this picture. After smelling thyme all day long, all summer, I couldn’t face using thyme …
Wontons and broth
Frozen Wontons or make at home? Yeah, you can get frozen wontons, and they’re yummy, but they’re also full of salt and sugar and grease. These are healthy and fun to make. It took about an hour, but you’d get faster at it with practice. Also, it would be fine to make the wontons and …
Vegetable soup
French cafeteria food As a child in France, I used to get this soup at least once a week in the school cantine as the appetizer for winter lunches. I loved it, and so did everyone else. How much better than just plain carrot sticks or boiled carrots! (For another yummy carrot recipe, try candied carrots.) How to …
Latkes with vegetables
Why use vegetables instead of potatoes? These have a lot more flavor than just potato latkes, and they’re less fattening too. My kids like vegetable latkes so much that I make them even when it’s not Hanukkah. I also often make them for company, when the company involves a lot of allergies and food restrictions, …
Unstuffed cabbage
Need something quick and hot? My grandmother’s stuffed cabbage is great if you were going to be home all day and want to spend a lot of that time cooking and watching a pot slowly simmer your stuffed cabbage into yummy goodness. But if you want something that tastes pretty much the same but you …
Twice baked potatoes
Cooking for Occupy Portland Last fall when I was cooking for Occupy Portland, we needed to make dinner for about a thousand people a night (no kidding!) with whatever jumble of ingredients people happened to have donated. One winner was these twice baked potatoes – they’re cheap, they’re easy to make, and they’re easy to …
Turnips au gratin
Why turnips and not potatoes? You could make this with potatoes, but turnips have much more flavor. And turnips have fewer calories, too. How to make turnips gratin: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Slice two large turnips very thin (about 1/8 inch thick). In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/4 stick of butter …