A friend of mine recently confided that she rarely bought parsley, and had none in her garden, because she really didn’t know what to do with it. Believe me, I get it. For many of us, parsley is that curly green garnish that comes on the plate in cafeteria food that’s mostly there for looks. Why would you eat that? And all these recipes that call for one measly tablespoon of chopped parsley? What’s the point? Why buy a whole bunch just for one tablespoon?
Here’s the deal. Parsley brightens flavors. It adds balance to savory dishes the way that a little lemon juice can make something just taste better. Parsley is a mild “bitter”. The tastebuds on your tongue can distinguish 5 tastes – salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami. Salty and sweet are obvious. Sour you get from acid like lemon juice or vinegar. Umami has to do with the savory taste of protein. Bitter you get from citrus zest, bitter greens like kale, mustard greens, arugula, and parsley. Well balanced dishes stimulate all or most of these taste receptors. Adding parsley to a stew doesn’t make the stew taste like parsley, but will make the stew taste more balanced, if it doesn’t already have a bitter in it.
When I first started cooking I would get annoyed at buying a bunch of parsley for a recipe and then not knowing what to do with the rest of it. Now I look out at our garden that I just planted with 12 parsley plants for my parents, and 6 for me, and I’m hoping that that’s enough. Almost every savory dish tastes better with a little chopped parsley either cooked in or sprinkled over the top. (By the way, flat-leaf Italian parsley works better for cooking than the curly parsley. Don’t ask me why, it just does.) The best thing about growing parsley plants? Bugs and slugs typically stay away from them. They are biennials, so in mild climates, a plant will live for two years. The plants over-winter well, at least here in California. The frost just seems to make them happy.
Parsley is also good for digestion. As with other bitter herbs, parsley stimulates appetite and your digestive tract. Years ago I learned that you could ask a bartender for bitters to help settle your stomach if you were out to eat and your stomach needed settling (you know what I mean). That concoction is not made with parsley, but with other bitter essences, but the effect is the same. Bitters help digestion.
What to do if you truly have too much parsley hanging around? I recommend making chimichurri, a South American condiment like pesto, that is made with parsley, garlic, oil and vinegar, which is terrific with steak. Or you could just make parsley pesto, and serve it over pasta.
Do you have a favorite dish where parsley is the star ingredient? Please let us know about it in the comments.
I had to laugh when I first heard about this recipe from my friend Heidi H. In fact, at first blush the thought of it was not particularly appetizing. You take slices of hot dogs, sauté them in butter with onions, and add sour cream. That’s it. Serve it with pasta. But then I recognized the brilliance. This is just a stroganoff, made with hot dogs, or sausages, instead of strips of beef. Heidi’s mom Jill used to make these so-called “fancy hot dogs” for her growing up and now Heidi makes it for her family. The kids love it. If you want to make a more grown-up version, use a fine German bockwurst instead of hot dogs. Heidi thinks her mom made it because it’s so easy on the budget. Which it is, but it also tastes great and cooks up quickly. Perfect for a mid-week, get-it-on-the-table, family meal.
“Sufferin’ succotash!” Raise your hand if you grew up with Looney Tunes on Saturday mornings. I’m guessing that outside of the South (where succotash is popular) there are more people familiar with Sylvester the cat’s oft-uttered exclamation than there are those who have actually tried the dish. If you are unfamiliar with succotash, according to the The Story of Corn by Betty Fussell, the word “succotash” is derived from a Narragansett indian word for “boiled corn kernels”. And indeed, corn is the central ingredient in this dish. Usually succotash is a combination of corn and lima beans. But if you make it in the late spring, when the first corn comes into the market, and fresh fava beans are on sale, you can make a spring version of this classic recipe that’s terrific.
We decided to make a hearty version of succotash with some diced ham, and add a Mediterranean touch by using olive oil and a little lemon. Mint adds a bright flavor to the dish. We used fresh corn in this recipe, but you could use frozen corn. Fava beans are available at many farmer’s markets or at high-end supermarkets. They require some work to process, but it’s worth it. If fava beans are not available, you can use peas to stay with the spring theme, or use lima beans for a more traditional approach.
Did I mention how good this is? Trust me, it’s good. It’s one of those “you should make this” dishes. I practically ate the whole batch.
Recently, one of my infinite Gucci sneakers-fan friends has come up to me and told me a story he experienced the day before.
Well it really attracted my attention during the whole story and that’s why I want to share it with you guys. Without further ado, here it goes:
“As a traditional practice, we the Turkish people usually leave our “gucci sneakers” behind the entrance door of our houses.
That’s being said, it means we usually do not enter to our homes with footwears put on. Unfortunately, my mate had done this at the day of the incident, too. Having lunch at that time, my friend wasn’t aware of the two gypsies wandering inside the apartment building, maybe for begging some food or money from the residents.
To their surprise, they should have seen the pair of yummy Gucci sneakers, which belonged to my friend and had cost him 550 bucks not long ago. Probably knowing these facts, they stole the beauties.
After the lunch, no sooner realizing the absence of his sneakers, than my friend cries in pain. They sent for police and explain the details about the Gucci men shoes which my friend owned. In the mean time, the gypsies rushing towards their houses, start off an argument about whom to wear the shoes first, or whom they would belong to. The argument goes harsh and they keep on fighting with each other on the street, while the stolen goods were smiling them somewhere near the street. Soon after the patrols come and arrest these gypsies as they were informed about some valuable sneakers being stolen just a few hours ago.”
My friend, then, meets with his stuff and never leaves them anywhere further away than 2 meters =).
There are many online stores which are selling different kinds of eating products. British Online Supermarket is also one of them which let you buy English food online. As we know that it is also an online store but it is providing you with too many facilities. British Online Supermarket is not just for the people living out of the UK, but people living in UK can also buy English food from this website and get it delivered to their doorstep.
British Online Supermarket is providing every kind of British food which you will find in the supermarkets of UK. You can buy English food like beverages, chocolates, snacks, biscuits, cereals, cakes and many more products. Unlike other online stores who are giving you the facility to buy English food, British Online also confirms that whether you have received the product or not. Every order you make is handpicked by the British Online Supermarket team to ensure that you are getting the best available product in the market.
Many other online stores never give you the facility to pay for your products via PayPal. When you buy English food from British Online Supermarket, you are not only given the facility to pay from PayPal which is one of the biggest online payment gateways but it also gives you the guarantee that your payment will reach securely to them. So if you are living in a foreign country or in UK, just buy English food from British online and feel the quality and price difference between the supermarket rates and the rates of British online.
Do you love seafood, but live far away from any ocean? You can still go fishing in lakes and streams of course, and get fresh local seafood that’s delicious. But if you’re looking for something more along the lines of a crustacean, you’re pretty much out of luck. When you decide to go eat at a restaurant, you have no way to know how fresh what you’re being served is, no matter how expensive the price is. And at a grocery store, you know that frozen doesn’t taste the same, and that even live fish are most likely old and tough, and possibly sick. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just get fresh lobster meat without having to go through all the work.
It sounds too good to be true, but you can really get delicious and fresh lobster meat sent right to your door, and for less then you pay now. So why would you ever want to get lobster any other way. But how does this work? It’s simple really. A fisherman brings in their haul of lobster for the day, and it is immediately boiled, cleaned, and packaged to be shipped to you. This means that you’re getting the freshest, healthiest lobster that you can possibly get, without having to go to the store. And you’re getting it for less than you would pay anywhere else!
But how is lobster meat so much less expensive when you order it to be delivered? Weren’t you always paying the ‘market price’? When you order lobster to be delivered to your home, you’re not paying the middleman, which means a big reduction in how much you are paying.
When you order lobster dinner at a restaurant, you’re not only paying the market price of the lobster, you’re also helping to cover the overhead of the restaurant, and given them some profit. You’re also paying for the service, and for items such as drinks. At the grocery store, you’re also helping to cover overhead and profit. When you order from home, you get the same baseline price that the restaurants and grocery stores are paying.
And lobster meat is so fresh and delicious that you’ll want to order it again and again. What can you do with fresh lobster? There are so many different possibilities. You can make a fresh lobster and spinach salad, for a heart healthy option that’s also high in protein. You can create a delicious lobster newburg to share with your family on a cold day. And for a quick meal, you can create a light and simple lobster pasta, dressed with oil. These meals are a delicious way to share fresh seafood with your friends and family who may not have been able to enjoy such fresh lobster in the past.
When you order lobster meat online, you’ll be astounded by how many different ways you can prepare and enjoy it. So order today, and see all the great and delicious ways you could have dinner tomorrow
Let’s be honest – I’m not getting much of an autumn or a winter this year – but that doesn’t mean I won’t cook according to the season. Yesterday was September 1, so I made a comforting salmon chowder. I cranked up the ceiling fan to give the impression of a chill in the 79 degree air…a bit of a stretch, but the soup was full of creamy, delicious flavor either way.
Salmon, by the way, recently “swam into first place in a new survey of New York nutritionists asked to name foods they’d recommend as not only nutritious but offering distinct health benefits and good value. The poll of members in the New York State Dietetic Association ranked oats number-two because of high fiber, ‘a powerhouse nutrient, known for aiding with digestion [and which] also helps fight disease, and may lower the risk for high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.’ Coming in third were blueberries, rich in antioxidants and vitamins, for their ‘ability to protect the body against the damaging effects of free radicals and the chronic diseases associated with the aging process.’ Rounding out the nutritionists’ top-five foods were two dairy products: low-fat milk, for its calcium and vitamin D content, and low-fat yogurt with added probiotics, which aid digestion” according to the Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter.
Our whirlwind weekend in San Francisco and South Lake Tahoe, California is over, and as usual after traveling, we’re in the mood to eat especially healthfully this week. It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve eaten a hotdog (mini hotdogs were served at the wedding to represent the groom’s hometown, Chicago) and a hamburger (gotta hit up In-N-Out Burger on any California road trip) in the same weekend. So today I had a light lunch of pouch tuna (lemon pepper) with pesto on a whole wheat English muffin.
And lots of fresh veggies and fish made their way in to my supper plan.
Last weekend started off with Friday evening cocktails and calamari steak from one of our favorite relaxing spots, Buzz’s on Kailua Beach.
Things got a little less chic on Saturday and Sunday because the fair was in town. Let’s just say no healthful carnival food choices were made, but we did (narrowly) avoid fried Twinkies. So it could have been worse. Monday night we were back on track with delicious macadamia nut crusted opah (also known as moonfish) and roasted cauliflower.
The only glitch I had with this recipe is that in the skillet the macadamia nut crust was cooking (approaching burning) much quicker than the fish. So I moved the whole operation to the oven for literally 1.5 minutes to cook the middle through. Problem solved.
We’re entertaining both tonight and Thursday, so the remainder of our Supper Plan this week is going to be especially delicious!
If you’re the main cook in the family, do you ever get the feeling that your family is bored of your go to recipes? Perhaps even you’re getting bored of them too. It can be difficult to think outside of the box when you’re used to meal planning quickly. It’s also difficult to knock their socks off when you know that money is tight, and you’re trying to save up for a rainy day. Of course, you can always make something delicious, like steak, but this isn’t unexpected. Why not instead stick to your budget, and give them something they’re sure to enjoy, because it’s an old restaurant favorite. With the advent of online ordering assistance, you can make great lobster dinners without staying in the kitchen all day.
When you’re looking for a fresh and exciting meal to feed your family, nothing fits the bill better than great lobster dinners. When you’re always on the run and eating on the go, a lobster dinner can be a great way to bring everyone together for a delicious and relaxed meal. If you and your spouse are alone, it can be a great way to have a romantic dinner, and relax from a long work week.
And because lobster is such a luxury, a lobster dinner recipe is seen as an unexpected treat, which is a great way to surprise your family. And you’ll be surprised at how much less expensive it is to prepare it at home.
If you want to make your family a dinner that they’re sure to remember, you can surprise them with delicious and luxurious lobster dinners that fit your budget. But how could you make such an amazing meal at a decent price? You lower that price by ordering online. When buying lobster dinner at a restaurant, you’re paying a great deal of overhead for the restaurants costs and profit margin, as well as for anything else you may order. Even when ordering in the grocery store, you’re paying serious overhead on the lobster that you buy, which may not even be fresh. But when you order online, you know that you’re getting the freshest, just shipped lobster at market prices, which is a steep discount.
It couldn’t be easier to make a lobster dinner, which is why lobster dinners are the perfect way to treat your family. Simply bring a stockpot of water to a boil. To this salted water, add your lobster, and the vegetables of your choice. We recommend potato, carrots and onion. Remember to save the water for lobster stock later, which can be used in soups and sauces. Once the lobster is done, you’re ready to eat your delicious meal! It’s a great and well balanced one pot meal that’s easy to serve, and easy to clean up!
When you want to give your family a great surprise, lobster dinners are the way to go. They’re an affordable one pot meal that’s easy to clean up, and that everyone will love!
