This story category covers quick, easy, healthy recipes; it also covers entertaining plus tools and techniques that make cooking easier.
PRODUCTS WE LOVE | In 2010 it was the Sodastream; in 2011 it was the pizza stone; in 2012 it was the TopChip microwave potato chip maker—and, in 2014, the Nutribullet was the kitchen product of our dreams. Read more
EASY & DELISH | While I love the convenience of microwave popcorn, I stopped buying this product several years ago because of worrisome news about the potential health risks to humans posed by exposure to chemicals found both in the fake butter flavoring on microwave popcorn kernels and on the lining of microwave popping bags.
I also stopped buying commercial brand microwave popcorn because a friend showed me how to make a cheaper, healthier, equally quick alternative. Read more
BUY RIGHT | It was cleanup month around here so I tackled the buildup of shopping bags that had threatened to devour my closet. I don’t know how it happened, but over the past two years I’d managed to accumulate around 50 reusable polyester and nonwoven polypropylene “billboard shoppers” (so called because they often display a company logo) in every size imaginable. These shoppers are awkward and bulky even when folded and gang-bagged, and they easily turn into an unwieldy space-stealing mess when stashed in the back of a car or cupboard.
To add insult to injury, nonwoven polypropylene bags are no better for the environment than those disposable plastic bags they’ve come to replace. Read more
EASY & AWESOME | In food TV land, cake decorating has been out of control since 2006 when “Ace of Cakes” débuted on the Food Network. The runaway success of this reality program inspired legions of pastry chefs and bakers across North America to seek TV fame by constructing crazy, teetering cakes—the more outrageous the better—on shows such as “Cake Boss,” “Wedding Cake Wars” and “Ultimate Cake Off.”
All of this excess is enough to make anyone pine for plain cake, simply iced and decorated naturally with real wildflowers and herbs. Here are three of our favourite cakes topped in this beautiful, natural way. Read more
EASY & DELISH | Kale chips are the currently cool snack among the super health conscious (kale is a seriously high in beta carotene and vitamins A and K). Snack manufacturers such as Rhythm Superfoods and Kaia Foods (both sold at Whole Foods) have jumped on board to churn out very small packages of very pricey dehydrated kale chips that are, in my estimation, so overseasoned with flavours like mustard, cheese and chocolate that you’d think their producers were trying to disguise the true taste of this big leafy green.
The best kale chips are only lightly seasoned so the subtle yet distinct flavour of the vegetable is equally present as any seasoning. The best kale chips are the ones you bake yourself, which you can easily do in fewer than 15 minutes.
Here’s how. Read more
MONEY WELL SPENT | Yes, I know butter is healthier for you than margarine is (CLICK HERE for an excellent Globe and Mail article on the subject), but tell that to my knife in the morning when I’m trying to have my way with toast.
My biggest beef with butter is that it’s always cold and hard when it comes out of the fridge when I need it to be soft and ready to spread like margarine. For this reason, until recently, I always chose a schmeer of oleo rather than a chunk of butter when it was time to slather warm buns. Read more
EASY & DELISH | Over the holidays, I had the good fortune to enjoy handcrafted confections from our top local candy makers—Thomas Haas, Chocolate Arts and Beta 5 included—and while all of this candy was a pleasure for my buds, none of it was remotely as memorable or addictive as the sweet bacon treats made by my dear friend Teresa Syrnyk. Read more
EASY & DELISH | So many people I know are casting around for an alternative to turkey for Christmas dinner this year. Turkey for Thanksgiving is immutable, but for Christmas people are experimenting with goose, duck, pork or beef to get away from the same-old gobble-gobble. Read more
HOLIDAY 2012 | Forget lettuce, tomato and leftover turkey stuffed between toasted ciabatta. The sweetest, most memorable holiday sandwich—the one that screams You Need to Eat Me for Christmas—is pictured at the top of this story and is made from a layer of chilly ice cream and chewy gingerbread men. Read more
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS | While place cards can seem a little silly for intimate dinner parties, they make perfect sense when you’re hosting a long-table meal and want to deliberately mix and match up your guests, or you’re doing a sit-down meal with multiple tables and desire a semblance of order.
Here are our three current favourite easy-to-make place card holders, all suited perfectly to this holiday season. Read more