Entertaining guests with special diets is not new, but it certainly seems to be more common. As we all become more health-conscious and aware of what makes us feel good (and bad!), we face lots of ingredient hurdles as we prepare for our holiday meals. If cooking for special diets […]
Live-Fire Cooking: It’s Not Just For Meat
Our human obsession with fire and live fire cooking dates back well over a million years. Our ancestors learned that fire, in addition to being a good heat source, could also transform food in a variety of ways. Placing meat on sticks around a fire proved to be an effective […]
Healthier Ways To Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth
Love sweets? You’re not alone. The average American consumes an average of 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day—a lot more than the six teaspoons for women and nine for men recommended by the American Heart Association.1 Sugar intake continues to draw not-so-sweet media attention, as more research suggests its […]
Sharpen Your Grill Skills
Grilling, or barbecuing, is taken even more seriously in San Antonio, TX than breakfast tacos (which are actually a close second to breathing as far as importance goes). Since moving here two and a half years ago, I have upped my grilling game and learned many more tips. Here are […]
Love Match: Veggies, Grains, and Wines
Article by: By Traci Dutton Do meatless Mondays have to be wine-less Mondays? No reason to think that! Let’s not forget that a little wine, consumed in moderation, can be part of a healthy and appealing diet based on grains, fruits and vegetables, beans, and healthy fats, including dairy. But […]
Crafting Your Own Brew
If the thought of enjoying an ice-cold beer made with your own hands appeals to you, you’re not alone. Interest in home brewing has grown over the last several years, in part due to the popularity of craft beers. You might think that making beer is very hard to do; […]
Building Your Own Food Garden
The buckeyes have leafed out, the redbuds are flowering, the magnolia flowers have come and gone, and little tomato seedlings in greenhouses across California are emerging from their little seed coats to meet the light of day. Here are a few tips as you prepare for a summer garden, no […]
Honeybees: Making Magic
Honey is an ingredient we’re all familiar with: most likely, there is a jar or squeezable bear in your cupboard right now. It’s something we love to use to sweeten tea, drizzle on berries, and include in many of our favorite dishes and desserts. But how much have you actually […]
Plant-Forward Eating
There’s a lot of buzz these days about something called “plant forward.” What exactly does this term mean? Simply put, plant-forward or plant-centric cooking and eating means to quite literally put plant foods in the center of, or as the foundation of, our eating plan. Plant foods include all vegetables; […]
Crazy for Comté
I claim it: Comté has been one of my favorite cheeses since I first tasted it decades ago. I cherish its flavors, texture, and complexity, and I purchase it regularly and savor it often. But until recently, I never appreciated the full story behind Comté cheese making. Sure, I knew […]
Bloody Good
As with most popular cocktails, the Bloody Mary has a storied and bloodily contested past. Lucky for us, then, that two highly respected cocktail historians, David Wondrich and Gary “Gaz” Regan, both agree that the earliest and most likely origin story credits this invention to Ferdinand “Pete” Petiot, a young […]
Creating Your Fall Edible Garden
Article by: By Chef Vincent Carvalho It’s no secret the key to great food is cooking with the freshest ingredients. Whether you’re looking to whip up a chimichurri sauce on the fly or making a veggie soup for those crisp fall days, now is the perfect time to start your […]