Health and Wellness

Winter Squash for Seasonal Eats–and Weight Loss

2 February 2012 by Jean Johnson
Squash is much maligned in SAD (Standard American Diet)--especially winter squash. It's largely reserved for pumpkin pies and acorn halves baked with yet more unimaginative SAD stuff: brown sugar and butter. Not that I don't enjoy an acorn trussed up in such decadent fashion now and then. It's just that ...

First Summer Squash of the Year & the Last of the Sugar Snap Peas

21 July 2011 by Jean Johnson
Letting the seasons change what's on your plate is such a groove. Tonight it took the form of flash cooking a just-pulled cippolini onion from last fall's planting, a minced clove of garlic, whole sugar snaps, a green and yellow zucc sliced off on the diagonal, and a chop of ...

Lasta-vera Frittata with Blue Corn and Hopi Memories & Music

20 October 2010 by Jean Johnson
Yes, I know the lastavera doesn't quite work since vera means spring in Italian. But hey, it's close, and it conveys so well the idea of using vegetables the fall harvest brings through the door. A few posts ago I was lastavering with a grain salad. This time it's with ...

Hippie Primavera, Video on Flash Cooking

16 June 2010 by Jean Johnson
Flash cooking continues to attract people to my work. I'm glad because it's the heart of what my measure free, seasonal, sustainable message is about. So here you go. In these vids I show how to Turn the burner on high with a puddle of water. Put your rustically chopped veggies in, ...

Strawberries Fields Forever?

3 April 2010 by Jean Johnson
Some things just don't change.  I wrote an article in 2005 on the nasties surrounding conventional strawberry production. Here are two excerpts. The papery star of leaves capping the red fruit might be green, but the California strawberry industry has a way to go. At issue is the ozone-depleting ...

Geography, Culture, and Class Influence Our Food Choices

4 March 2010 by Jean Johnson
As Bart Simpson would say on the idea that geography, culture, and class influences our food choices, "Du-uh!" Still, this edible geography site's maps are worth the trip.

Laura Gets It

27 November 2009 by Jean Johnson
Healthy, thrifty, delicious, and green. That's the whole point behind measure free. The idea that if we quit being slaves to paint-by-numbers recipes we'll be likely to cook more, eat well, be healthy, and save a bundle on the food bill. So at the end of the day, it's not ...

The Cereal Bowl

4 November 2009 by Jean Johnson
Beans in your morning cereal bowl are cool. A few garbs rolling around with the hazelnuts. Some blackies and a spike of red chile and lime to go with chunks of fresh pears. A pink hummus spread on apples. (Cooking Beyond Measure, p. 32) And now even a nod from ...

Latina Peaches

6 September 2009 by Jean Johnson
These peaches are inspired by how they treat jicama in Mexico. I also do them with pineapple and melons of all stripes. Expect the fans to roll their eyes in bliss on this one because magic trio sets the sweet fruit off to a very fine angle indeed. Latina Peaches For ...

Inauguration Slaw 44

18 January 2009 by Jean Johnson
With Barack Obama--our 44th history-making president-- poised to take the helm, we're all thinking about the inauguration. What better way to celebrate than making Inauguration Slaw 44. Indeed, this slaw represents what Mr. Obama is about and what he's asking from us as Americans. It's about change--change in our consumption habits, ...