Measurefree Cooking

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, ...

Beans and Rice are Nice & Tidy–In a Loaf

9 June 2010 by Jean Johnson
Not much to say here other than enjoy this vid on mixing up a bean loaf. There's even an afterthought on one of my favorites, spaghetti squash.

Blue Corn Waffles

15 March 2010 by Jean Johnson
After the Sixties in Flagstaff where better to go and chill out than Indian County. Call me lucky. I managed to cobble together an education degree and spent the next decade out on Navajo and Hopi posing as a school teacher. It's true, I arrived looking for smoke and feathers--the ...

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 ...

Big Cooking Never Hurt Anyone–Or Did It?

17 November 2009 by Jean Johnson
CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) and Big Food break my heart. That's why cheap breakfasts don't impress me. The hens and pigs pay so very pitifully for our pleasure. Factory farmers prostituting themselves under the guise of feeding the world--never mind the big bucks. Given all that, why does this blog ...

Blue Corn Waffles, Fried Red Chile & Hopi Memories

2 November 2009 by Jean Johnson
After the Sixties in Flagstaff where better to go and chill out than Indian County. Call me lucky. I managed to cobble together an education degree and spent the next decade out on Navajo and Hopi posing as a school teacher. It's true, I arrived looking for smoke and feathers--the ...

Thoughts on a Measurefree Life–and Ian McEwan’s Hearty School

1 November 2009 by Jean Johnson
Here's how Booker Award winner Ian McEwan describes not measuring in his novel, Saturday. The passage comes through Henry Perowne, neurosurgeon and husband of Rosalind: "What he likes about cooking is its relative imprecision and lack of discipline--a release from the demands of the [operating] theatre. In the kitchen, the consequences ...

User-Friendly Kitchen Counters

25 April 2009 by Jean Johnson
This post is for one of the women at the last cooking class I did. I was talking about how much it streamlines cooking when you keep things you use a lot out handy. She wanted to know what was out on my counter. Well, here it is--at least this is ...

The Economy, Feeling Fit, and Slicing & Dicing

13 February 2009 by Jean Johnson
The economy's lurking outside our doors like the big bad wolf. We want fresh ideas on thrift, yet we hope to maintain an enjoyable quality of life. It can happen. We can eat exceedingly well and tighten our belts. All it takes is lightening up and having some fun ...

Thanksgiving Breakfast with KBJ’s Cranberries and Cottage Cream

22 November 2008 by Jean Johnson
Thanksgiving Breakfast complete with Cottage Cream and KBJ's Cranberries is such gorgeous food--as delicious as it is healthy and affordable. Indeed, that's what measure free cooking is all about. But a cookbook without measurements and prescriptive rote directions is so unprecedented that people tend can get wrapped up in the ...