Getting on a Roll

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 ...

The Green and The Gold–Plus Jimmy Crack Corn

18 June 2011 by Jean Johnson
It started when Linda stayed in my 2 room b&b over the weekend. I made Polenta Waffles that are always a hit. Linda went on to the next leg of her vacation, but as so often happens, I'm on a roll. That's how it happens when you're a basically lazy, ...

On a Roll with Spaghetti Squash

4 January 2011 by Jean Johnson
Mainstream food writers at the Oregonian dismissed spaghetti squash as bland and boring in an article on winter squashes. Too bad they missed the point, but then that's what happens as long as you're looking at things from the Standard American Perspective--which in the case of food is widely known ...

Quinoa = Ultrafast + Delish + You the Boss

2 November 2010 by Jean Johnson
Here's how ultrafast cooking works in my hippie kitchen. In the morning when I'm having breakfast, I steam up a pot of quinoa. This grain cooks in 10 minutes and has the highest protein of them all. I leave it sitting out at room temperature and then when dinner comes ...

Reflections on a Refrigerator

19 September 2010 by Jean Johnson
An inside peek at my mind would never do--chuckle--but the interior of my fridge and freezer is something that never fails to give people wandering through my hippie kitchen pause. "It's empty!" they remark. "And you're a cook?" they say. "What's up?" What's up is that I like food that's ...

Fava Bean Season is Upon Us

30 May 2010 by Jean Johnson
If you have Hippie Kitchen you'll see this picture on page 52. I choose to show off the fava beans in their pods rather than the actual dish because they have been so maligned. Typical instructions in American cookbooks are to do not pass go and double peel the beans--first ...

Thrift + Creativity = Empowerment + Joy

7 May 2010 by Jean Johnson
I'm including these Astonishing Muffins in Grow Your Own, accompaniment as they are to Laurel & Carol's Astonishing Spinach Salad. I don't have the recipe written up just yet, but I did dutifully put dried apricots in along with walnuts. Just the kind of muffin people would think is fun ...

Flash Cooking’s Where It’s At

14 April 2010 by Jean Johnson
Flash cooking is the heart of my kitchen scene. It nets me plenty of fresh seasonal vegetables in short order--warm salad style. I've talked about it many times here on the blog, but people resonate with the idea so, that we did a video. It's a 6 minute clip from ...

Homemade Beans

8 April 2010 by Jean Johnson
It's so easy to get on a roll when you've got some homemade beans waiting in the fridge. Talk about ultrafast. All you do is flash cook some seasonal vegs into a warm salad, dress with oil and vinegar, add the beans for protein, season with salt and red chile ...

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 ...