Kitchen Tips |

Sweet & Savory Brown Rice Porridge

May 26, 2016 by AHS

Last week, I was lucky enough to be invited out to the Clif Family Winery for a bikeride through Napa valley with a few of their team members, including Clif Family’s fantastic Executive Chef John McConnell. Before the ride, John prepared a wonderful breakfast for our small group including this eye opening brown rice porridge. I was out of my seat after one bite to ask him exactly how it’s made, and he generously shared the many details on how […]

Categories: Breakfasts, Kitchen Tips, Oatmeals & Mueslis • Tags: Brown Rice Porriage, Brown Rice Pudding, Cream of Wheat, Gluten-Free, Gluten-Free Breakfast, Maple Syrup, No Refined Sugar, Oatmeal, Olive Oil, Refined Sugar Free, Rice Pudding, Sunflower Seeds, Sweet & Savory Cream of Wheat

Aromatics-Stuffed Artichokes

March 17, 2016 by AHS

With artichoke season here and the delicious if at times intimidating vegetable widely available, I wanted to share a recipe for stuffed artichokes I picked up a few weeks ago from one of the incredibly knowledgeable staff members at the Bi-Rite grocery store on Divisadero Street in San Francisco. He not only shared his Mom’s heritage family recipe, but also several prepping and general handling tips, which I’ve been surprised to learn are sorely needed even by some of the […]

Categories: Apps, Kitchen Tips, Recipes, Sides, Snacks • Tags: Artichoke Recipe, Artichokes, BreadCrumbs, Cooking with Artichokes, Garlic, How-To Artichokes, Meyer Lemon, Preparing Artichokes, Prepping Artichokes, Steamed Artichokes, Stuffed Artichokes, Trimming Artichokes

Paul’s Perfect Poached Eggs

April 23, 2015 by AHS

Aren’t poached eggs just the best at times? It’s amazing that what’s one of the simplest of dishes – an egg boiled in water – can be so comforting, satisfying, delicious and nutritious all at once. We buy them by the dozen for a few dollars, but are also willing to shell out multiples of that sum if the mood for eggs strikes us while out for brunch. It does seem like the ones we order in restaurants can be […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: breakfast, Classic Breakfast, Cooking, Cooking Techniques, Easy Recipe, Food Photography, Healthy Breakfast, Kitchen Tips, Photography, Poached Eggs

Flax Eggs (or, Vegan Eggs) for Baking

January 20, 2015 by AHS

This flax and water combo was for me a try-it-to-believe-it egg substitute. Having used it dozens of time now, I report with complete conviction that it works truly just as well as eggs. If you want to vegan-ize a recipe or would otherwise like to change the nutritional profile of your baked good, or frankly if you are just out of eggs, these come in extremely handy. They have a slightly nuttier flavor than eggs but beyond that you won’t […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: Baking Tips, ground flax seeds, Vegan Eggs, Vegan Techniques

Rehydrating Beans

January 19, 2015 by AHS

Rehydrating beans at home vs buying the canned version is very much worth the (minimal) effort – like homemade chicken stock, they will elevate any recipe that calls for beans. For some, this practice is age-old… for me, well I am proud to say that I finally tried this on my own and please, it couldn’t be easier. And again I must reiterate, so much better. You know that gag-inducing soupy-starchy mixture that accompanies canned beans? It’s a non-issue here. […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: Dinner, How-To, Ingredient, Make Ahead, Recipe, Training Food

Fine Dicing: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

January 14, 2015 by AHS

Since I love them so, and since it’s the season for them, I’ve long and lately often pondered, what makes certain hearty sauces so good? One thing I’ve always admired is when the sauce has a velvety feel to it, even though the ingredients started out as anything but. The taste is consistent bite after bite as the sauce coats the food uniformly. Also, the best sauces have loads of flavor and an element of freshness. So it’s not […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: Cooking, Food, Food Photography, Make-Head, Photography, Prep, Vegetables

Extra Thick, Fat-Free Plain Greek Yogurt…

January 13, 2015 by AHS

… is so versatile and useful in a whole host of recipes, from tomato toasts to chili. Here’s a quick break-out on how to make it in your own kitchen. It can act as a a spread to replace Buratta cheese (really), anchor a seemingly decadent dessert, serve as a substitute for sour cream or the base of an extra-creamy dip. By removing some extra liquid (it’s in fact the whey in the yogurt, which is where the sugar comes from) […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: Food, How-To, Kitchen, Recipes, Versatile, Yogurt

Homemade Chicken Stock will Elevate Recipes

January 8, 2015 by AHS

Take Stock! With more and more recipes on the site calling for homemade chicken stock, I thought it would be helpful to breakout just the stock recipe. This recipe assumes you’ve prepared a whole roasted chicken, carved off the meat, and will be using the carcass in the stock ingredients. If scheduling allows, the most efficient way to make homemade chicken stock seems to be to do so immediately after, or at least the same day, you’ve roasted and carved […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: Chicken Stock, Cold Weather, Healthy Cooking, Recipe

Pomegranate How-To

November 17, 2014 by AHS

Morning Everyone – for breakfast this week I got pomegranates, which I consider the berry of the fall – tasty and juicy, sweet but not too sweet, great with yogurt & granola, in salads or on their own, and super, super beneficial. They are in season now, and unlike other berries they have been known to make people fly. Okay obviously not, but after looking into specifics on benefits, I found a remarkable list. Pomegranates help with everything from your […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: Food, How-To, Pomegranate

Using Chopped Nuts in Baking Recipes

November 13, 2014 by AHS

When a recipe calls for chopped nuts, I always reach for one of my favorite kitchen tools, the low-tech, hand-operated chopper pictured here. This gadget transforms nuts into tiny pieces, almost creating a coarse flour, very quickly and comfortably. (Or, just a few pulses can be made to yield a coarse chop if you prefer.) As you can see, these finely chopped nuts incorporate into flour very well. You can whisk the nuts into your dry ingredients, adding […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: Baking Tips, Food, Nuts, Recipes

Optimizing Chicken Basics

November 10, 2014 by AHS

Perfectly roasted chicken may be the most healthy comfort food ever. With the cooler weather we’re craving roasts and since a little prep work goes a long way during a busy week, I wanted to share some foolproof successes I’ve had with roasting chicken and making stock. Roasted chicken is lean yet satisfying, even comforting. A serving delivers almost all your daily protein needs, and while dark meat is a bit fattier it also delivers zinc, Vitamin B and iron, […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: Chicken, Chicken Stock, Food, Recipes, Roasted Chicken

Cooling Fresh Brewed Coffee

August 2, 2014 by AHS

I started occasionaly adding coffee smoothies into the rotation this summer. So far I’ve found some delicious (coffee and coconut milk, wonderful), and some terrible (coffee and flax = devilish bitterness) combinations. First things first though, a good solution for cooling freshly brewed coffee. This ‘double-cooler’ system lets you get a freshly brewed batch cool to cold by the time your other ingredients are assembled. Few easy steps: 1.) Brew coffee as you normally would for one – two cups. […]

Categories: Kitchen Tips • Tags: Coffee, Coffee Smoothie, Fresh Brewed Coffee, Iced Coffee, Kitchen Techniques, Smoothies