A Garden in a Box

By Andrew Hunter

Who would have thought a garden could come in a box? I was waiting for an early afternoon coffee at a grocery store Starbuck’s when I spotted this box. I was intrigued because it read, “great for kids,” so after I got my espresso I went back to check it out.

The box claims you can grow oyster mushrooms on your kitchen counter. So I bought it and brought it home. Together, the boys and I followed simple directions where we cut open a bag, soaked it in water for 12 hours, misted it occasionally and, voila…a few days later baby mushrooms sprouted. The very next day, mushrooms were ready for harvest. It even grew a second round of the precious crop.

Click to read more ...

Our Love of Sweet and Salty

By Marilyn Hunter

Our boys adore chicken teriyaki. It’s that sweet and salty combination that can’t be beat. In fact, Ben and Nick love it so much they conned our neighborhood sushi chef, Tashi, to wrap it with rice and sesame seeds in toasted nori for a roll that’s not on the menu. We go to Tashi’s at least once a week, so chef starts rolling when he sees the boys walking through the door.

Teri means glaze and yaki means grill…it’s a glaze made from soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar. It’s a brilliant balance of slightly sweet and salty flavors. It goes just as well on fish and beef as it does on chicken. The sauce is easy to make, but save yourself some time and buy a high-quality bottled version.

Click to read more ...

Feeding the Landfill

By Sandy Hu

Recently, The Wall Street Journal published a story called “Leftovers: Tasty or Trash?” in which the writer shared some eye-opening statistics:

- An average U.S. family of four throws away between $500 to $2,000 worth of food each year
- 25 percent of trash in a home (all avoidable waste) consists of vegetables
- 16 percent is fruits and juices
- 14 percent is grains
- 13 percent is milk and yogurt

Here’s another disturbing fact cited by the paper: After paper and paperboard, food is the next largest solid waste component in U.S. landfills and incinerators. A staggering 33 million tons of food was dumped in 2010 according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Click to read more ...

Kettle Corn Style Pistachios

By Andrew Hunter

I remember as a kid eating pistachios by the sacksful. In those good old days, my fingers, palms and face would be as red as the pistachios. It simply didn’t dawn on me that pistachios weren’t naturally red. Now I know that in fact red pistachios should be avoided like the plague. Why, because inferior and even moldy nuts are dyed to hide any number of impurities.

Recently, we were wandering around a farm in Northern California and got lost in the pistachio groves. The nuts hung in bunches with split creamy beige shells exposing the tender green and rosy hued kernels, waiting to be shaken from their branches, roasted and sold at farm stands and country markets along the roadways.

Click to read more ...

The Other Yogurt

By Katie Barreira

When Greek yogurt arrived in supermarkets, it was a revelation. With a texture closer to crème fraîche, the thick, creamy yogurt was immediately embraced as a substitute for mayonnaise in dips, ice cream atop pie, and sour cream on chili.

Now, it seems, Greek yogurt has flooded the market. And while I wouldn’t want to live in a world without this super-rich, highly strained yogurt, I worry for the forsaken plain yogurt. With its pourable consistency, refreshing tang and light mouth feel, regular old yogurt is still my favorite. I use it in my morning cereal instead of milk, for a filling breakfast that’s packed with probiotics.

Click to read more ...