The Sweet Spot for Sweet Cherries

By Katie Barreira

Like most stone fruits, sweet cherries are highly seasonal. In fact, they obtain almost half of their flavor and heft in the week before they are picked. Because cherries only ripen on the vine (some fruits can reach their peak after being picked) you’ll want to eat them at the height of the season and that means right now!

The very first of California’s cherries arrived in stores around the first of May and, according to the president of the Northwest Cherry Association, that region’s ruby crop shipped around the first week in June. So what are you waiting for?

Click to read more ...

A Week of Chicken

By Lori Powell

My go-to find for a quick weeknight dinner is rotisserie chicken. When it first became the rage, all you could purchase was a whole bird that was pre-seasoned. Now you can buy just a breast or half a chicken that is organic and unseasoned.

I usually go for either the half or whole bird and then transform it into many weeknight dinners. When most of the meat is gone from the bones, use the carcass to make chicken soup or a flavorful chicken broth, including some of the meaty leftovers.

So instead of my usual recipe format this week, I thought it would be more useful to give you some ideas for what you can make from a rotisserie chicken for your quick-fix weeknight dinner.

Click to read more ...

Quick Take - Chicken Noodle Soup

By Lori Powell

Sooo…I’m sitting here once again in the kitchen, writing to you all, waiting for the next layer of ice to form outside. Yes, yet another storm and you all know what I’m talking about since it’s covering half the U.S.

I slipped and slid my way down what I have now learned is not 1/3 of a mile but a ½-mile driveway. It may not seem like much of a difference but when you are skidding on ice, it might as well be another 100 miles down the road.

Click to read more ...

Too Expensive to Eat Out? Try These Super-Simple Homemade Meals

By Sandy Hu

According to NPD’s Crest research as reported in Nation’s Restaurant News , young people between the ages of 18 and 34 are cutting back significantly on restaurant dining. And no wonder. The unemployment rate for adults under 30 is 19.5 percent, compared with 9.5 percent for the total workforce.

So if they’re not dining out, these young people must be in the grocery store. But they’re probably not shopping for potatoes and other food ingredients. They are buying frozen entrees or ready-to-eat meals from the deli or the prepared foods case.

At Special Fork, we believe it’s not hard to cook something simple, tasty and interesting. You save money by doing it yourself, you know your meal is fresh, and you know what you are consuming without having to check an ingredient label.

Click to read more ...