It’s All Fenugreek to Me

By Herb Gardner - According to a recent Time magazine issue, 41% of American two-year olds’ daily vegetable calories come from French fries. Clearly, too many families have abandoned the produce aisle for the drive through line. Enter author and mother Pragna Parmita to restore discipline and sanity to meal planning for youngsters. Vegebaby as the title implies advocates a vegetarian diet for a healthy body, bright mind,...

Use The Herbs You’re Growing

By Chef Judi Gallagher - Herb growing is so popular that I routinely see fresh herbs flourishing at residences in my town in big beautiful containers that display a mix of herbs or I see them in raised beds, in little pots on window sills and in big serious gardens that are carefully segmented for those herbs that need shade and for those that require sun. Restaurants too are keeping kitchen herb gardens and some of their...

Veggie Nation

By Marsha Fottler - There are about eight million vegetarians in America and all of them are hungry. And that’s not counting flexitarians, who limit their meat intake to only once a or twice week or dieters who avoid meat meals because of high calorie count and seek out tasty vegetarian meals that are less fattening. People who say the are “vegetarian-inclined eaters” make up another 22 million. That’s a lot of mouths...

Expanding Your Comfort (Food) Zone

By Herb Gardener - The comfort food groove can soon turn into a rut without an injection of unfamiliar or downright adventurous ingredients. A home cook need not trek far to find new inspirations; let Herb be your Sherpa. Ume vinegar (not a true vinegar, but who’s keeping score) is extracted from Japanese plum-like fruit, umeboshi. Briny and acidic, it is best enjoyed in small doses to brighten vegetable sautés (excellent...

Homemade Somethin’ for Your Little Pumpkin

By Herb Gardener - The toughest food critic we will ever face — and the one whose taste goes unquestioned — wears a bib and a diaper. But there is help, friends, for avoiding consignment to the splat mat. Cook it with love and make it yourself. The reasons to eschew store-bought, pre-packaged baby-food products in favor of wholesome homemade baby and toddler meals — expense, nutrition, flavor, food additive control,...

When it’s chilly, cook chili

By Marsha Fottler - One of America’s favorite dishes, chili, has nothing to do with the country of Chile but everything to do with the chili pepper and lots of other hot spices too. This one-pot meal is the go-to dish for home cooks needing to feed a crowd a tasty meal that keeps ingredient costs low and flavor intensity high. Condiments such as shredded cheese, sour cream or crushed taco chips make a chili meal a...