Dena's Recipe Exchange

I'm Baaaack

2011-03-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

OMG! It has been way too long, friends. So sorry about that! Partially the blog hiatus has come about because I'm 30 weeks pregnant and well, there is just a lot on my plate at the moment. I haven't stopped cooking, of course, but blogging what I cook has taken a back...

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Recently Heard on the Internets

2011-01-26T20:45:00.000-08:00

My father always says, "You can't have it fast, cheap, and high quality. Pick two. If you want it fast and cheap, it's not gonna be very good. If you want it fast and good, it certainly won't be cheap." -- commenter on Serious Eats' post about the brou-ha-ha surrounding...

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Food Poem of the Month

2011-01-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

(And this food poem goes out to my husband as we celebrate eight years together this month. Sodden with luck indeed. xoxo) French Toastby Anya Krugovoy Silver Pain perdu: lost bread. Thick slices sunk in milk,fringed with crisp lace of browned egg and scattered...

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Three Basic Recipes for Everyone

2011-01-07T12:03:00.000-08:00

You've heard me rave about Mark Bittman before. I make no bones about the fact that I love him, his food philosophy, and his very simple "anyone can do it and everyone should" approach to cooking. Well here's another example of why. He recently wrote an article...

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Thanksgiving In a Pinch

2010-11-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

You already know I love the food blog Serious Eats. They are for serious foodies, but they are so not above regular old non-gourmet grocery store food. Sometimes you do just need to go with what's easiest. And when you do, who doesn't want to buy the best-tasting of the...

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Turkey Day? There's an App For That

2010-11-19T12:36:00.000-08:00

No but really: of course there is. I'm sure there are hundreds! But there's only one Thanksgiving helper app by the amazing foodie folks at Chow. It just so happens I have one of those two-degrees of separation connections to the great founder of Chow, and she's really...

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Changing the Food System

2010-11-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

I thought (my hero) Ruth Reichl's recent blog post on Changing the Food System offered fascinating and new (to me, anyway) perspectives and ideas on how to really enact this change that needs to happen. And it was a beautiful hall, all carved antique wood, where...

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Tostones Part II: Mojo de Ajo (aka garlic dipping sauce from heaven)

2010-10-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

Remember my recipe for Tostones! posted a few weeks back? The green plantains that fry into smashed delicious, life-altering goodness? Well, no toston is complete without a salty garlic-limon sauce to dip it into and make you feel really alive. Without further ado,...

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We can either pay the farmer or we can pay the hospital

2010-10-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-09-24-11-year-old-schools-us/

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Tostones!

2010-09-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

As promised a while ago, here is my recipe for tostones! (Always with an exclamation point because DAMN THEY ARE THAT GOOD!) Also known sometimes as platanos verdes or patacones, tostones! are the most delicious, heavenly, savory, yum yum yummers Latin American side...

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Where Is My Milk From?

2010-09-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

In the midst of the truly disgusting and scary egg contamination recall, other vulnerable foods spring to mind. Namely, dairy! Check out this neat little tool* to help you learn as much as you can about what is often all-too-mysterious: the actual origins and processors...

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A Sweet and Summery New Year

2010-09-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins tomorrow evening. This is the beginning of the High Holy Days and a time of introspection, retrospection, atonement, forgiveness, and hope. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah -- a very joyous, sweet occasion -- and Yom Kippur --...

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How To Cook a [Bleeping] Steak

2010-09-02T07:42:00.000-07:00

Heh. Thought this was hilarious and actually quite a good recipe for the simple act of cooking a delicious steak. Check it out (though be forewarned that its language is definitely rated R).

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Meal Plan for the Week

2010-08-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

This is a bit late, but well, this late summer/fall is just shaping up to be that kind of busybusybusy time. All the more reason for meal planning, in my experience! Here's what we're eating at Casa Dena this week: Monday: Black Beans & Rice (made with peppers from...

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Avoiding the Dirty Dozen

2010-08-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

The Environmental Working Group just released their new Shopper's Guide to Pesticides. Have you seen this? Do you use it? If not, I highly recommend. I try to be as conscious of the environmental and health impacts of the food that I eat, cook, and serve as possible. But...

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No More KENNY??? WTF, Top Chef!

2010-08-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Okay you know I love me some Top Chef. But there's always one point, in every season, where I get really disappointed in them because they send one of the most -- if not THE most -- talented chefs home and let crappy, mediocre, sloppy chefs stay because they managed to not...

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New Season of Top Chef!

2010-07-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else been watching? I am, of course, watching religiously. We're only 5 episodes in but already I have my favorites and decidedly un-favorites. And my prediction for the winner: Kenny. He can cook his ass off, that's for sure. He knows what he's doing in...

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Amen

2010-06-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

Michael Ruhlman is spot on. Amen! We can’t expect big business to have our best interests in mind, nor expect the media to stop ringing the all-in-one Salt-Is-Bad! Fat-Is-Bad! alarm bells. Big companies want to sell us their goods any way they can. If they can take...

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Menu Plan for the Week

2010-06-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while since I posted! This menu's posting is a bit late, but the menu itself isn't. Like usual, I planned and shopped for it on the weekend. Monday: Potsticker Stirfry (aka I sauteed a bag of frozen potstickers from Trader Joe's along with broccolini,...

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Meatless Mondays

2010-05-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about the Meatless Mondays campaign? I love the idea: their goal is to "help reduce meat consumption [by] 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet." Why meatless? "Going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic...

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Hilarious Food Blogs

2010-05-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

So if food doesn't ordinarily make you laugh, these blogs will (I guarantee) have you in stitches. The first, CakeWrecks, is one of my very favorites. I have to check in with it every day for my giggle -- and sometimes outright guffaw -- of the day. The second I just...

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Food Poem of the Month: Ode to Chocolate

2010-04-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

My work has gotten CRAZY what with a 1,700-person event in one week, so for now I'll keep my posting simple and leave you with this ode to chocolate -- the darker the better. It's also kind of an ode to my hubby, who is a chocolate aficionado, but only if no milk or...

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Let the Free Market Decide

2010-04-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

Remember that little graphic I posted a few days ago about why salads cost more than Big Macs? "...My pie in the sky dream is to end subsidies for agribusiness and end subsidies for animal production and basically let the free market decide the cost of a pound of beef...

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My Favorite Things

2010-04-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

If you're a new reader or have been a loyal and steadfast Recipe Exchanger since the days of yore, you may have noticed a new little list I've got on the right-hand side (below "Where I Shop"): My Favorite Things. It's a collection of things I use and love in the kitchen...

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OMG!

2010-04-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

Top Chef is going on tour?!?!? How fun! How delicious! I think hubby and I are going to have to drive up to Portland in June to check this out! I wonder which chefs will be there? And do we think Tom and Padma and Gail might be there? Doubtful. But a girl can hope!

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