Photo: Su-Lin, Flickr.
Got a family favorite or a calorie-laden comfort food classic you'd love to see lightened up? Vote for your favorite, or let us know in the comments below.
Poll: Lightened-Up Comfort Foods
Got a family favorite or a calorie-laden comfort food classic you'd love to see lightened up? Vote for your favorite, or let us know in the comments below.
Comments [5]
Stuffed Carnivale Squash - Feast Your Eyes
Photo: Laurapants, Flickr.
We second that -- especially in such a vibrant, flavorful concoction. First, the squash is roasted on its own. In the meantime, you cook the stuffing on the stove, a spicy cumin-cayenne scented rice with black beans, peppers and queso fresco. Once the squash is softened, you toss in the stuffing and throw it all back into the oven for ten minutes to allow the flavors to meld together, a roasted richness permeating the entire dish.
And to prove you can never get enough of a good thing, Kitchen Illiterate has also bestowed upon us a Spaghetti Squash with Swiss and Pancetta Bechamel, a White Bean and Sausage Stuffed Delicata Squash and a Southwestern Style Stuffed Acorn Squash. So get creative this Thanksgiving -- and don't worry about washing those fussy serving bowls!
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Comments [0]
Butterscotch and Whiskey Bars - Feast Your Eyes
Photo: jwannie, Flickr.
Though we've never been able to choose sides on the vanilla-versus-chocolate debate, blondies as unique as these render the traditional brownie somewhat uninspired.
Frites & Fries' recipe for Butterscotch and Whiskey Bars inventively pairs the dulcet butterscotch with a not-so-subtle dash of whiskey (a quarter cup!), adding a pleasurably harsher nuttiness to what becomes a complex, sweet-savory confection. The grown-up recipe aims to please both those with a penchant for sweets and those with a weakness for whiskey -- and provides an easy, soul-warming wintery treat.
The flexible blondie serves as a vessel to showcase whatever ingredients you favor, from cranberry and white chocolate, to coconut and lime. What are your favorite blondie additions? Share your recommendations in the comments!
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Comments [6]
Cheeseburger Soup Makes a Splash with Guy Fieri
Cheeseburger soup at Kalie's Family Restaurant. Photo: playswithfood/flickr
Kalie's Family Restaurant in Cleveland serves up cheeseburger soup, but the restaurant is not alone.
Food Network's Guy Fieri hunts down the meaty concoction at Grover's Bar and Grill in East Amherst, N.Y. on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." The episode, called "Dives Worth a Drive," is airing Nov. 6, 7 and 8 on the Food Network.
Click here for a cheeseburger-soup recipe.
Comments [0]
Cheesy Corn Chowder with Bacon - Feast Your Eyes
Photo: Ezra Pound Cake, Flickr.
Anyone who says the bacon craze is over clearly doesn't love bacon as much as we do or is, at the very least, unaware of all the ways bacon enhances our culinary world. And it's impossible to imagine any omnivore in his or her right mind hating on bacon when staring down at this bowl of cheddar corn chowder topped off with what blogger Ezra Pound Cake calls "God's confetti."
While the "hearty, creamy, comforting soup brimming with potatoes, corn, onions and sharp white-cheddar cheese" is enough to make anyone's mouth water, it's really the bacon on top that makes this Ina Garten recipe even more enticing.
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Comments [0]
'A Beautiful Bowl of Soup' - Cookbook Spotlight
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| Photo: Hyperion |
by Paulette Mitchell
Photos by William Meppem
Chronicle Books-- 2004
Buy it on Amazon
A good bowl of soup is a wondrous thing, providing a warmth and satisfaction that only well-executed comfort food can supply. And "A Beautiful Bowl of Soup: The Best Vegetarian Recipes" does just that, dishing up a variety of recipes for slurps that are endlessly appealing on both visual and taste levels.
Carnivores, fret not: With soups this flavorful you won't be missing anything. These are soups for all occasions, from a refreshing Chunky Gazpacho for lazy summer suppers, to a Cream of Tomato Soup with Puff Pastry Crowns to end a long, cold day, or even the light Gingered Pear Soup to conclude a rich meal. And, perhaps more notable yet, each and every one boasts flavors so strong and textures so rich that the soups can serve as full meals on their own.
See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.
Continue reading 'A Beautiful Bowl of Soup' - Cookbook Spotlight
Comments [1]
Slow Cooker Peach Cobbler
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| Photo: ImipolexG, Flickr |
Move over pot roast -- did you ever think of making cobbler in a slow cooker? The ice cream on top might be worth the extra wintry chill down your spine. Try replacing the blueberries in this recipe with frozen or canned peaches.
Comments [0]
All About Apple Crisps
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| Photo: bookgrl, Flickr |
We rounded up a few of the best apple crisp recipes spied elsewhere on the Web..
Good Morning America offers a recipe for slow-cooked apple crisp in a crock pot.
"America's Test Kitchen" Host Chris Kimball upgrades this fall fruit favorite.
This apple crisp via The New York Times is topped with tortoni and macaroons.
The Washington Post dishes up lunchbox-friendly apple-crisps -- the "s" makes all the difference in interpretation.
Comments [0]
Healthier Ramen Noodles
Ramen noodles. Photo: Jennifer Iserloh.
The old college girl in me just can't get over the crush I used to have on the 33-cents-a-pop ramen noodle package. (Beef was my favorite flavor.) So now that my budget has grown and my waistline has shrunk, I still like to make room for ramen noodles in my kitchen.
Get the recipe for healthier ramen after the jump.
Continue reading Healthier Ramen Noodles
Comments [10]
'What We Eat When We Eat Alone' - Q&A with Deborah Madison
| Photo: Amazon |
For my husband -- who can't tolerate the smell of the pickled herring I down like a rabid porpoise -- it's almost inevitably the nearest Chinese joint's chicken and mixed vegetables sauteed in brown sauce, chased by a bourbon Old Fashioned, muddled from the unpretty orange that tags along in the delivery bag. The cocktail, I can fully support. The gloppily sauced crinkle-cut carrots have featured prominently in several of my nightmares.
These are rituals of a chosen solo cuisine, and Deborah Madison, author of "What We Eat When We Eat Alone", says it's not at all unusual that we're so diametrically opposed.
Deborah Madison: People eat what their spouses don't like a lot of the time. A number of men said of blood sausages, 'My wife doesn't like blood sausage, so when she's gone that's what I cook.'
Slashfood: How did you get started on this topic?
DM: Many years ago, I was invited to go with Oldways Preservation and Trust -- which is a food think tank out of Boston -- to a lot of Mediterranean countries. I got to bring my husband, who's an artist, and he was just a little awkward, I think. He didn't really know people but knew of them so he started asking this question kind of as a way of breaking the ice. He kept a little notebook and I never knew about this until I found it when we were moving a few years later.
SF: So many of the people you interviewed have common experiences -- they'll make a big steak or have herring. And then there were some that didn't fit the mold. What was the strangest thing you heard?
Read more about solo toast, herring and margarita mix after the jump.
Continue reading 'What We Eat When We Eat Alone' - Q&A with Deborah Madison
Comments [5]
Spooky Take on an After-School Staple
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| Rice Creepies Photo: Holidash |
[Via Holidash]
Comments [1]
Pear Butter - Feast Your Eyes
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| Photo: Rachel is Coconut&Lime, Flickr. |
In this effortlessly elegant breakfast fix, pear butter replaces uninspired butter and jam. Warmly spiced with pear cider, ginger, allspice and cardamon, Coconut & Lime's concoction also works well wherever you'd usually dab butter (pancakes, waffles, muffins, etc.) -- and is even more versatile, deliciously swirled into the likes of yogurt, cottage cheese, hot cereal and more.
Cooked for 10 to 12 hours in a slow cooker, the condiment will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two months -- though we'd be surprised if it lasts half as long as its shelf life permits.
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Comments [0]
Flashback to the Seventies: All-Purpose Marinara
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| Ripe summer tomatoes. Photo: The Ewan, Flickr. |
When I was a kid, the end of the summer brought with it a painful, unpleasant tradition. Every August, when the farmers' market was filled with tomatoes, my parents would buy a few bushels, and the whole family would spend a couple of days blanching, peeling and processing the fruits. Every time, the process resulted in clothing and skin that reeked of tomatoes, fingers that stung and a freezer full of watery tomato sauce that we would defrost throughout the year.
As an adult, I have continued the tradition, although I make my sauce in the fall, when cooking pleasantly warms and perfumes the house, rather than turning it into a sweatbox. I also prefer using canned tomatoes, rather than fresh ones: In addition to sparing my fingers from burns, they produce a sauce that is richer, more flavorful and has a better texture than my parents' marinara. On the other hand, I still use my mom's recipe, which she learned from her Italian godmother, although I add a little bit of red wine vinegar, which gives the sauce more depth. Ultimately, it's a spicy, fennel-accented marinara that freezes well, tastes delicious and is inexpensive to make.
Get the recipe for all-purpose marinara after the jump.
Continue reading Flashback to the Seventies: All-Purpose Marinara
Comments [1]
11 Secret Fast-Food Menu Items
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| The In-N-Out Animal Style. Photo: kaba, Flickr. |
Ditch the risk of disappointment and become a fast-food insider with Slashfood's list of some top-secret menu items at well-known restaurants near you.
Continue reading 11 Secret Fast-Food Menu Items
Comments [211]
Skinny Chef Myth-Busting: Schnitzel Isn't Sausage
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| Photo: Jennifer Iserloh. |
In truth, the word schnitzel comes from the German term "schneiden" which means to cut, so schnitzel means cutlet. Thus, Wiener Schnitzel is not a cut-up hot dog, but rather a "cutlet from Vienna or Wien." See how I make it after the jump.
Continue reading Skinny Chef Myth-Busting: Schnitzel Isn't Sausage
Comments [7]
What Can I Get You Folks? - Server Revenge
Reality-Show Celebrities Serve Up Chef Curtis Stone's 'Hundred-Dollar Burger'
Foods Celebrity Chefs Hate
