Articles

Go straight for the Avocado Smoothie

I recently attended the annual conference for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), held in New York this year. Breakfast was included on a few of the days. Throughout the large eighth-floor gathering room of the Broadway Millennium hotel, long tables were arranged with a display of help-yourself fresh fruit, small cartons of yogurt and plates of fancy rich pastries, puffy New York bagels and muffins.

• What's for breakfast?
• On her blog, Sue shares photos and food from her New York trip

Kiwi packs a punch

I watched with intrigue as a young woman at the next table picked up her teaspoon and expertly slid the edge of it between the emerald green flesh and thin brown skin of half a fuzzy kiwi she held in her other hand.

• Kiwi Salsa
• You can find more recipes and tips on Sue’s blog
• It's a wrap

I'm on a (spring) roll

Four adults lined both sides of the island in my kitchen on a recent Sunday afternoon. Picking and choosing from an array of brightly colored fresh vegetables to include in roll-ups, we looked like young children involved in a pre-school food project, tasting, laughing and chatting as we worked. Or played.

• Spring rolls
• You can find more recipes and tips on Sue’s blog
• Pick your filling
• Rice papers

Bowl your guests over with Watercress Salad in The Flatbread Bowl

First there was fire. Then there was flatbread. The first hard mixture of hand-ground flour and water was baked in hot ashes or on a stone over flames more than 6,000 years ago. Since then, flatbread has gone global.

• Salad in a bowl
• On her blog, Sue shares another recipe from Shelley Holman’s cooking class
• Shaping the bowls
• Make them ahead

Winter meets spring: Pumpkin-Mango Upside-Down Baby Cakes

The month of March is one that always keeps me guessing – is it spring or is it still winter? One day the thermometer may read 2 degrees below zero, the next day 42 above.

• Baby Cakes
• You can find more recipes and tips on Sue’s blog
• Cute shapes

Watercress takes center stage in colorful, flavorful soup

Whether Irish or not, as March 17 approaches, many home cooks start thinking green. Food coloring and sprinkles turn cookies and cupcakes into special treats for St. Patrick’s Day. The more health-conscious create fruit salads with green grapes and kiwi or big bowls of bright tossed salads made of mixed fresh greens.

• Green soup
• You can find more recipes and tips on Sue’s blog
• Watercress

For the love of broccoli: Stir-fry dish satisfies

I’ve always enjoyed eating broccoli. One of my favorite ways to prepare the green cruciferous vegetable is to steam it until it’s still a little crisp, yet tender enough for a fork to pierce into the stem. A drizzle of olive oil, a squirt of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and the broccoli can miraculously satisfy my taste buds just as powerfully as a chunk of creamy, rich dark chocolate melting on my tongue.

• Colorful and tasty
• You can find more recipes and tips on Sue’s blog
• Stars of the show

No matter how you say it, Belgian endive is good for you

“I’ll have the endive salad,” I said to the self-assured, curly-haired server. I felt confident in my pronunciation (ON-deev) of the pale-colored leaves that are a member of the chicory family. As I watched him make note of my order, he responded, “The ON-dive salad is delicious this evening.”

• Salad in a boat
• You can find more recipes and tips on Sue’s blog
• Belgian endive

Honey-Glazed Roasted Pears delicious and eye-appealing (video)

This time of year, you’ll usually find pears in the fruit drawer of my refrigerator. A crisp and juicy pear is a welcome midday snack eaten out of hand. Besides their buttery sweet flavor, it’s the versatility and adaptability in the kitchen that I most appreciate about pears.

• Roasted pears
• On her blog, Sue makes another version of roasted pears using her new l.c. finn’s cinnamon extract
• Nutritious

Give Brussels sprouts a chance

On a recent dinner outing with friends, I was pleasantly surprised to see Brussels sprouts on the restaurant menu. I gave the chef points for offering a vegetable that, for the last several years, has been No. 1 on the list of vegetables consumers all over the world dislike the most.

• Side or main dish
• On her blog, Sue continues to cook with Brussels sprouts
• Ribbons of sprouts

Columns

Shortbread spoons are filled with love

My love affair with shortbread began seven years ago with my first bite of a homemade heart-shaped cookie that melted in my mouth. Rich, buttery dough had been packed into cast-iron heart-shaped molds and baked until they were set but not brown.

• Shortbread spoons
• On her blog, Sue layers lemon curd into tiny parfaits to eat with a Shortbread Spoon
• Lots of options

Hooked on salmon tacos

For years, I’ve stayed far away from fish. I didn’t prepare it or serve it and I would never even consider ordering it at a restaurant. I’m not fond of that “fishy” flavor that I thought all fish naturally carried.

• Salmon tacos
• On her blog, Sue turns Avocado Cream Cabbage Slaw into a picnic salad by adding a few ingredients
• Another use

Hot soy can be so cool

“Mom, you’ve got to try edamame.” It was my son, Andy. He was calling me from Texas where he was a senior in college. That was seven years ago. I had no idea what he was talking about. Was he learning a new exotic language?

• Good for you
• On her blog, Sue makes a recipe using shelled edamame
• Buy whole pods

Easy gardening concept inspires healthful rice medley recipe

As I pulled my copy of “All New Square Foot Gardening” from the shelf in my office, my mind wandered back almost 30 years to 1981. My mom was so excited about a new book she’d discovered.

• Side dish
• On her blog, Sue makes asparagus with a poached egg for breakfast
• Square Foot Gardening cookbook

Pots de Crème: Way more than just pudding

A slight resemblance to custard, but so creamy and smooth it could be mousse. Only the texture is a bit more dense than mousse. These little cups of silky smooth lusciousness are called Pots de Crème in French.

• Make it ahead
• On her blog, Sue finds Poppy Seed Shortbread Cookies are good to nibble with Pots de Crème
• Showing off

Turn your leftover Easter ham into a kicked-up 'hotdish'

If a large succulent ham will be the centerpiece of your Easter meal, there’s a good chance at least a small chunk of it will remain when the last diners push away from the table.

• Not your average 'hotdish'
• On her blog, Sue uses the egg whites to make coconut meringue cookies
• One-pot meal

Hot cross buns: Pull-apart goodness

In many homes around the world, Good Friday isn’t Good Friday without egg- and butter-rich Hot Cross Buns, fragrant with spices and topped with a cross to signify Christ’s sacrifice.

• Sweetness
• On her blog, Sue uses Hot Cross Bun dough to form bunny-shaped rolls
• Mark them with a cross

Penny-pinching patties are tasty and healthful

With a career that demanded she work outside the home, my mom was often tired in the evening when she came through the door and faced her hungry family.

• Make 'em your way
• On her blog, Sue makes mashed potato shells that can be filled with creamed peas
• Salmon salad

Don't ditch dessert: Try this Irish Cream Brownie Pie

Oprah would be so upset if she knew about my distracted driving. I wasn’t distracted by my phone, though. I heed her advice to make my car a “No Phone Zone.” And I wasn’t eating. It was a cookbook that made me drive right off the road last week.

• St. Patrick's delight
• On her blog, Sue makes Coffee and Cream Fudge Bites with the brownie crust
• Another use

Go light and bright tonight with Zippy Garlic Shrimp

Mother Nature has been teasing me with days full of sunshine and temperatures mild enough to warrant only a heavy sweater to stay comfortable outdoors.

• Appealing appetizer
• On her blog, Sue make Orzo and Spinach serve with Zippy Garlic Shrimp
• Another use