Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Stir Fried Bok Choy and Tofu

adapted from Melissa Clark, in Bon Appétit, December 2010.
Stir Fried Bok Choy with Tofu
This month’s issue of Bon Appétit has a lovely little collection of recipes that feature greens. Since my latest box from Full Circle Farms’ subscription program (LINK) contained several heads of beautiful baby bok choy, I was happy to see a recipe for “Stir-Fried Bok Choy and Mizuna with Tofu”.

Monday, December 27, 2010

What is "An Inconvenient Food"?

This I believe: we Americans sacrifice far too much in the name of convenience.

Yes, we're very, very busy. We're juggling careers and family and kids and pets and spirituality and yoga classes as we seek that elusive "balanced life." And those kind, thoughtful corporations only have our best interests at heart as they create new products that make our lives easier. Sliced bread. Canned beans. Frozen dinners. Macaroni and cheese in a box. And...Smucker's Uncrustables.

I remember seeing my first box of Uncrustables at Central Market a few years ago. Have we really gotten to the point, I thought, where Americans will actually buy pre-made frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Apparently, we have. We are now too busy to swipe spread on bread.

The Daring Bakers' December 2010 Challenge: Stollen

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

This is my first Daring Bakers challenge, but as excited as I was to join the bakers, I wasn't too enthusiastic about making stollen. It seemed a little boring and, you know, Christmasy. (Which is fine when you celebrate Christmas, but less inspiring when you don't.)

In fact, I put off baking the stollen until the day before the posted pictures were due. Happily, I had a wonderful time baking with my mom, and the stollen turned out beautifully. I'm looking forward to my next Daring Bakers' challenge!