Category: Simple foods

• “Sensory strobe light” from a simple soup

  When I read a food article like Helen Rosner’s “The Female Chef Making Japan’s Most Elaborate Cuisine Her Own,” (from which I swiped “sensory strobe light”), I think I’m not trying hard enough. Very few exotic ingredients, so little “plating,” so much grabbing and going. But then I realize we’re lucky enough to eat really…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  March 21, 2019

  Flavors of the Earth, healthy cooking, Healthy eating for the whole family, Making new habits, Nutrition, Senior fitness, Simple foods, Soup, vegetables

  Barley, Beans, cooking from garden, Easy entrees, healthy eating, Kale, The New Yorker magazine, V-8 juice

• For Pat — what I did with the Christmas smoked scallops

  I usually credit whatever web site I find a recipe on, but I missed that this time, also changed a few things like amount of liquid. Recipe called for 2 cups baby arugula but there was not a leaf available in Mocksville so I substituted 2 cups chopped baby spinach, and it was just fine.…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  January 13, 2019

  Easy entrees, Lemons, pasta, Seafood, Shellfish, Simple foods, Winter

  Arugula, Orzo, Smoked scallops, Tomatoes

• Best summer soup ever!

  “If I got this in an expensive restaurant, I’d be really happy with it,” said Stoic the Vast on first tasting this elegant and easy zucchini soup, adapted from a skinnytaste.com recipe. That’s our highest praise. If we’d paid real money for it (instead of “just” raising or buying the groceries), we’d still like it…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  August 4, 2018

  Cooking from the garden, Seasonal food, Simple foods, Soup

  cooking from garden, healthy eating, skinnytaste.com, Vegetables, zucchini

• Summer sauces; tomato-fresh basil-garlic vinaigrette

  I don’t know why, but it started with purchased tzatziki (cucumber, yogurt and garlic), which is really good on a chicken or tuna sandwich. Then, of course, the poppy-seed dressing and now a tomato-basil vinaigrette that’s out of this world. We’ll forget about the mayonnaise with siracha, soy sauce and sesame oil added for garnishing…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  July 13, 2017

  Cooking from the garden, Fresh herbs, Simple foods, Summer salads, Vinaigrette

  Garlic, Greens, Tomatoes, Vegetables, Vinaigrette

• Slow-cooker zucchini soup — use 2 pounds of the stuff in a single delicious recipe

  No matter how carefully Stoic the Vast may plan, we always end up with extra yellow summer squash and not enough zucchini. I adore the latter, tolerate the former. Cooked yellow squash feels to me like raw squid must — oogly, googly and slickery. Zucchini, on the other tentacle, is more self-possessed, holds its shape…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  July 13, 2015

  Cooking from the garden, healthy cooking, Seasonal food, Simple foods, Slow cooker recipes, Soup, vegetables

  basil, cooking from garden, healthy eating, Peppers, Sausage, Tomatoes, zucchini

• Summer lentil salad

  I knew I liked blueberries, lentils and feta cheese. I just didn’t know I liked them together. This salad is quick to prepare and gets better lounging in the refrigerator for a day or two. It has a lovely, full taste that keeps on getting better, and best of all, it’s good for you. No…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  July 7, 2015

  healthy cooking, Salad, Sidedishes, Simple foods, vegetables

  Blueberries, Feta cheese, healthy eating, Lentils, Tomatoes

• Curry for hot weather supper

  This swampy summer climate (102° heat equivalency at this moment) makes me want to eat salt and spices. A curry sounded perfect for tonight, along with a perfectly ripened and chilled cantaloupe. I may even drop an ice cube in my glass of Merlot! The recipe is the best one I’ve found so far in Better…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  June 16, 2015

  Flavors of the Earth, good food, healthy cooking, Simple foods, Spices, Weight loss

  apples, Cabbage, chicken, Curry, Hot weather suppers

• Drowning in a sea of chocolate

  Please don’t take away my healthy food writer creds. It’s just so easy to pop a dessert into the oven (and so hard to divide it into the proper number of servings), and this one is so good. I promise this is the last in a series of 3, and then we’ll concentrate on vegetables.…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  February 28, 2015

  Baking, Chocolate, Desserts, Fruit, Simple foods

  5 ingredients or fewer, Canned pie filling, Cherries, Dump cake, Taste of Home desserts

• Take ’em a meal; broccoli-chicken casserole

  I’m going to call my first cookbook Tweakers. (Notice, please, I did not say Twerkers.)  I’m referring to the habit of myself and most of my cook friends in which we change every recipe just a little, even the first time we make it. Stoic the Vast is puzzled by this, but we tweakers can imagine how something…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  August 20, 2014

  Butter, Casseroles, Simple foods, Taste of Home magazine

  cheese, chicken, Stuffing, Tweaking recipes

• What does a fresh corn souffle have to do with depression?

  Plenty- in this house where I’ve learned over the years that so much of dealing with depression is putting one foot in front of the other, making supper, digging down into your real (as opposed to your fantasy) relationships. I also need to say here that I’ve been taking a minimal amount of generic Paxil…

  JoAnn Rhodes Grose

  August 12, 2014

  Addiction, Depression, Food addiction, healthy cooking, Seasonal food, Simple foods

  cheese, cooking from garden, Corn, eggs, Robin Williams