Image courtesy of Lucas Seipp-Williams of Baltimore Health Coach. He will lead a raw chocolate class in Baltimore on March 27th.
In this week’s Food News, a raw chocolate class in Maryland on March 27th and Cleveland’s new food project in the Galleria mall:
Raw Chocolate: You’ve seen how dark chocolate has taken over our candy choices – in last night’s The Mentalist, Simon Baker’s character, Patrick Jane, said he liked “what we’re doing with chocolate these days,” i.e. using dark chocolate in regular candy bars – so raw chocolate just might be the next logical evolution in our chocolate tastes. Raw chocolate bars combine unroasted chocolate with gentle ingredients like agave; thus, raw chocolate is a more nutritious, socially-conscious way to enjoy sweets. If you live in Maryland, you can learn all about this natural sweet (and taste 8 chocolate flavors!) at Baltimore Health Coach’s raw chocolate class in Baltimore at the Ruscombe Mansion on March 27th.
A Mall’s New Farm Stand: Cleveland may have given us the best example of how to deal with vacant retail space in malls – Fast Company says they’ve started the Gardens Under Glass project to sell fruits and vegetables in the empty areas of their Galleria mall. I don’t go to malls often enough to know how much vacant retail space we have in Maryland, but either way, this is a great way to make fresh food more accessible. And wouldn’t it be great to shop for clothes, and then fresh fruit and vegetables all at once? (Thanks to 1000FriendsofMD for tweeting about this project!)
Posted in Baltimore, Food News | Tagged Cleveland, farm stands, malls, raw chocolate | Leave a Comment »
Chickpea Fries = Chickpea Flour + Water, heated until thick
A few months ago, I bought some chickpea flour, mistakenly thinking it was the type of flour I needed to make Indian breads (it’s actually chapati flour that is used to make them). So what do you do with chickpea flour? The back of the bag had a recipe for hummus, but I still left it untouched for weeks. (Honestly, I couldn’t see a reason to make hummus with chickpea flour instead of real chickpeas.)
But I can’t just leave an unused bag of flour on my shelf for long. When I started researching recipes, I discovered that Mark Bittman is a fan of chickpea flour, so much so that chickpea fries, made only with chickpea flour and water, were his “new favorite thing” in 2008.
Because the recipe couldn’t be easier – cook chickpea flour and water in a ratio of 2:1 until thick but not dry, spread in a pan, refrigerate for an hour, cut into shapes, and fry – and because chickpea flour has such high protein, I was prepared to love this recipe. I thought I would be making chickpea fries all the time, for lunch, for dinner, for a late night snack.
Continue Reading “Why I’m Not Sold on Chickpea Flour”
Posted in Ingredients, Recipes | Tagged chickpea flour, chickpea fries, mark bittman | Leave a Comment »
A Typical Bull Roast Meal
I grew up hearing about bull roasts. To my younger self, it seemed like my parents were always going to one. But I didn’t know that bull roasts are a distinctively Maryland event until I had to explain them to Kenny, a native New Yorker. It took a while. Marylanders (or my family at least) pronounce “bull” like “bool” (rhyming with “pool”) making it hard for Kenny to understand what I was saying.
But once we got past local dialect differences, I realized that New Yorkers do not have bull roasts. Which made me wonder, does the bull roast have a decorated history, some tale of culinary lore in Maryland?
Continue Reading “Bull Roasts: A Maryland Tradition”
Posted in Baltimore | Tagged bull roast, maryland history | Leave a Comment »
Can you find organic and local food at your local Walmart? Yes, at least in the Boston and Austin areas, according to the March 2010 The Atlantic. The writer Corby Kummer even holds a ”grocery smackdown,” buying identifical ingredients from Walmart and Whole Foods and illiciting the help of a chef to make two four-course meals. You’ll have to read to find out who wins.
After seeing Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price, I’ve become even more skeptical of the changes that Walmart is trying to make these days. But there are Walmarts everywhere and, if they do start selling fresh, healthy food, I think they could have a positive effect on our eating habits, especially in areas where fresh food isn’t readily available. Someone in my running group said a new Walmart is opening in Baltimore, and I’m now interested to see if they have produce, what it looks like, and where it’s from.
Have you been to a Walmart that sells organic and local produce? Would you shop there for fresh food?
Photo courtesy of AlishaV from Flickr
Posted in Food News | Tagged produce, the atlantic, walmart | 3 Comments »
Because I didn’t go to Max’s Empanadas with the idea of writing a review, I also didn’t bring my camera. For now, pictures of the empanadas, the store, and Max can be found at Max’s Empanadas website, and in the City Paper. I’ll go back soon to take my own shots!
I don’t usually write restaurant reviews because there are other Baltimore food bloggers and magazine writers who are really good at it. But I found a new restaurant over the weekend that I really loved, so much that I had to write about it: Max’s Empanadas.
We had our first taste of these savory pockets at the 32nd Street Farmers Market, where Max’s Empanadas had a table set up by the entrance. Because Kenny had to go to a workshop at school and needed something to eat quickly, we bought a beef empanada and a mixed vegetable empanada, two for $5.
Kenny heated them up when we got home, and my friend Stel, who came over while the empanadas were in the oven, took a bite, talked about them for the rest of the day, and decided we had to go down to Little Italy to get more empanadas.
Continue Reading “Max’s Empanadas, a Review of Sorts”
Posted in Baltimore | Tagged 32nd street farmers market, Baltimore restaurants, max's empanadas | Leave a Comment »
February 26, 2010 by Jen W.
Endangered Species Chocolate with Maca Powder (Note: if you buy this bar it will be bigger. I just ate three squares.)
When I went to the store yesterday, I looked carefully through the chocolate section to find the most interesting bar. The winner at my local store was Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Goji Berry, Pecans & Maca. Clearly, this bar won because of the maca; I had no idea what maca might taste like and I wanted to know. I vaguely remembered hearing about maca before, back when I was a student at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. But that was five years ago.
Maca is actually a root from Peru, one that was consumed as far back as the Inca Empire when soldiers ate maca to increase their strength. Maca root is also thought to improve libido and increase overall energy (apparently, the Incas were forbidden from using maca after they were done fighting because it increased their libido too much). Discovery Health says Peruvians use maca in many foods, from cookies and cakes to porridge and blender drinks, and that it tastes like graham flour. Churin, Peru even has an annual Maca Festival to celebrate the root.
Continue Reading “Chocolate and Maca Powder”
Posted in Fun Food Bites, Ingredients | Tagged chocolate with maca, endangered species chocolate, maca festival, maca powder, maca recipes, maca root, spider monkey | 1 Comment »
February 25, 2010 by Jen W.
My classes and freelance assignments have caught up with me this week – I really should have a stash of blog posts saved for these situations – and I haven’t had a chance to cook/research/write my usual Thursday post. But, dear reader, I didn’t want to leave you hanging. There are lots of interesting and inspiring food blogs and posts out there. Here are some of my favorites:
Posted in Baltimore, Fun Food Bites | Tagged baltimore food blogs, compost cookie, food and think blog, food holidays | Leave a Comment »
February 23, 2010 by Jen W.
Linda Collister's Mocha Macaroons
Lately, I gotten tired of making drop cookies. Not of eating them – that’s the best part! – but of making them. It’s the same old cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, then mix in the dry ingredients recipe, and it can get pretty dull if you make them for once a week for several months.
So when Kenny said he was in the mood for macaroons last week, I couldn’t wait to make them.
Macaroons can be Italian merinque cookies like amaretti or the fancy and colorful French sandwich cookies filled with ganache or jam, according to The Nibble. Their common ingredient is almonds, though the nut may take the form of ground almonds, almond paste, or almond liquor. Although they originated in Italy, France is the country that has an Almond and Macaroon Museum – Musee de l’Amande et du Macaron – in Montmorillon. Spain makes its own version with hazelnuts; India uses cashews.
Continue Reading “Mocha Macaroons (for when you want to feel like a baker)”
Posted in Recipes | Tagged book of baking, drop cookies, linda collister, macaroons, mocha cookies | Leave a Comment »
February 19, 2010 by Jen W.
Cathy Erway's new book The Art of Eating In
Do you think you can eat in for an entire week?
Even for me, a person who eats most of her meals in, a full week of home-cooked food is a long time. I run out of dinner ideas, or I’m tired of doing dishes, or I just want to eat at a restaurant because I like it. So by Thursday or Friday, I’m going out or ordering in.
But starting February 22nd, I have signed up for The Huffington Post’s The Week of Eating In Challenge. I love challenges like this because they add some life – a spark, if you will – to my cooking-at-home routine.
The challenge starts just a few days after the release of Cathy Erway’s book The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove. (She ate in for two years in New York – not an easy task!)
You too can sign up for the challenge, follow Cathy’s blog, add a picture of your small kitchen to the slideshow, and use the spending tracker to see how much money eating in can save you.
I also recommend eating out this weekend – a necessary preparation for a week of eating in!
Posted in Books, Experiments, Food News | Tagged cathy erway, the art of eating in, the huffington post, the week of eating in challenge | Leave a Comment »
