“I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.” – Jamie Oliver

Recipe results are pulled from a variety of recipe websites including MyRecipes.com and Epicurious.com. Each recipe will result will show the source or name of the site, user ratings, and a measure fat and of calories. You can filter recipes by convenience, type of cuisine, occasion, ratings, course and main ingredient. Unfortunately, the recipe feature doesn’t show up for every query. I typed in macaroni and cheese as well as spaghetti and meatballs, I didn’t get the recipe results for either search term.

Techcrunch has an article about a new feature in Bing related to recipes. It looks pretty slick. Originally I wasn’t all that sure about the awesomeness of Bing, but this recent addition is definitely a good reason for me to use Bing other than image, video and travel search. Google hasn’t performed too well when it comes to recipes.

This play on words comes from a recent Microsoft advertising campaign called “Bing goes the internet“.

Fresh produce, jars of organic carrots, beets and chopped garlic from 99c only Stores have been loaded into my shopping basket this year. While not stocked for every visit, I frequently find organic canned beans and cartons of organic chicken, vegetable or beef broth for cooking and soup stock. I have picked up fresh mushrooms, spinach, asparagus, oranges, onions and berries of all types including: strawberry, blackberry, blueberry and raspberry.

http://the99centchef.blogspot.com/2009/12/9999-organic-in-2009.html

Also of note is the rest of his blog. I will most likely be revisiting his methods quite often in the near future as they mesh with my theme for the next couple months. Preparing meals with cheap ingredients and items that the “average” American purchases at the grocer.

The following quote isn’t necessarily a negative thing, it just means that when we are cooking for guests these days, there are many different diets and tastes to take into consideration. My beliefs and my practice show that it is feasible and still economic to cater to these needs.

Just try having a dinner party today. You’ll have to contend with perfervid vegans, virtuous vegetarians, persistent pescatarians, lamb-phobics, tongue-phobics, veal-rights advocates, the gluten-intolerant, the lactose-intolerant, the shellfish-intolerant, the peanut-intolerant, the spicy-intolerant, and on and on in an ever-fragmenting array. For God’s sake, don’t serve foie gras; a guest might show up wearing a suicide vest and blow the whole party to kingdom come. All this has a lot to do with the decline of traditional manners and the rise of personal assertiveness and the yuppie belief that we can engineer our own immortality. Food matters so much now that it can make tyrants of our dearest friends and neighbors.

America’s Food Revolution – via Marginal Revolution

There is some fan-boy-like praise for Alice Waters in the accompanying article but I believe the praise is well deserved, for Chez Panisse helped revitalize how we view food. It may have taken twenty years for her message to spread, but Alice Waters was hip long before slow food was “in”.

We’re having an inventory sale!

Thanks to one teensy ordering snafu, we have approximately
1200 lbs of potatos sitting in our warehouse.  We also
have an accumulation of meats and other leftovers, but
really, this is all about the potatos.

The sale will be held from 2PM to 4PM on Wednesday,
February 25th, at our warehouse (1469 S 700 W, SLC).

Starches
——–

5 lb. bag of red feather potatos           300 units   $1.75

1 lb. bag of black beans                   343 units   $0.90

1 lb. bag of rice                           80 units   $0.80

Stoneground bread (wheat or sourdough)     100 units   $2.00

Meats
—–

2 lb. chicken breasts                      103 units   $3.50

2 lb. chicken drumsticks                   118 units   $2.50

1 lb. ground beef                          127 units   $2.25

1 lb. pork spare ribs                       97 units   $2.25

1 lb. stew beef (diced)                    121 units   $3.50

Other items available in limited quantities.  First come, first
served.  Absolutely nothing will be sold before 2PM
on Wednesday.  Remember, potatoes are healthy treats,
and provide hours of fun for the whole family.  In an
emergency, they can also be used as batteries.

This is a great opportunity to stock up on some items. I hope to see some of you taking advantage of this great opportunity. Crossroads Urban Center.

I like this list and hope to use it as inspiration for what I have in my pantry and how I plan my meals. I am sure it can go hand in hand with reducing the monthly costs of eating. Although I am not impressed that Diet Soda is a source of nutrition.

100 Foods for...

Original found at http://foodproof.com/photos/view/i-guess-eating-can-help-you-1265

We are not taught how to eat. The only eating we learn is by example and the largest influences we have to learn by example are from our television and movies. We also can see what our friends and families are eating but if they are eating what they learned from a source other than their friends or family, it could end up as something less than ideal. I will talk about this subject in more detail as I continue to evolve this blog.

Aside from that, I wanted to share a neat idea that I found over at seriouseats.com via kottke.org. I really enjoy shopping at IKEA and I have always enjoyed their cafeteria style food. Many times I have been tempted to purchase groceries at IKEA after getting some furniture for my apartment. Now that seriouseats.com has shared this interesting article about preparing meals from IKEA groceries I think I will finally get around to it.

Fortunately, Ikea redeemed itself with this next trio of products: lingonberry jam,smoked pork-and-veal sausage, and, my favorite item of all, the 99¢ tub of roasted onions. These crunchy pebbles of golden onion are a miracle ingredient with a distinctly Asian flavor—ignore their Scandinavian origins and sprinkle them on your congee and noodle soup.

They made Spaghetti and Meatballs and Lingonberry-Glazed Sausage Bites with Crispy Onions. Both sound and look delicious. I think that I could get quite creative with IKEA groceries. Maybe I will stock up from IKEA this month and share what I come up with.

IN Fresh parsley, which keeps at least a week in the refrigerator. (Try your favorite summer pesto recipe with parsley in place of basil, or simply purée some parsley with a little oil, water, salt and a whisper of garlic.

I like to make what Alice Waters calls Salsa Verde with parsley. Remind me sometime and I’ll share the recipe with you. It involves capers and lemon zest and lots of virgin oil.

OUT Canned beans (except in emergencies).

I’m disappointed to hear that canned beans are out. Probably because I’m too lazy to prepare dried beans ahead of time, which is what I should be doing anyway. I will still be using my canned kidney beans, pintos and black beans.

IN Frozen peas. Especially if you have little kids and make pasta or rice with peas (and Parmesan!); not bad.

Frozen peas have always been a hit with me. I use them to add color to my Top Ramen or my Nissan Ramen dishes.

Overall, there are some very good tips in this article. I like how the author recommends some cheeses that keep for a long time. I will be adjusting my pantry accordingly. Most of the items I carry anyway, particularly the capers and olives, but there are some items that I haven’t thought of using as staples. What do you keep in your pantry? Which suggestions do you plan on adopting?

Original article: 

• http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/dining/07mini.html?_r=3&pagewanted=2&8dpc

Sixteen year old maneuvers around obstacles such as parents and school and school janitors in order to secure a reservation at an impressive restaurant.

http://foodieatfifteen.blogspot.com/2008/12/per-se-2.html

First of all, his writing style is very mature. I was almost convinced that maybe it was an older gentleman writing under not only a pseudonym but a fictitious personality, as well. The parts about the champagne and the ‘my underage tastebuds’ threw me off a bit. Made me second guess the author. And the sheer amount of food that was served and consumed blew me away. I found it almost unbelievable. Obviously I have never dined as a diner should.

Besides those discrepancies, the author is very well-spoken and articulate and describes an experience that I was able to visualize without even closing my eyes. I look forward to the time when I may write as vividly.

More about Per Se.

-via Kottke