tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61480177009685780492012-03-06T12:51:43.255-06:00(el músico que cocina)Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.comBlogger641100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-546999874486857562012-03-02T18:52:00.001-06:002012-03-06T12:44:09.278-06:00

  front row, left to right: golden flax seed, dried oregano leaves, shea butter; middle row, left to right: dried rosemary leaves, dried lavender buds, coconut oil; back row: extra-virgin olive oilOlive oil, coconut oil, flax seed, lavender, rosemary, oregano. They're all things we usually have on hand in our pantry and often use to make our food. But since I decided to try making our own body

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-46663831255106383912012-02-24T23:30:00.000-06:002012-02-27T23:24:01.369-06:00

When I finally got my copy of Michael Ruhlman's latest cookbook Ruhlman's Twenty, the first recipe I made was this beautiful cast iron bread. It is now my go-to bread recipe, producing a round loaf with a tender crumb, a chewy exterior, and excellent volume. This loaf also has a lightness you don't expect from 100% whole wheat bread. With only five ingredients (seven for my adapted version), the

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-27848995505983459292012-02-17T12:00:00.000-06:002012-02-18T00:23:23.345-06:00

Mojo (pronounced moho), is a generic term for many variations of a sauce that originally came from the Canary Islands of Spain. There are many variations used throughout islands in the Caribbean, including the island of Cuba. Mojo Criollo, used in Cuban food, traditionally uses olive oil, garlic, herbs and citrus juice. It's typically used as a sauce for pork or boiled yuca. The sauce also works

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-6876859070788971352012-02-10T19:26:00.000-06:002012-02-11T12:51:42.659-06:00

For Valentine's Day this year, it's my turn to make dinner. At least at this point I know I've got dessert covered, and it's something I've never tried before. Made with honey, roasted beets, whole wheat flour, and soaked in freshly squeezed orange juice, it's a sweet little cake for two. For a compliment to the flavor of the beets I used a simple sour cream topping barely sweetened with honey.

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-25250178295981012112012-02-03T23:00:00.000-06:002012-02-05T01:00:07.773-06:00

I still haven't planted the three onion sets, one yellow, one red, and one white (pictured above), that I bought last week from our local feed & hardware store. I'm not quite ready yet to shake off winter, but if I want to harvest full-sized onions in spring, I guess I'd better get cracking. Tomorrow, once today's storms have passed, I'll decide where to clear some of the mulch from the

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-82187007827291676912012-01-27T12:00:00.000-06:002012-01-30T14:37:22.651-06:00

Once, while at a ladies' retreat in the mountains, a few of us decided to escape the camp food and explore the quaint college town below for a few hours. Eventually we ended up at a funky little coffee shop where I found a large, luscious cinnamon roll covered with thick cream cheese icing. Time was short, so we piled in the car, me with my sweet treasure in hand, and headed back up to the camp.

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-44684571156895890882012-01-20T12:57:00.000-06:002012-01-20T12:57:59.060-06:00

Vegetables. They're something I try to eat often, and I always feel better for it. When the mercury falls, vegetables take their place in hearty soups, rich roasts, and cheesy casseroles. For certain vegetables, there's another option to consider, something that can replace the common staple of mashed potatoes in really interesting ways. It might even get you to eat those vegetables you haven't

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-7592486863781734492012-01-13T23:04:00.001-06:002012-01-13T23:04:23.589-06:00

Cocina Al Minuto, a well-loved Cuban cookbook by Nitza Villapol and Martha Martinez, is the source of inspiration for this version of Cuban black beans. Nitza Villapol, considered Cuba's version of Julia Child, was a chef who also used television to teach many home cooks how to achieve success in the kitchen. In our household, we have two copies of the cookbook. One is a photocopied version that

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-40575967451448996772012-01-06T12:00:00.000-06:002012-01-06T22:36:44.870-06:00

Over the past several weeks, the straw mulch that was stacked on the soil of our raised garden beds has slowly gotten shorter. It is now almost level with the top of the wood sides. In addition, tall patches of grass have begun to grow from the straw, and this makes me wonder if the straw I purchased was completely seedless. I could clip the grass back, though this is where having a goat would

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-64816763574508461442011-12-28T09:37:00.000-06:002012-01-01T15:24:48.160-06:00

Once, on a New Year's Eve long passed, my husband's father made paella for family and friends. Though it's typically made in a paellera, a very wide, shallow pan with handles, instead my father-in-law used the large, deep steel pot he had available. The uppermost portions of paella were the best; underneath, the rice had become a bit too mushy due to the pan he used. Así es la vida. Despite the

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-22992435533994450942011-12-23T12:00:00.000-06:002012-02-22T10:32:51.369-06:00

For several years now I've made the same sweet potato recipe for holiday dinners. It involves roasting peeled and cubed potatoes in the oven with butter and salt and pepper until tender, then tossing with apple cider that has been reduced until it thickens into a syrup, and finally topping with toasted almonds. I've lost the original recipe and don't remember the source, so memory has served me

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-59371965301758517272011-12-14T19:17:00.000-06:002011-12-14T22:42:44.441-06:00

As a curious home cook, I'm always looking for new ideas. One place that consistently provides great stuff is an online community for home cooks called Food52. The site is run by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, and has just published its first cookbook with recipes created by members of the community. One of the cooler ideas I've come across from Food52 is the method of removing the

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-50724834682015779222011-12-09T12:00:00.001-06:002011-12-09T12:00:05.407-06:00

When baking rugelach, there seems to be two schools of thought on how to approach the dough. And within those formulas, there is the crescent or roulade shape and a variety of filling combinations. Who knew rugelach had so many options? Well, here I am to throw in another-a rugelach dough made with white whole wheat flour, and freshly ground at that. I spent a week experimenting to get the dough

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-68306162396596680882011-12-02T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-02T19:00:52.149-06:00

I first spied the plants, off the beaten cement path beside a waterway, during the daily walks that Hiro and I take through the neighborhood. I couldn't help but notice that the plants looked edible, kind of like the chard and spinach I've been using lately to make soup. Finally, after passing by the plants for a couple of weeks and wondering, I returned to the spot with kitchen scissors and

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-25961397840159272132011-11-25T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T16:09:40.062-06:00

For my third and final soup this month, I present the ubiquitous turkey soup. Most families who traditionally cook a turkey for Thanksgiving have some form of this recipe, and mine is no exception. But this is the first year I've made it myself, tweaking my mom's recipe to my own preferences and making it entirely from scratch. I even fashioned my own poultry seasoning and have included that

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-12070721052347714952011-11-18T12:00:00.000-06:002012-02-22T10:29:51.429-06:00

Though it's been almost twenty years since I visited Spain, I still remember the food we ate. Of all the places we visited, between Madrid in central Spain or farther south in Cordoba, Seville, Granada or Marbella, my favorite food was in northwest Spain. While driving north to Galacia from Madrid, we stopped in a small town for a snack and ate a tuna empanada rich with olive oil in a flaky

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-68214297659601892422011-11-11T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T16:09:02.844-06:00

Every Monday through Friday I send my husband off to work with a thermos full of hot homemade soup and a slice of bread. He believes soup is one of the healthier things you can eat, and has often mentioned how his paternal grandfather always had a bowl of soup at the beginning of a meal. Who am I to disagree? In fact, I often eat homemade soup for lunch now as well, so for the month of

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-5364585271289899242011-11-04T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:08:51.304-06:00

If you have never gardened before, you might not realize that soil is a living thing. How we steward the soil is how it will reward us, and its gift is a resource that sustains us. Tending the earth, however large or small in scale, is like reading a good book. Just like an interesting story, in the garden there is discovery, adversity, triumph and loss. In this unpredictable world, if you grow

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-36539349906247566322011-10-28T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:08:24.696-06:00

Sometimes it's the simplest details that make the biggest difference. This is especially true in the kitchen. It's the little details that result in the delicious dish you intended or the slight disaster you didn't quite expect. Sometimes you do everything perfectly, and other times, well, you might accidentally misread the recipe. Like weighing the amount of poblano peppers called for in a

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-64025229056177388832011-10-21T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:08:03.245-06:00

I love the creative act of baking bread, and I'm on a mission to achieve the perfect artisan-style, 100% whole wheat hearth bread. In his book Tartine Bread, author and chef Chad Robertson refers to this hearth bread type as "integral," meaning it is made from 100% whole-grain flour. To gain experience in making breads with that distinctive open crumb, silken inner texture and chewy outer crust,

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-43996971320918468292011-10-14T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:07:45.446-06:00

It might be safe to say that I've eaten more box mix Ghirardelli brownies than most people I know. I've made those brownies with such persistent regularity that it's possible it could be diagnosed as a mild obsessive compulsive disorder. So when I began the shift from pre-made and store-bought to homemade, I reluctantly gave up that box mix brownie, conceding I was better off without all those

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-86020742327445756592011-10-07T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:07:23.173-06:00

About a month ago, just before the start of Fall, I began the process of transitioning our herbs from the raised bed garden outside to smaller containers inside. While I waited for the herb cuttings to root, I harvested loads of sweet and hot peppers and picked sweet, ripe cantaloupe. I also picked at least forty cucumbers. Then I decided to remove the cucumber plant. Though we still have a few

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-17335376296283327862011-09-30T12:00:00.000-05:002012-01-10T14:54:16.026-06:00

I've been waiting all summer for our garden's green beans. Now it's fall, and so far I've harvested about a pound of beans this past week from our two Blue Lake bush plants. I wish I'd planted more of them, because it's one of my favorite vegetables, and we'd have no problem eating the surplus. Seeing the green bean plants finally producing fruit was a long-awaited success after several failures

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-20596054911901829272011-09-23T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:06:38.099-06:00

The other night, while eating dinner, we watched old episodes of Julia Child's The French Chef on PBS. In one episode we learned how to properly rotisserie a chicken, including using pliers to tighten the thumbscrews on the spit. In another episode, with clips of visits to an upscale fish market and lessons from a skilled chef, we learned how to fillet a fish. Julia's enthusiasm and lack of

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-88202799685644395372011-09-16T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:06:20.292-06:00

I did a little thrift store shopping this week and scored three excellent finds at places within minutes of our house. It was great because I'm not a hard-core shop-'til-you-drop type of person. I want to walk into the store, find what I need, and take it home. The rule for me tends to be that the harder I search for something, the less success I tend to have. Instead, the bounty appears,

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-10294553060572763412011-09-09T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:06:00.808-06:00

After a scorching summer with unrelenting days of temperatures over 100 degrees, this past holiday weekend finally brought a partial reprieve for Texas. On Labor Day, the mercury didn't even break 90 degrees. During the worst of the heat we've been watering our garden in the morning and evening, but when I walked outside to water on Monday morning, the air was surprisingly chilly. I purposely

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-3692149341070209852011-09-02T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:05:40.126-06:00

About a year or so ago I decided to try my hand at homemade bread. The first yeast bread recipe I made was the "Oatmeal Sandwich Bread" from Good To The Grain by Kim Boyce. It couldn't have been a better choice for a beginner like me. I followed the recipe to the letter and produced a beautiful loaf with great structure, crumb and flavor. That initial success opened a whole world of baking bread

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-74232365716022298612011-08-26T12:00:00.000-05:002012-01-10T14:40:40.998-06:00

The idea for this ice cream started with a homemade cajeta made from raw goat's milk as its inspiration. Cajeta is a caramel sauce popular among Latin cultures with different versions among those cultures. Cubans have their own version in which they heat sweetened condensed cow's milk until it caramelizes, called dulce de leche, while the traditional Mexican cajeta recipe uses goat's milk and

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-38953988473928481092011-08-19T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:04:41.164-06:00

I've been thinking a lot about how difficult it can be to eat real food these days. By "real," I mean food that you can prepare yourself from its natural state into a meal without the addition of preservatives, additives, or other synthetic chemicals. Probably one of the best ways to do this is to plant your own garden, but not everyone has the time or desire to grow their own food. Not everyone

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-81205447062143858182011-08-12T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:04:26.244-06:00

I'm continuing with the garden theme this week, and still working on a recipe that needs a little more fine-tuning before sharing with the world. I'll be posting it the last week of August, and I think it's worth the wait to get it just right. In the meantime, I've been harvesting herbs from our garden to dry and store because I can't use all of them fresh, and they're way overdue for a pruning

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-79634654452766204082011-08-05T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:04:05.669-06:00

edible squash blossom flowers Seed, sprout, flower, fruit. It's a pattern that repeats itself again and again in the garden. The seed responds to the water and the sun, and the sprout grows, spreading its roots into the soil. Soon a sturdy plant begins to put out flowers, and the bees and ants carry the pollen to fertilize the fruit. Finally the fruit begins to set and grow, and if all goes

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-82808335621470137012011-07-29T12:00:00.000-05:002012-01-10T14:16:12.430-06:00

As I continue to learn more about eating well, it's become important to me to support local producers of food. Lately I've been buying raw goat's milk from a local farm along with eggs and chicken. Buying from an organic farm also means I get whole food that is minimally processed, free from unnecessary chemicals and fresher than most of what I might buy at a typical grocery store. Since we

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-56127642442988843492011-07-22T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:03:06.486-06:00

It's no secret that I love pizza. I like trying unusual sauces and toppings, and adding to my stock of pizza ideas is an unending goal. The idea for this pizza came about as I imagined combining roasted chicken leftovers with a few favorite Mexican flavors. For the first version of the pizza, I used a store-bought Mexican salsa for the pizza sauce, and took my cue for toppings from "Classic

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-43121007548626450462011-07-15T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:02:47.237-06:00

One of the nice things about summertime is that I get to spend it hanging out with my husband. From about the middle of August to the end of May he works as a teacher, so when June and July roll around, unbound by schedule, we do mostly what we want to do. Of course this includes cooking and eating as often as possible. You might remember the especially good Spanish-style omelette with

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-82681564863382535412011-07-08T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:02:28.334-06:00

Last night I walked around the garden as the sun was setting. It's my favorite time of day, with its mix of shadow and light and the warm glow that bathes everything and seems to put its arm around you and say "Here, sit. Relax." In our garden, the brown turkey figs are finally beginning to blush and ripen. Every summer it seems to take forever, but that's just because I get anxious and

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-83887375477405347702011-07-01T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:02:12.562-06:00

It may be tradition to grill outside on the fourth of July, but when I imagine grilling outside on an uncovered porch with the southern Texas sun beating down upon my head, in this regard I am a tradition breaker. So unless we get invited to someone's house where they have water misters on their covered porch or their property is next to a lake with a cool breeze, we'll be taking our celebration

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-24704106814361169642011-06-24T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:01:28.268-06:00

Mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard. For hamburgers, it's the condiment trinity. You may be well-acquainted with this trio already. But what you might not know is how much better these three are in their homemade version, and how easy they are to make. What's more, once you get the hang of the basic recipes, you can customize their flavors to your liking. If you've been following recent posts,

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-32155835470241589282011-06-17T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:01:06.706-06:00

While I was growing up, and until a few years ago, when it came to burgers and fries, I was a ketchup fiend. I had a friend ask me once, while we were eating at a now defunct burger place we visited often, "would you like a burger and fries with that ketchup?" When it came to certain foods, ketchup was definitely a serious condiment, and though I use much less of it now, I still prefer it to

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-90921043306177980392011-06-10T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:00:44.120-06:00

After fairly mild temperatures in May, we've finally begun to warm up with 90+ degree days here in Texas. It's not officially summer yet, but the garden doesn't care. Our cantaloupe plants, once tiny sprouts, have grown exponentially and are beginning to develop large fuzzy oval fruit buds. The cantaloupe vines are gorgeous and green with small yellow flowers, and the bees love to work there.

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-41350493263297332542011-06-03T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T16:00:28.226-06:00

Back in the day, we lived in a house, in a neighborhood, all built by a local contractor, who lived down the street with a huge acre-sized yard, right next to his large contractor-sized house. As the neighborhood kids we gathered there to play many a game, and during the summertime, we sometimes played even past dark. I remember lining up to the sounds of "red rover, red rover" and running full

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-10029078481311602702011-05-27T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T15:59:47.296-06:00

I think I've achieved a perfect whole wheat hamburger bun. I'm not bragging, because I certainly didn't get there by myself. I mean, I did bake it myself, but I had the benefit of a good recipe as well as methods from bakers who have spent many hours of their lifetime figuring out what works. In that sense, it was a successful collaboration, with a little experimentation on my part. And my third

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-81070903289040339772011-05-20T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T15:59:27.462-06:00

If you crave a good burger, but don't want to eat beef, a bison burger is a great alternative to traditional ground beef. Bison, also known as buffalo, is leaner in fat than beef and turkey, lower in cholesterol, and higher in protein. You can buy bison pre-ground, but to make the best burger, I choose a boneless chuck roast cut of bison and grind it at home. I've included a variety of

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-11548827581840969172011-05-13T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T15:59:07.348-06:00

I'm taking some time this weekend to check out a food photography seminar taught by Penny De Los Santos on creativeLIVE.com. She's an "award-winning internationally published photographer, a Senior Contributing photographer to Saveur magazine, and a regular contributing photographer for National Geographic magazine and Martha Stewart Living."1 If you're interested you can catch the remaining two

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-2446913281766035972011-05-06T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T15:58:44.828-06:00

Sometimes it's important to remember to just slow down and enjoy the process. The simple act of preparing food can become a meditative experience as you carefully craft each step, taking in the fragrance and freshness of food made with your own hands. Besides, if you nervously rush through, you're likely to forget things. I discovered this as I was experimenting with a second batch of these

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-7318409585168366392011-04-29T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T15:58:08.625-06:00

It's been a busy week in the garden, and we've added a second raised bed to the backyard. Since we're novice gardeners, we found we'd planted a little too closely and had to do some re-spacing. In the past month the fast-growing zucchini and straight-neck squash began to tower over the strawberries and carrots and block their sun, also slightly crowding the bell peppers. Since we have limited

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-76114661272340430922011-04-22T12:00:00.000-05:002012-02-22T09:58:25.944-06:00

I've been watching my mailbox with anticipation lately, waiting for my first issue of Food&Wine® magazine to arrive. I bought a year subscription a couple of months ago from the neighborhood kids who were selling magazines to raise money for their school. Whenever I go grocery shopping or am at the bookstore, I see F&W's tantalizing covers and want to grab an issue to take home. I know, though,

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-14326066518129023942011-04-15T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T15:57:28.063-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a hand grain mill. I wanted to mill my own flour and be able to eat the grain in its freshest-tasting form, full of fiber, proteins and vitamins that are naturally present in the grain. It's true, milling flour from grain is a little more work. In fact, as I've experienced this past couple of weeks, using a hand-operated grain mill instead of an electric grain mill

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-36231752576308298922011-04-08T12:00:00.000-05:002012-01-10T13:42:06.785-06:00

The flour tortilla is a perfect example of simple things that work well together. Its ingredients are flour, fat, salt, and water, and sometimes baking powder. By changing the type of flour or fat, varying the thickness of the tortilla, or adjusting the amount of fat or salt, you can make almost endless variations. When these simple ingredients are combined, the whole becomes so much more than

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-10035328893331817172011-04-01T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T15:56:43.096-06:00

It's been nearly two weeks since I planted four cantaloupe seeds. Each seed was placed in a little soil in a separate pod in an egg carton, and the carton placed on the sunny windowsill of the large kitchen window seat. This past Sunday two of the seeds, now sprouts, poked their bent over necks up out of the soil, and on Monday they raised their heads from the dirt. By Tuesday, the third sprout

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-75087893240053272162011-03-25T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T15:56:06.742-06:00

Imagine yourself in a sea of creamy dark chocolate, its rich texture filled with buttery, roasted almonds. It might just be a sweet dream, or it could be that you're eating dark chocolate marcona almond ice cream. As it so happens, it's not just a dream, it's a reality, and it's about as easy as ice cream gets. I took my recipe cues from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, and used almond

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-51878258355963346732011-03-18T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-04T15:55:44.482-06:00

It's spring break this week, so I've taken a little reprieve from recipe posting and am working on a new garden. The potted brown turkey fig trees have come out of the garage and on to the back porch, along with the potted lavender, and my husband is building a 12' x 4' x 6" raised bed for planting. Yesterday we purchased ten small containers of herbs from the farmer's market, all different kinds

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-41655125232021951342011-03-11T12:00:00.000-06:002012-02-21T17:08:24.427-06:00

In my search for fresh ideas for pizza toppings, I've been inspired lately by the sauces on hand in my refrigerator. Using the leftover white wine cashew cream sauce I made last week, sea scallops, fresh mozzarella, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, and lots of flat-leaf parsley, I found another great combination of flavors. The most interesting part of this recipe to me is the crispy texture of the

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-19017845176295107742011-03-04T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:54:42.486-06:00

For the last few years, my husband and I have chosen to cook at home for occasions such as Valentine's Day and our anniversary. It's a choice to save money, but is also motivated by the fact that we're getting pretty good at fixing a great meal ourselves. It often seems to us that at home we can match or surpass the quality of the food we would get in a nice restaurant, and the really nice

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-46156541197574845252011-02-25T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:53:53.645-06:00

As someone who loves to eat, it's been exciting to get creative and try new things while following a healthier path. You might think that some of these things are more complicated, but with a little pre-planning and prep work, they have actually simplified the process of eating well. Once made, these foods are good to go, ready to be adapted with additional ingredients in whatever way you

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-61648950232481524252011-02-18T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:53:22.960-06:00

During my recent detox diet (no dairy, gluten, refined sugar), not only did I miss my yeast breads, I also missed my scones. So I scoured my local bookstore's gluten-free baking section and found a cookbook called GEMS of Gluten-Free Baking by Wendy Turnbull. GEMS takes a whole-grain approach to gluten-free baking with excellent results in texture and taste for gluten-free baked goods.The GEMS

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-17751689393595939162011-02-11T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:50:00.310-06:00

Our dog, Hiro, is a dachshund on Jack Russell terrier wheels. When he isn't leaping in the air, he's busy chasing his "Kong" chew toy. In order to properly survey the scene, he jumps up on the back of the couch to watch me cook in the kitchen. If he feels he's lacking in attention, he steals my husband's socks from the closet and waits to hear "drop it!" so he can run around the room clutching

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-42712267579217751052011-02-04T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:51:04.341-06:00

  More than a few of us have been housebound by the monster snow and ice storm that covered nearly three-quarters of the United States. I'm in Texas, (on the "milder" end of things than say, Chicago), and the weather has shut down my husband's school district for four days. Of course, in Texas where football is the state religion, temperatures are predicted to be back in the slightly less frigid

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-70288865769082904852011-02-01T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:47:57.748-06:00

When I said in my first post that I'll be using whole foods, what I really mean, if you read between the lines, is that you will never see any artificial or diet ingredients in the recipes I post. I'd rather eat a small amount of rich and real than ten times its synthetic non-fat counterpart. My obsession for whole food extends beyond just avoiding the processed foods that crowd the

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-77780874219083123782011-01-28T12:00:00.001-06:002011-12-04T15:23:29.650-06:00

I'm a few days away from the end of the detox diet, and really, it hasn't been a bleak food existence for me. I'll admit, though, as an omnivore (rough translation-I like to eat all kinds of food), I have had...cravings. What's on the list of things I've missed? First, I'd say my homemade yeast breads, which I've missed as much for the therapeutic process of making them as eating them. I'd add

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-35093899991222020952011-01-21T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:52:18.412-06:00

It's nearing the end of week two of the 21-day detox diet, and in just this short period of time I've added quite a few things to my expanding food lexicon. What I used to think of as alternative is becoming a more varied way to eat, with many delicious discoveries. I'm also continuing to learn how to use whole food as a way to allow the body, as much as possible, to heal itself. One of

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-28275858168803333402011-01-14T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:52:01.674-06:00

This week I was going to post a recipe for alioli (garlic mayonnaise), but instead will be going on a short detour to do a 21-day food detox. Yes, 21 days. To some of you, that may be a walk in the park, and to others, well, you probably wouldn't go near that park. A short list of things I'll be taking a break from are dairy, eggs, wheat, chocolate(sigh), alcohol, and refined sugars. The full

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-35749235504017412512011-01-07T12:00:00.000-06:002012-02-21T16:52:28.899-06:00

Here's another delicious use for that leftover cranberry relish, and any sweet potatoes you might have too. It's a kind of post-holiday pancake, if you like. I adapted the recipe for pumpkin pancakes from Good To The Grain by Kim Boyce, a fantastic cookbook for baking with all types of whole grains, such as amaranth, quinoa, and kamut, as well as more common grains like rye, corn, and barley.

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-71345248517652143922011-01-05T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:20:18.965-06:00

Scones are a great "to go" breakfast food. I make a batch at least twice a month, and they are a favorite of my husband's to take on his way to work. Years ago we bought the cookbook Fields of Greens by Annie Somerville. It has a great basic recipe for Oatmeal-Raisin scones. I like to change it up from time to time, substituting different fresh or dried fruit for the raisins, such as dried

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148017700968578049.post-26040092196912448482011-01-03T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-04T15:19:46.837-06:00

Welcome to "the musician, who cooks." The title of this blog has two meanings. The first is pretty obvious. I am a musician who cooks. It's a daily pleasure, a road back to health, and fairly cheap therapy. The subtler meaning refers to an older term used among musicians. To "cook" meant to play really well, or was used when the music being played had a great energy happening. Music and food

Michele Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00885469331550974012noreply@blogger.com0