Episode 213: Lighter Leftovers, Why We Eat What We Eat, Soup

How exactly did kale become a thing? A new podcast we like explains it all.

The food news this week is news about us: We’re going to be at Fantes on December 10 sometime between noon and 3 pm selling books and saying hi. Come see us! You could get some holiday shopping done at the same time.

Remember when Joy told you last week she was aiming for a lower cholesterol Thanksgiving? Well, it worked out. And she’s still enjoying the lightened up leftovers–no stomach aches! Here’s the stuffing recipe that convinced her you don’t actually need a stick of butter to make stuffing.

If you like our podcast, we have another to suggest. Why We Eat What We Eat by Gimlet Creative. We know it’s a sponsored podcast. But guess what? We love it anyway. If you just want to dabble, go with the episodes about kale and pot lucks. Those were our favorites.

This week we taught our sold-out soup class at the Philadelphia Free Library’s Center for Culinary Literacy and for that reason and many others we have soup on the brain. This time, we’re talking about our class as well as how we break out of a soup rut.

In our What We’re Loving segment, we return to the subject of vegan ricotta and other feel-good recipes we are pulling together for our forthcoming Resolution Recipes ebook. (Coming soon!)

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Episode 212: Pesto, Thanksgiving, Instant Pot Books

Happy Thanksgiving

Recently the Washington Post published a very sad story titled Why Americans Have Stopped Eating Leftovers. We want to help everyone love their leftovers again!

In this week’s What’s for Dinner segment, we’re talking about how to whip up no-recipe pesto from whatever you have on hand.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, everyone. We go over the menus for what we’re making and serving this year. Here’s that story and recipe about Marisa’s gravy.

Have you seen all those Instant Pot cookbooks? We have a favorite. It’s Daniel Shumski’s How to Instant Pot.

In this week’s What We’re Loving, we talk about gigante beans.

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Episode 211: Winter Greens, Homemade Hummus, Reverse Engineering Restaurant Dishes

The latest version of Joy’s homemade hummus

 

If you are a regular listener, you know we love Melissa Clark’s recipes, both in the NY Times and in her many, many cookbooks. The Cut gave readers the inside scoop on how she makes it happen. (Spoiler alert: she has a dedicated recipe tester.)

Joy has been experimenting with different (read: easier) ways to make the incredible, smooth, creamy, dreamy hummus from the Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking cookbook. Her latest tweak involves the Instant Pot.

As the cold weather descends (which it did very suddenly in Philadelphia), local salad greens typically become a memory. But some local farms are usual greenhouses to produce wonderful, salad friendly produce well into the off season. Joy and Marisa tell you where you can find it at our local markets.

How do you reverse engineer a restaurant dish? Joy and Marisa share their typical process.

In the What We’re Loving segment: Mini whisks.

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Episode 210: The Field Roast Cookbook, A Health Happy Medium, Preground Coffee

The best cup of coffee? The convenient kind.

 

In food news this week, more issues in the seafood section. A troubling AP investigation reveals that salmon from China is being processed by North Korean slave laborers.

At her sister’s urging, Joy found herself cooking from the pages of O Magazine … and everyone really liked the mushroom po’ boy sandwiches that resulted.

Field Roast, the grain meat purveyor known for its delicious faux sausages, has a new cookbook. We read it, but we haven’t cooked from it — yet.

It has now been six month since Joy was diagnosed with high cholesterol. And sometimes she gets so angry at healthy food she wants to throw it against the wall. Is there a happy medium that can be heart-healthy?

What are we loving this week? Marisa is all about pre-ground coffee–for some very persuasive reasons.

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Episode 209: Instant Pot Chicken, What Makes a Meal, Miss Rachel’s Pantry

What does a meal have to have to count as “dinner”?

 

This week in food news, we take a look Bloomberg News’ recent story and infographic about how American food preferences have changed over the decades. One interesting tidbit is that coffee consumption peaked in the 1960s and never rebounded. Check the whole thing out right here.

What’s for dinner this week? Whole chicken in the Instant Pot. We love this method that leaves you with juicy flavorful meat (perfect for soups, stews, sandwiches and salads) and, even better, the richest chicken stock we’ve ever made. (If you want more of our Instant Pot tips and tricks check out special episode 172.)

We ask ourselves a big question–what makes something dinner? Is a sandwich dinner? What about sushi? How many elements do you need for something to be dinner? Is dinner for yourself different than what you’d consider dinner to serve to a guest?

Recently Joy and Marisa took a vegan cheese making class at Miss Rachel’s Pantry. We learned how to make dairy-free chevre, mozzarella, and an astonishingly simple (but delicious) ricotta. Not only did we have the chance to learn and practice new cooking skills, we had so much fun at Miss Rachel’s charming cooking and eating space.

What are we loving this week? Tempeh. It featured prominently in the Joy of Cooking recipe Joy made for the recent potluck, and she’s been enamored of it ever since.

If you like what you hear, make sure to subscribe! Bonus points if you rate us or leave a review. Follow us on twitter @localmouthful and help us spread the word about the show.