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Roasting

Roasted Cauliflower

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Hello, all – it’s Caitlin here!

Charles has graciously ceded the wheel to me for today’s posting, thus giving me the opportunity to discuss one of my favorite dietary topics: fiber.  I’ll preface this discussion by saying that Charles eats a very healthful diet, with oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and bananas ranking among his favorites.

Yet, when I suggested that he swap his white bread for a whole grain alternative (more fiber!), he balked at the suggestion and characterized my beloved wheat bread as “cardboard” (blasphemy!).  Despite these accusations, …

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Maple-Roasted Winter Squash

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Cooking offers the chance to learn something new.

Sometimes, it’s a new cooking style – broiling or deep frying, perhaps.  Other times, cooking offers the opportunity to try a new spice or a new vegetable.  When I learned the difference between sweet potatoes and yams, I went out and bought two different types of yams.

Not surprisingly, when I learned the difference between the different types of winter squash, I went out and bought three different types of squash.  Among them were two varieties I had never tried: acorn and ambercup.

Roasting different varieties together has its advantages.  It offers the chance …

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Vanilla Mashed Sweet Potatoes

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If you know me, you know I love sweet potatoes.  So, when it came time to create a Thanksgiving menu, the question wasn’t whether I was going to serve sweet potatoes, the question was simply what recipe to choose.

I wanted something fairly simple to make, but that would nonetheless impress.  I also wanted it to be something unique and fun.  This recipe met …

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Apple Cider Brined Roast Turkey

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Thanksgiving is no time for experiments.  On any regular Thursday, the pizza parlor is just a phone call away.  But on Thanksgiving, there is no such luxury.

This year, I stuck with Ina Garten’s recipe for roast turkey.  Though, unlike the two previous years, I decided to brine my turkey – a technique which I had not yet tried.  Brining – the process of immersing the meat in a salt-water mixture – works to dry and salt the meat by osmosis.  That is, excess salt from the juice flows into the meat, while excess water from the meat, flows into the juice.  Which doesn’t sound great: who wants dry, salty meat?

Fortunately, the osmotic process is not finished.  As the salt enters the meat, …

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