The back of the Bhutanese red rice bag I bought at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival says it grows at a height of 8,000 feet in the Himalayan mountains and is irrigated with centuries-old glacier water “rich in trace minerals.” Sounds intriguing, no? Honestly, I could care less about that. I wanted to know what it tastes like! So I prepared Jasha Maroo, a traditional Bhutanese chicken dish. Read the rest of this entry »

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In my usual first-Tuesday-of-the-month rush last week, I ended up creating a dish that had “single male” written all over it. Like my honey baked chicken, this one has just three ingredients and is incredibly easy.

After sitting in hot, sticky rush hour traffic for longer than expected on a Tuesday evening, I arrived home, stomach growling, to a relatively empty refrigerator. Luckily I had just bought a bag of frozen chicken breasts (I’m testing these and comparing them to buying fresh and freezing). Among the few items in my fridge: One lone nectarine ripening in the fruit bin and a 1/4 full jar of Newman’s Own Mango Salsa. My wheels started turning. In my opinion the salsa didn’t go all that well with chips, but perhaps it would compliment a chicken breast!

Tip: Don’t limit ingredients to what they’re “supposed” to be used for. Get creative!

Here’s what I came up with:

Recipe: Mango Salsa Chicken
Serves one

1 chicken breast, fresh or frozen
1 nectarine or peach, pitted and sliced
1/4 cup mango or peach-mango salsa, divided

If chicken is frozen, thaw it in a bowl of hot water. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Coat bottom of a small dutch oven with a thin layer oil, lay chicken in center, and cover with half of salsa. Flip chicken and cover other side. Arrange nectarine slices around chicken. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Check chicken with a knife after 30 minutes and bake until juice runs clear.

Here it is! A single serving of my favorite potato salad. I was tempted, just now, to write “the best” potato salad, but I’ll be fair and just say “my favorite.” However, I will tell you that I hate potatoes but can’t get enough of this stuff. Actually, I promptly inhaled what you see above after photographing it. Yum. I am satisfied. Read the rest of this entry »

My box of fresh produce from Washington’s Green Grocer arrived yesterday! I got the small box, which looks like it’s going to be the perfect size and will last me two weeks until the next one arrives (I ordered bi-weekly delivery). Here’s what I got:

Two tomatoes, three ears of corn, two zucchini, two cucumbers … Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to Kim O’Donnel’s “A Might Appetite” post last Friday and some conversation it sparked in the comments, I’m going to take on her Eat Local Challenge but add a twist: Eat local and single.

The Anne Arundel County challenge runs from July 19-27, so I will be posting dishes made with as many local ingredients as possible. Hopefully between planting my garden this week, getting my first delivery of local produce from Washington’s Green Grocer today (yay!), and shopping at the Annapolis farmer’s market on Sunday, I’ll be good to go.

Stay tuned for fresh photos and cool recipes! And join me if you want. Click here for the Buy Local Challenge website.

Blueberry scones remind me of summer morning sunrises, outdoor breakfasts, rays of sunshine streaming through leaves and landing on my face.

But despite this lovely aura surrounding England’s version of the breakfast biscuit, a certain speculation arises for me when it comes to their texture. Should they be dry and crumbly, light and flaky, or moist and fluffy?

I found my favorite texture combination at Read the rest of this entry »

The fresh Greek feta I bought to make hummus didn’t crumble dryly in my hand. It was wet and rubbery and felt soft but dense against my tongue. It’s saltiness first stung my taste buds, then melted into my palate, smoky and smooth.

I roughly crumbled half of the white feta slab into my food processor, where I had already pureed a hummus base of chick peas, garlic, lemon juice, tahini, and olive oil. My kitchen smelled divinely Mediterranean. I pulsed the processor a few times to incorporate the cheese, then loaded in a handful or two of cheap, canned black olives.

Pulse, pulse, pulse. Taste.

Smoky, salty, velvety, and spiked with the zest of garlic and a hint of lemon. The olives and feta complimented each other and rounded out a more robust hummus than my usual attempts.

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I was researching article ideas for September and stumbled across some fantastic news in New Jersey’s Star-Ledger: Winemakers are bottling their spirits in single-serving alternative packaging!

One winery, Boisset Family Estates out of California, calls them “Juice boxes for adults” and uses them to package their French Rabbit wines in three varieties: a pinot noir, a merlot/cabernet sauvignon blend, and a chardonnay/sauvignon blanc blend.

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For as long as I can remember, my mom and I have ventured to the local strawberry patch each June to pick berries for homemade jam.

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