2014-11-14 Fabulous Friday Finds

New Salem Sue, the world’s largest Holstein cow

Mary Kate:

Okay, it’s now dark by the time I get off work. For me, that’s the point when “winter” arrives. Because winter isn’t just about dropping temperatures, right? (Also, I HATE the time change. Just pick one and stick with it. I don’t care which. Wait, no, I kind of do. Pick this one so we never need to change it again, please.)

So after a week of using up food before traveling, a week of traveling, and a week where I had no time for anything at all, what I have done this week is cook and bake and cook some more. It’s been fantastic, and I feel a bit invigorated in the kitchen. I’m playing with Napa cabbage from our friend Mary’s amazing garden, so there’s been a lot of stir-fry. Maybe one of those is coming to the blog soon, but it needs a little work.

I’ve been pretty obsessed with lentils, and this braised lentil recipe sounds like a good basis for making amazing lentil dishes. Think how many variations could be considered? If you have kids, you might feed them this, as the author suggests. Pretty sure my cats don’t want lentils, no matter how they are cooked.

Do you get FARE’s recall notices? If you have food allergies, you should. But I’ll warn you, it’s scary how many of them there are, and how bad some of the mistakes are. We’re all veteran label readers, but what do you do when the label’s just wrong? But in good news, the FDA is looking into these issues and how to deal with them — report announcement from An Allergic Foodie. To me, the really interesting part is the research to develop new tests for detecting allergens.

I’ve been experiencing a bit more crazy than I (Denise) usually am, so I’ve not been surfing for cool allergy stuff as much as I normally am. However if you don’t have a tree nut allergy, I did find this Soy-Free Vegan Whipped Cream recipe that uses cashes. It has coconut oil in it, which is a big no-no for me, but I’m thinking that I’d be able to sub the coconut oil out for something else, and switch out the agave. Hey, it’s a start. 

Also, I recently needed sun-dried tomatoes for a hot sauce recipe. I made them using a dehydrator, because everything dried must also apparently contain either citric acid or sunflower oil if you buy it from a store, and they’re both problems for me.  But if you don’t have a dehydrator, here’s a way to make sun-dried tomatoes in the oven at home. 

Have a great weekend, people. Go see a giant cow. (I don’t think they have them in NH, though. -D)