Veggie Might: Eat Tamari Almonds!

Written by the fabulous Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about all things Vegetarian.Almonds are my go-to healthy, everyday snack that picks me up when I’m fading in the afternoon and gives me a boost without filling me up before a workout. Does that sound like copy for an Almond Board ad? Forgive me; I’ve been pulling some crazy hours at an ad agency these past few weeks.However, it’s true what I said about almonds. I love them and eat them all the time, in teeny little handfuls of 24 almonds because 24 almonds is an ounce, and an ounce is a serving, and a serving is what a Reasonable Person shoves in her mouth when she needs a snack before her blood sugar crashes. When I’m unreasonable, I eat several servings which equal several...

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Posted in: Desserts and Snacks,Vegan,Vegetarian,Veggie Might

Guest Post: New Year's Spiced Chickpeas with Avocado

Jaime Green writes our bi-weekly Green Kitchen post. She's guesting for Wednesday. Happy holidays!Last New Year's Eve, my boyfriend and I had been dating for about two months. Not big fans of subway rides home in the wee hours alongside the inevitable puking revelers (though I guess that's better than facing drunk drivers on the roads), we decided to stay in. I showed up at his apartment that night with two bottles of very cheap champagne (I love you, Andre) and a sparkly paper top-hat. I blew a noisemaker when he opened the door. I'd gotten the hat and noisemaker at the dollar store on my block about an hour before.We didn't have any big plans – drink cheap champagne, pause whatever movie (okay, old episodes of Star Trek: the Next Generation)...

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Posted in: Mains,Vegan,Vegetarian

Ask the Internet: Canned Tuna Ideas?

Today's question comes from reader Jessie:Flickr's aMichiganMomQ: I was wondering what to do with my cupboard full of canned tuna besides tuna salad or casserole. Thoughts?A: Jessie, that is a most excellent question. The Kitchn had an excellent post about canned tuna options back in 2009, though my personal favorite is Herbed Tuna in Tomatoes, an easy, no-cook alternative to those omnipresent sandwiches.Readers, what do you do with canned tuna?Want to ask the interweb a question? Post one in the comment section, or write to Cheaphealthygood@gmail.com. Then, tune in next Tuesday for an answer/several answers from the good people of the World Wide N...

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Posted in: Ask the Internet

Guest Post: Chestnut and Bulgur Stuffing, a.k.a. Holiday Time with the Man Who Discovered Food Has Calories

Miriam Isserow is a fundraising consultant based in Silver Spring, Maryland. In her misspent youth, she loved to make dessert. Now she likes to cook delicious and healthful meals.This time of year, we seem to go from one food-centric event to another. This is a particular challenge for my dear husband, otherwise known as The Man Who Discovered Food Has Calories. I know my new nickname for him is a mouthful, so from here on in, I'll call him TMWDFHC.I recently mentioned to TMWDFHC that for our own holiday meal, I would make a bulgur stuffing instead of our traditional bread stuffing. Years ago, my cousin whipped up a similar dish that I still remember—and given the dieting and monitoring of cholesterol we’ve been doing at my house, I thought...

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Posted in: Sides,Vegan,Vegetarian

Veggie Might: Last-minute Substitution - Oatmeal Apple Cookies

Penned by the effervescent Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about the wide world of Vegetarianism.This week, I planned to present you with an alternative to the Christmas cookie, as well as one of my favorite sweets: daifuku, Japanese rice balls stuffed with sweet red bean paste. Three tries ended with me covered in sticky, gelatinous goo.Let’s just say my technique needs work. Time was ticking when I decided to scrap the daifuku. My baker’s pantry is still pretty well stocked from Thanksgiving, so cookies seemed like the best choice for a quick and dirty replacement. I turned to the dependable and consistently marvelous How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. Bittman’s How to Cook Everything books take the guesswork...

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Posted in: Desserts and Snacks,Vegan,Vegetarian,Veggie Might

Green Kitchen: Local Going Into Winter

Green Kitchen is a bi-weekly column about nutritious, inexpensive, and ethical food and cooking. It's penned by the lovely Jaime Green.Ignore the fact that it's snowing outside-- Wait, don't ignore that. Take a moment to enjoy that. It's snowing! But ignore it in terms of the point I'm about to make.Ignore the fact that it's snowing. Ignore the fact that it's about 50 degrees in my apartment, that I'm wearing sweatpants and a hoodie and my hat. Ignore the down comforter on my bed, the cold toes, the date on the calendar.How do I know it's winter?Let's take a look at what's recently come out of my kitchen. Breakfast Sunday: an improvised take on what I remembered of Kris' Shaksouka – canned diced tomatoes, half an onion, a carrot, and...

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Posted in: Buying Food,Green Kitchen

Ask the Internet: Healthy Study Snacks?

Today's question comes from college student Caitlin, who has finals coming up.Q: What about healthy study snacks? i think i ate my weight in popcorn yesterday and definitely need an alternative!A: Caitlin! Having been a carouser of the late-night cafeteria scene (read: mozzarella sticks, pizza, something called "broccoli cheesebake"), I understand your delicate, frommage-craving pain. You'd like something filling, but light. Tasty, but not time-consuming. And if it's caffeinated, all the better.This sounds lame, but fruit was always a good bet to start, with coffee acting as my beverage of choice. Energy drinks weren't so popular back in 199X, but I might have avoided Monster and its ilk like a florescent green plague. How about some all-natural...

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Posted in: Ask the Internet

Veggie Might: Getting in the Mood with Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard Soup

Written by the fabulous Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about all things Vegetarian.Happy last day of Hanukkah, friends! Hope you had a super week plus one. Gentle Readers, though I live on Holiday Island, USA (not to be confused with Christmas Town, USA—just down the road from my folks’ place), and I was sick for most of Hanukkah, I’m just not feeling it—it being the holiday juju that’s supposed to filling my heart with magic.Thanksgiving was so delicious and festive; and I want Christmas to be the same. But if I start getting into the holiday mood too soon, I’ll be over it by the time Christmas actually gets here. To avoid holiday burn out, I refuse to decorate, shop, or cook anything holiday related until December 12. Even...

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Posted in: Mains,Vegan,Vegetarian,Veggie Might

Guest Post: Slow-Cooker Mexican Beans

Lorri Brown is a mom, writer, and avid Murder She Wrote fan, who lives far away in the Mountains of Western Maine with her four awesome kids and three cats. When she’s not working in public health, she writes for About.com and bunch of other fun sites. Greetings CHG readers! I am sooo excited about being a guest blogger while Kris moves! (I just moved to a new house, so I know how much work that is- bleck). Anyway, I’m here to share with you my super-easy slow cooker recipe for Mexican Beans.By day I work in community health, in the Wilds of Western Maine, doing nutrition outreach (please note, I am not a dietician, nurse, or doctor- nor do I play any of these on TV). By night I am a single mother of four children ranging in ages 14 to...

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Posted in: Mains,Sides,Vegan,Vegetarian

Ask the Internet: Inexpensive Holiday Wines?

Greetings, sweet readers! Today's post comes from a CHG Facebook discussion a few weeks ago.Q: With the holidays fast approaching, we'd all like to imbibe a bit. So, what are your favorite inexpensive wines?A: While Trader Joe's house brand, good ol' Three Buck Chuck, is always a hit, Indaba's Sauvignon Blanc has really become a recent favorite. It's flavorful without hitting you over the head, and I can usually find it for around $8 a bottle.Readers, what about you? Lettuce discuss some boozery.Want to ask the interweb a question? Post one in the comment section, or write to Cheaphealthygood@gmail.com. Then, tune in next Tuesday for an answer/several answers from the good people of the World Wide N...

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Posted in: Ask the Internet

Guest Post: Pressure Cooker Black Bean Soup Recipe

Joy Manning is senior recipes editor at TastingTable.com. She blogs at OysterEvangelist.com. She enjoys all things cheap, healthy and good from her home/office/test kitchen in South Philadelphia. I may be five-years-married and in my early-middle 30s, but I am having a crazy hot love affair: 252 degrees Fahrenheit, to be exact. That’s the temperature at which water boils—way hotter than the usual 212—inside my pressure cooker. Some pressure cooker enthusiasts are keen on the fact that things cook in about one-third of the usual time under pressure. True, but for me the allure lies in its ability to produce slow-cooked flavor in a hurry. The pressure cooker happens to work magic on some of the inexpensive ingredients we all know can be made...

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Posted in: Mains,Sides,Soups and Stocks,Vegan,Vegetarian

Veggie Might: Fast, Easy Soup for Sick Vegetarians

Penned by the effervescent Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about the wide world of Vegetarianism.Happy belated Thanksgiving, Gentle Readers! Hope your festivities were fun and delicious. Mine were joyous and pie-filled, just as I dreamed they would be. My body is reacting to all the friendship and gratitude by purging any built-up toxins through my facial orifices. Translation: I have a cold. And this cold wants soup.A while back, reader and all-around good sort Chris wrote in to ask “When vegetarians/vegans are feeling under the weather, what sort of comfort foods do they like? I would love to learn how to make a flavorful broth (maybe something with ginger and onions, good for colds?) to help my sick veggie buds.” Chris, first...

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Posted in: 15 Minutes or Less,Soups and Stocks,Vegan,Vegetarian,Veggie Might

Guest Post: Cheap, Healthy, Good Entertaining - Hosting While Preserving Your Finances, Sanity, and Well-Being

A freelance domestic goddess and English teacher, KitschenBitsch writes about fun, frugal, and (often) retro living and cooking, though her content ranges from cooking and puns to health, society, and her significant other's hilarity in any given month.As the holidays descend upon us like so many hungry vultures (What? Am I the only person who feels completely blindsided?), many of us will find ourselves entertaining, either hosting parties, large dinners, or maybe even housing guests overnight(s). From Flickr's jpoveyIn the past, I’ve always looked forward with excitement to any opportunity to entertain. Due to work and distance, the mister and I rarely see some of our friends. Of course, due to work we end up running around like headless...

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Posted in: Buying Food,Organization

Green Kitchen: Vegan Creamed Kale

Green Kitchen is a bi-weekly column about nutritious, inexpensive, and ethical food and cooking. It's penned by the lovely Jaime Green.There are lots of reasons one might want to avoid dairy. One might be allergic. One might be vegan. One might be omnivorous but prefer dairy from happy, grass-fed cows, which can be expensive or hard to come by. One might be lactose intolerant and rationing those pricey lactase pills.Or one might like that experimenting with non-dairy versions of usually-dairy meals can lead one to delicious dishes one might never have eaten otherwise.A little of column A, a little of column B.I ended up at creamed kale the other night by an internet/culinary odyssey – my original plan for cold sesame broccoli was thwarted by...

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Posted in: Green Kitchen,Sides,Vegan

Ask the Internet: What DON'T You Spend Money On?

Simple Organized Living started it. Then, Money Saving Mom picked it up. Today, Casual Kitchen's Daniel puts his own twist on it. I think it's officially a meme:Q: What ten things DON'T you spend money on?A: Okay, here goes:Beef (Thank you, chickens.)Bottled water and soda (Thank you, tap.)Lawn care (Thank you, Brooklyn concrete.)Mayonnaise, radishes, scallops, cauliflower, and anise. (Thank you, food aversions.)Name brand clothes (Thank you, lack of fashion sense.)Cable TV (Thank you, Netflix.)DVDs (Thanks again, Netflix.)Books (Thank you, public library.)A car (Thank you, feet.)Kitchen gadgets (Thank you, limited cabinet space.)Readers, fire away. This is a fun one.Want to ask the interweb a question? Post one in the comment section, or write to Cheaphealthygood@gmail.com. Then,...

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Posted in: Ask the Internet

Guest Post: Pioneer Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe

Shane can be found at ShaneHalbach.com, blogging about the zombie apocalypse, bacon, and his adorable kids (not necessarily in that order).My daughter Evie likes pancakes. A lot. It's not really Sunday at our house if you're not in your PJs at noon eating pancakes while batter slowly drips off your daughter (and the stove, and the walls...). I can't say I blame her, they're fun to make, they're delicious, and they're really not that bad for you.(This is assuming you don't put chocolate chips inside and then slather them with whipped cream and who knows what else - I mean, you can do that, I'm not judging. I won't even call the health police on you. However, if she was going to be eating pancakes that often, I figured we should at least try.)So...

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Posted in: Breakfast,Vegetarian

Guest Post: Companies Vs. Consumers: A Manifesto

Today's guest post comes from Daniel Koontz. Dan is the author of Casual Kitchen, a kick-butt blog that helps readers cook more, think more, and spend less. It's my (Kris') favorite food blog. Er, beyond this one.Why are so many people convinced that all food companies and retailers are evil, greedy, and exist solely to exploit their customers? If you hold that kind of simplistic, generalized world view, you are committing an act of personal disempowerment. You may not know it, but you are willingly giving your power away to these companies. This is not to say that some companies aren't greedy. And it's not to say that consumers aren't at times unfairly separated from their money. But it is the height of enfeebled hypocrisy to whine and complain about "greedy companies" when they merely make...

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Posted in: Buying Food

Ask the Internet: Radish Recipes?

This week's question comes from reader Allison.Q: The other week I was perusing the veggie section and came across these massive red radishes, and I wondered, What could I do with radishes besides slice them up raw for salads? Can they even be cooked? They never appear in any recipes I read. (I feel like maybe I have seen them in an Asian recipe, but I very rarely cook any kind of Asian cuisine at home, so I could be wrong.) I suppose I could steam some up and try but hey, that's what Ask the Internet is for, right?A: Hi Allison! I have to admit, I'm not a big radish fan myself (also see: mayonnaise, Michael Bolton, wedgies), but Leigh (of Veggie Might fame) likes 'em muchly. Her write-up of Braised Radishes with Tarragon looks particularly enticing.Beyond that ... readers? It's a non-Thanksgiving...

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Posted in: Ask the Internet

Guest Post: Butternut Squash Soup - Test Kitchen Tuesday

Angela is on a mission to eat healthy one new meal at a time. You can catch up with her at Test Kitchen Tuesday.  Hi everyone! Before we get started, I just want to say how happy I am to be here. So, my fellow CHG-lovers, it’s so nice to meet you!And, now that we’re on a first name basis, I have a confession to make. I am a lot of things: a wife, a small business owner, a triathlete, a skier, and an animal lover, among others. Until recently, I was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a cook. In fact, I used to pretty much avoid cooking as much as possible, aside from maybe boiling water for pasta. My husband and I have fully remodeled two houses together, which left little time to think about what we were eating. When you’re covered...

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Posted in: Mains,Sides,Soups and Stocks,Vegan,Vegetarian