I finally plunked down $12 for a bottle of toasted walnut oil. IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY!! This warm, toasty, nutty liquid has turned my everyday salad into a veritable gourmet flavor sensation.
It’s also the secret to a very special salad I’ve been eating often, which I copied from a restaurant near my apt, Fraiche. […]

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I wanted to offer you guys some slimming, tried-and-true soup recipes. Alas, my first attempt at a new recipe, Greek Eggplant and Zucchini Soup from The Soup Bible, was only mediocre. We don’t do mediocre at TFT.
On the upside, it came with a new, improved recipe for Tzatziki. Even better, it gave me the idea […]

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I’m wrapping up my salad days today with:
ITALIAN SWEET PEPPER AND BROWN RICE SALAD
3 cups mixed greens, chopped
2-3 jarred, diced italian sweet peppers (find them in the condiment aisle near the olives)
1/4-1/2 cup brown rice
1 oz fat free feta cheese
1/2 cucumber
1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
chopped fresh parsley (if […]

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This is a good week for salad: Mark Bittman shares his recipe for basic vinaigrette. Dijon mustard is a major staple in my kitchen. I have about five different kinds in the fridge!
Today’s salad would be completely boring — slim pickings in the fridge — without YUMMY carmelized onions.
3 oz roasted chicken
1/2 red onion, sliced […]

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Just in time for my week of salads (yes, all the fun will be over in a week) comes an LA Times article on Chopped Salads. What I love about chopped salads is the amazing blending of flavors thanks to the tiny dice, and that they rescue you from LettuceThink, the idea that a salad […]

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Blue cheese may not be for everyone, but it makes me feel decadent and oh-so-Euro. Goat cheese is a good replacement, and lighter too. The key is something tangy.

Blue Cheese Chicken Salad
2 oz chicken breast
1 oz blue cheese
1 tbsp walnuts
5-10 cherry tomatoes
3-5 cups mixed greens, preferably spicy greens like arugala
1 tsp oil
1 tbsp raspberry vinagrette
Toss […]

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I eat a big, protein-packed salad for lunch most days. Today was an especially good one, which I copied from one I like to get at Mel’s Diner in Sherman Oaks, CA.
ROASTED CHICKEN SALAD with capers, raisins, and pine nuts
3 oz roasted chx breast, chopped
several cups mixed greens
1 small cooked potato, quartered and sliced
1 […]

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Mark Bittman — columnist and author of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian — writes in the NY Times:

“To put the energy-using demand of meat production into easy-to-understand terms, [two university geophysicists] calculated that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from […]

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My new food obsession: Brussel sprouts! It turns out I love these elegant little vitamin-bombs. I had been having them roasted, but now my Finnish roommate has once again shown me the joys of heavy cream.
Before you shriek, “On no!,” a few words on how to enjoy cream: Skip the carbs. Pair this dish with […]

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Here’s my favorite breakfast of late. The recipe is for one, but it’s obviously easy to make for more.
Ingredients:
¼ - 1/3 cup plain, cooked quinoa
1 whole egg
1 egg white
Chopped jarred roasted red peppers
Garlic salt
Pepper
1 tbsp of your favorite cheese, grated or crumbled
Fresh chives or basil (optional)
Directions:
Lightly coat a frying pan with olive oil or cooking […]

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