Katy did.'s Profile

I also highly recommend Smitten Kitchen at smittenkitchen.com . Especially if you dig through her archives to some of her earlier recipes, when she was also still developing her skills. She never uses complicated gadgets or weird ingredients, and she thoroughly tests every recipe. As others have mentioned, I learned how to cook by following Deb's lead, and your girlfriend can too!

Another good source that hasn't been mentioned yet is Mark Bittman. His recipes are very pared-down to their most essential ingredients and techniques, making them approachable for beginners. I recommend both his blog, The Minimalist, and any of his cookbooks.

Get thee to a library!

My library has had every cookbook I've gone looking for, even the most recent releases. This makes it so easy to "test-ride" a cookbook, to learn if I'm really going to enjoy it before buying it. And you know what? I haven't bought a single cookbook since joining the library!

But of course, I see no reason to keep a book around that I'm not going to cook from. I'm not sure I even understand "using" a cookbook for pure inspiration. If I discover that I"m not cooking the recipes, there must be something about the book's philosophy that isn't applicable to my cooking life. Maybe the ingredients are too difficult for me to source, maybe the techniques are too time-consuming, maybe the presentation is too fussy. I reserve my time and money for books that truly speak to me, books where I immediately want to cook every recipe inside.

I barely feel like I"m utilizing my carefully chosen half-dozen or so to their fullest, so I see absolutely no way that someone needs 100 or 200 cookbooks. I bet you haven't opened some of them in years! The need to own books with no purpose seems like such a wasteful, consumerist impulse.

How can I tell that my bread is whole grain? Because I bake it that way.

But more to the point, when buying crackers or cereal, I tend to go for my trusted "hippy" brands and always check the label first. Not only do I look for real whole grains, but also for the shortest ingredient list.

White is definitely the best. Think Scandinavian and add bright, highly saturated colors in your accessories: rug, oven mitts, hand towels, vases, bowls, or artwork.

Or if you are more daring, just take off one or more of those cabinet doors and display your dishes. Or maybe cover with brightly covered fabric.

Definitely try tea. You can find lapsong souchong, assam, or chicory tea at many grocery stores. You could also try ordering tea from online; I particularly like Adagio Teas. Or, even better idea: all that hard work of being pregnant, you definitely earned yourself a trip to a loose-leaf tea store. Just walk in and describe your favorite whiskey flavors, and they'll set you up with a tea to match them.

Interesting. I'd be curious to learn more about how design-minded people use binders and other filing systems to wrangle all the paper. It's the future, I shouldn't even have to use paper anymore!

I just eat brands from the "natural / organic" end of the aisle. Nature's Path makes a delicious multigrain cereal. If I feel I need it sweeter, I'll add maple syrup or dried fruit.

Or, conversely, if I'm stuck with an overly sweet cereal, I eat it with plain yogurt, cinnamon, and/or nuts sprinkled on top.The cinnamon and protein helps the body digest sugar better, and the sour tang of yogurt balances out the sweetness.

I don't think these are as bad as they look. The "cookie" name is just for fun. They're basically just round granola bars, and homemade granola bars are almost certainly healthier than store-bought ones. I'd probably suggest rounding one out with a hard-boiled egg; then you have a fairly decent portable breakfast.

I think this is a great idea to make store-bought bread both more natural and more shelf stable. This could allow fresh bread to go places it normally can't, and maybe help worldwide food distribution.

I'd just want to be sure that the microwaving process itself isn't adding anything weird to the bread or changing the molecules in a harmful way--for example, what are the loaves sitting on or in while they microwave?

Oh, sure, grandmothers have been doing this for ages. Baked in a loaf pan, potato bread is moist, tender, and great for sandwiches. As your article points out, potato is also the key ingredient for super-moist cinnamon rolls. Bonus: the potato lets you keep the cinnamon roll dough fairly lean, so you can bake them more often! Hooray for potatoes!