There’s nothing much better than the warm rich flavor of a fresh cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day. By “fresh”, I’m talking about using only real ingredients: cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla extract, maybe a light dash of salt, and milk. That’s it: pure, honest, and clean, which means using far fewer and much easier to pronounce ingredients than those found in a container or packet of instant hot chocolate powder that’s intended to be mixed with only hot water. Read more »
Posts Tagged ‘Bruce Tretter’
January 24th, 2015 
Blog 
Comments Off on Microwave Cooked Fresh Hot Chocolate: Quick, Easy, and All in Pictures Microwave Cooked Fresh Hot Chocolate: Quick, Easy, and All in Pictures
What Makes a Body Fit and the Power of Nutrition
From E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth
I’ve always wanted to know what it is inside our cells that makes them physically fit. The answer, as I found through reading The Science of Fitness (Nov. 2014) written by Dr. Mark Hom and endorsed by three time Tour de France winner Greg Lemond, is more and healthier mitochondria.
January 12th, 2015 Blog, Snacks, Vegetables Comments Off on Baked Kale Chips – Flavorful, Nutritious, and All in Pictures Baked Kale Chips – Flavorful, Nutritious, and All in Pictures
I don’t know what you chose for your new year’s resolutions, but I did see online that losing weight, getting fit, and eating more healthy foods are 3 of the top 10 resolutions people make. I know from personal experience those 3 resolutions are about the toughest for anyone to start let alone maintain for any meaningful period of time because they involve lifestyle change, which means changing the way we’ve become comfortable living – even if that comfort means doing things that are not at all good for our body and our minds. Read more »
January 7th, 2015 Blog, Vegetables Comments Off on Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Fries – Easy to Make & All in Pictures Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Fries – Easy to Make & All in Pictures
Oh baby, it’s cold outside! So how ’bout we warm things up with fully flavorful, richly nutritious, and easy to make oven roasted sweet potato fries.
First, a few tips.
- Sweet potatoes are packed with beneficial antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and blood sugar moderating properties. For details, I highly recommend this link to the very comprehensive sweet potato page on the World’s Healthiest Foods site:http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64.
- Adding some fat to cooked sweet potato in the form of a little butter or oil will help your body absorb and process the fat-soluble vitamins found in the vegetable, primarily, vitamin A. (This recipe uses a shot of canola oil cooking spray for roasting, which helps satisfy that need.)
- I prefer not peeling the skin from any potatoes as most of the nutrients reside both in the skin and just below the skin. Instead, I give the potatoes a good dirt cleaning scrub with an abrasive sponge (you can also use a brush or your bare hands) under cold running water as shown below.
December 30th, 2014 Bar Drinks, Blog, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes Comments Off on New Year’s Eve Sparkling Wine & Rum Punch Blast New Year’s Eve Sparkling Wine & Rum Punch Blast
This Sparkling Wine & Rum Punch Blast combines combines dry, crisp Italian Prosecco (sparkling wine) with white rum and the summery citrus flavors of lemon, lime, and orange for a great tasting, easy to make twist on the traditional New Year’s Eve bottle of champagne. Read more »
December 22nd, 2014 Bar Drinks, Blog, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes Comments Off on Fresh Mai Tai: Full-On Tropical Holiday Flavor – All in Pictures Fresh Mai Tai: Full-On Tropical Holiday Flavor – All in Pictures
All right, the winter holidays – every one of ‘em – is right here and now, and I sure wish you Happy Holidays!
The other day while I was in downtown Boston, a good friend of mine, Andrea, mentioned that she and her family were going to have a luau Christmas this year. Terrific! It turns out Andrea will be in charge of the drinks and was thinking about making mai tais. Great! “Only, I’m quite sure I know how to make them,” she said. No problem, I told her. I have a recipe – all in pictures – at my site. I drilled up the site on my phone to show her right then and there and realized that what I’d had available wasn’t quite as clear as wanted it to be. Again, no problem. That’s one of the beauties of working digitally.
I got home, reshot and rewrote the recipe, and now have it here good to go.
Turkey (Leftover) Nachos – In Pictures
Turkey nachos are great for a quick lunch or dinner or as a flavorful companion with your favorite drink when you’re watching sports or whatever you want to watch comfortably warm from the cold outside. All you need is your favorite corn (or any) chips, leftover turkey – or any other meat you might’ve had for Thanksgiving, canned beans (optional) and melted cheese topped with your choice or a combination of sliced avocado, chopped tomato, chopped onion, sour cream or plain yogurt and/or salsa. Read more »
November 28th, 2014 Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner Comments Off on How to Remove and Store Meat From a Turkey – All in Pictures How to Remove and Store Meat From a Turkey – All in Pictures
Now that Thanksgiving’s over – great holiday! – it’s time to think about leftovers that are limited only by your tasteful imagination…after first removing the meat from the turkey body and then storing that meat properly.
Yeah, I know: I used to dislike removing meat from a turkey, but now that I know how to do it about as efficiently as possible, I don’t mind the job at all. Read more »
November 27th, 2014 Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner Comments Off on Stress-Free Turkey Roast and Easy Thanksgiving Help – All in Pictures Stress-Free Turkey Roast and Easy Thanksgiving Help – All in Pictures
Happy Thanksgiving!
I love Thanksgiving because all that’s expected is good company and a great tasting meal. At the same time, I sure understand that putting together that fantastically flavorful meal can mean a good deal of stress for those in the kitchen. To help relieve that stress, here’s the easiest, most stress-free way I know to roast a moist and tender turkey, especially one that, like the majority of turkeys available, weighs less than 15 pounds. Read more »
November 18th, 2014 Blog, Grains Comments Off on Kamut: Nutritious Great Tasting Ancient Wheat – Picture Book Cooking Directions Kamut: Nutritious Great Tasting Ancient Wheat – Picture Book Cooking Directions
Ever since learning about flavorful, nutritious, and versatile quinoa (pronounced “keen-wah”) a few years ago, I’ve been looking for and experimenting with grains I’d never tried before. Recently, I found Kamut, which is a brandname derived from the ancient Egyptian word for “wheat”. Kamut, also known as khorasan wheat, is native to Afghanistan and Iran but is now grown in the US and Canada. Read more »
