Color Your World - the Spicy Way

Here in the Northeast with blustering winds and pristine white snowdrifts, eventually turning into ruddy mounds of grayish, granular ice blocks, I have fond memories of my herbal garden. Without seasonal fresh herbs to enhance my homecooked meals to come alive, I turn to my winter friends.

Chilly winter months have me craving warm, hearty meals. This is when I enter my Spice World. Vibrant colors and flavors heat up my culinary visions, inspiring me to crank-up my creations in the kitchen. Soups and stews emerge into pure comfort for my aching tastebuds. The visual depth of colors in my Spice World transport their flavors throughout my culinary endeavors and into an embrace of warmth.

Get to know your friends in your Spice World. Spice-up your winter months.

The Souper

Couscous or Quinoa - Question of the day (repost)

Do you know the answer to this question of the day?

I am so pleased to have the answer to the culinary question of what to serve as a side dish besides rice, pasta or potatoes. The answer for me is both couscous and quinoa. Both are easy and fast to prepare. Both are easy to up the nutrition with added veggies. Both make a colorful addition to my dinner plate. This makes me very happy. Nice to know I can offer a glutenfree choice to family and friends with quinoa also.

I prefer to use Couscous Grande or Israeli Couscous found in supermarkets usually in the aisle with rice and pastas. These two variations of couscous are little tiny round balls of pasta. Follow cooking instructions on the package. It cooks up within a few minutes. This is a go-to carb when you don't know what to serve with your meal of chicken, meat or fish.

Sauteeing veggies of choice in regular olive oil with garlic and onions enhances the couscous dish as well as stretches the number of servings. Make extra for another meal the next day. Cook once, eat twice!

Quinoa is so easy to prepare and so healthy for you. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is also found in supermarkets in the aisle with rice and pastas. Follow the cooking instructions on the package. It will say give a quick rinse of this small grain first. Again, very easy to do. Serve as is after fluffing up when cooked, like rice. Add sauteed veggies for added flavor, color and nutrients as you would with a rice dish or a couscous dish.

Enjoy

A Good Chip - my secret ingredient

I am thrilled to include a good-tasting product to compliment my soups or appetizers. I am not being paid to promote Food Should Taste Good products. Just wanted to share with you and give a mention to a quality product that never disappoints me. With many flavors to choose from I find the Multi-Grain is my favorite. The list of healthy ingredients is incredible and all their chips are gluten-free. The size of the chips, the firmness and the crunch-factor make these chips so versatile.

Along with a bowl of my Chill Buster Soup aka My Veggie Soup, I enjoy crunching-up a handful of the Multi-Grain chips into my steaming bowl of spicy soup. This is a perfect match for my tastebuds. A handy mix-in when cheese is not available or small pasta is not cooked and ready to add into the bowl of soup. I always have a bag or two of these chips to snack on or dip into salsa, hummus or top with a small piece of good cheese.

The packaging alone speaks about how this company cares about their product. Check out the list of their ingredients and charities they support. I feel satisfied when I purchase a bag, or several, of Food Should Taste Good chips because they are a local company here in MA and give back to causes via their support. Bravo.

Here is the link to their website: http://www.foodshouldtastegood.com/#/home/
Friend them on Facebook, sign-up for coupons.

Let me know when you have tried one flavor of Food Should Taste Good chips

The Souper