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All About Walnut Oil from La Tourangelle

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La Tourangelle is a family-owned company that produces outstanding nut and seed oils, with heritage in the Loire Valley of France, an area known for nut oils. Their toasted sesame, roasted walnut, roasted peanut and roasted pistachio oils are all award winners. The company began in 2002 in Woodland, California and their nut oils are all expeller pressed and are GMO-free. Their walnut, almond, hazelnut, pecan and pistachio oil are made in house and their almonds and walnuts come from California.  Earlier this year I got a chance to visit the La Tourangelle mill and also a farm that supplies some of their nuts. Bullseye Farms grows tomatoes, cucumbers, hay, and nuts sustainably on about 16,000 acres. They have 500 acres of walnuts and they use a black walnut rootstock which is resistant to diseases. The walnuts are a cross between different varieties and are self pollinators. You might be surprised to learn that ugly nuts make the best oil. It’s the variety of different nuts rather than
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Cherry Cranberry Chutney Recipe

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It's #canbassador time again. That means I get a big box of cherries from the Northwest Cherry Growers and head into the kitchen to do some canning. Last year I finally bit the bullet and purchased a canner. It's not terribly expensive and stacks inside one of my stockpots. I generally can small batches and this time around I decided to make chutney with the help of my pal Alison. She shared the ingredients she would use and I tweaked the proportions. The first rule of cooking with fruit is you need to taste it. How sweet is it? How juicy is it? That should guide your recipe.  Adapt the recipe based on your preferences and the quality of your fruit.   My cherries turned out to be very juicy so I added some dried fruit towards the end of the cooking to thicken the mixture. While this chutney has a great sweet and sour flavor, someone in my household actually used it in place of jam on toast. So far I've used it on grilled cheese sandwiches and on lamb chops. How you use it i
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Cotton Candy Baked Donuts

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  Cotton Candy Baked Donuts 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 salt, 1/2 buttermilk 1/3 cup packed brown sugar  1 egg  4 teaspoons unsalted melted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup cotton candy Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray  donut pan  with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda & salt. In small bowl, whisk buttermilk, sugar, egg, butter & vanilla until smooth. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; whisk until blended & smooth. Fold in pieces of cotton candy. Spoon batter into a large zip-lock bag. Cut off a corner & squeeze batter into each donut cup, about 1/3 full. Tap pan on counter to evenly spread batter into cups. Bake 10 minutes or until tops of donuts spring back when touched. Cool in pan 3-4 minutes; remove to cooling rack. Cool completely before decorating. Glaze : 1 cup confectioner's sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, 1-2 drops  cotton candy flavoring , 1-2 drops red food coloring. Combine all ingredients unti
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Cotton Candy Heart Cookie Pops

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  These heart-shaped sugar cookie pops topped with delicate, fluffy clouds of strawberry cotton candy, make the perfect treat for your next Valentine's party. Sprinkle them with edible gold hearts for that extra wow factor, your guests will  love  them! Stuff You'll Need: - your favorite sugar cookie recipe - a heart cookie cutter - pastry bag or zip-lock bag - your favorite cookie frosting - pink food coloring - spatula - edible gold hearts (Michael's) - pink cotton candy ( Sweet Puff Candy ) Prepare your sugar cookies & insert lollipop sticks before baking according to your recipe. Tint frosting with pink food coloring. Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting. Gently top with cotton candy and sprinkle with edible gold hearts (optional).
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The Best 3-Ingredient Cookbook Review & Roasted Grapes and Yogurt Recipe

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The Best 3-Ingredient Cookbook by Toby Amidor is a book a lot of people could use right now. If you are feeling like you can’t face cooking anymore, don’t know how to cook, have very little in your fridge or pantry or are cooking for fussy eaters, it solves the question: What should I eat? Eat, not cook, because some of the recipes don’t even require using the oven or stove.   I don’t remember exactly when I met Toby but we have been on several press trips together. She’s a dietician, but also a home cook and I can attest she thoroughly enjoys eating. Her recipes are good reminders of what you can do with very little but also include some really ingenious things you probably haven’t seen before. She has a 3 ingredient oatmeal raisin cookie and two-grain free pancake recipes, one for pumpkin oat pancakes and another for peanut butter banana pancakes.   The book has recipes that are for every meal including snacks and treats, and have codes to indicate things like whether they are freez
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Pasta with Eggplant, Olives and Capers Recipe

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October is both National Italian Heritage Month and National Pasta Month. In honor of both, I’m sharing a recipe for pasta with tomato-based sauce, and hosting a giveaway and post sponsored by  TheGreatestTomatoesofEurope .                                                                                                                                   While nothing can beat a fresh ripe juicy tomato, for sauce, canned tomatoes might be even better because they are peeled and cook so quickly. When it comes to Italian style tomato sauces you’ll see many recipes specify San Marzano tomatoes. The official name is actually Pomodoro San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino DOP, in English DOP means Protected Designation of Origin.  A lot of tomatoes are labeled San Marzano, but are not grown and harvested according to the strict requirements of the DOP. If you try to find information about them it can be a little confusing and frankly, many food publications seem to miss the point of why you
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Lay's Supports Iconic Restaurants & You Should Too

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I don’t have to tell you that restaurants are suffering. In the beginning of the pandemic many launched GoFundMe style campaigns to try and stay afloat. Restaurants also keep pivoting from offering pantry staples to meal kits, cooking classes, take out, delivery and more to make up for the loss of their normal business.   Independent restaurants numbered 500,000 before the pandemic and employed over 11 million people according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition and some industry analysts believe 2/3 of restaurants will not survive the crisis in the US. Yelp data shows 26,160 restaurants have closed as of the end of July.  Restaurants are pushing for a $120B Independent Restaurant Revitalization Fund. You can ask your representatives to support this initiative .   Since 2104 Lay’s has offered limited edition “flavor icon” potato chips that honor classic dishes. In past years there’s been Everything Bagel and Cream Cheese, Fried Green Tomato, and even Crispy Taco. This year they
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