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Let's Dish: What Foods Do You Eat For Good Luck?

YumSugar — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:00:23 -0700

Maybe it was the luck of the Irish, but yesterday's festivities got me thinking about fortuitous foods. Whenever anyone in my family travels, my mother prepares a large pot of Ping An Mien, the Chinese chicken noodle soup pictured above, for safe travels. Before my friend Jaime ran her first marathon, she had to eat a certain dish at her favorite Italian restaurant for good luck, and many Southerners will tell you they can't start a new year on the right foot without black-eyed peas. Tell me, what are your lucky foods?

Was This Dish Named After Someone?

YumSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:50:47 -0800

Call it a predilection, an idée fixe, or simply a weird fascination, but I've always had a penchant for Continental dishes with unique names and even more intriguing histories. But it wasn't until I took the time to look up some of the foods that I realized many of the dishes aren't just named after their creator or an inspirational figure, but also other oddities, like locales, plays, and even battles.

Since many of you scored so well with your food trivia the first time around, just for kicks, I thought I'd test you again. If you're just getting started, here's the drill: I'll list an unusually named dish, and you have to guess whether it was named after a person or not. Ready? Go!

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Let's Dish: What Foods Do You Look For at The Fair?

YumSugar — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:50:54 -0700

Next month, some of my friends are making the trek out to Sacramento from the Bay Area to hit up the California State Fair, where a number artists - including one of my favorite country music stars - is performing. But the state fair doesn't have to put on an elaborate musical production to get me to show up; I'd be there for the food alone! After all, who can say no to mile-high strawberry daiquiris, elephant ears, garlic fries, and those giant smoked turkey legs?

My personal can't-miss item at any festival or fair is the funnel cake, which I always get because I'll never make it at home. What do you enjoy at Summer fairs?

Source: Flickr User Jamiesrabbits

Name That Soul Food!

YumSugar — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:30:58 -0700

With the Fourth of July fast approaching, I've been in the mindset of paying homage to my favorite American foods. But as much as I love our country's biggest icons - like hot dogs and hamburgers - there's one genre of American cuisine that can't go overlooked, and that's soul food. This month is National Soul Food Month, so I thought I'd test your knowledge of traditional African-American Southern cuisine. How good are you at spotting supper with soul? Find out when you take our quiz.

stu_spivack's photostream

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Healthy Carrot Soufflé

FitSugar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:50:12 -0800

When my sister moved to Georgia a few years ago, I had the chance to spend Thanksgiving with her. Amongst all the dishes on the table was a Southern staple that I thought about for months after coming home - brown sugar and maple glazed carrots. I wanted to make this dish at my own Thanksgiving dinner this year, but was shocked to find out how much sugar and butter the recipe calls for. I decided to try and make my own healthy alternative to the dish and I think you'll be happy with the results.

There's barely any butter in my version and the dish has much, much less sugar. I also decided to make it into a souffle (I'm using the term loosely here!) to cut back on oil and give it a creamier taste and texture. This would be a great side dish for your Thanksgiving meal and it's an awesome replacement for a candied yam dish - carrots have fewer calories than yams and are exploding with vitamin A. Chances are your guests won't even know the difference!

Check out the recipe when you read more.

Healthy Carrot Soufflé
original recipe

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds of peeled, cut carrots
1/3 cup of plain lowfat yogurt
2 eggs and 1 egg white, beaten
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
Pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Steam carrots until tender, about 20 - 25 minutes.
Place carrots in a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.
Combine yogurt, eggs, butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract into the carrots.
Pulse in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt to the mixture.
Transfer mixture to a 2-quart baking dish that has been lightly coated with cooking spray or butter.
Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until set and firm.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

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Let's Dish: What's Your Favorite Weird Food Combination?

YumSugar — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:15:03 -0700

At a recent restaurant outing, a friend and I ordered an appetizer that was an unusual (but not unheard of) combination of flavors: gruyère cheese and Fuji apples.

The combination of melted cheese and apples has always been a favorite of mine, and it made me ponder the other unusual pairings that I've loved in my lifetime. As a 5-year-old, I wrapped Kraft singles around my bananas. In college, my roommate got me hooked on canned tuna with cottage cheese. And these days, I enjoy chips in my sandwich.

I'd love to hear your confessions: What are the unusual (or even gross sounding) food combinations that appeal to you?

Let's Dish: What Are Your Guilty Pleasure Foods?

YumSugar — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:15:24 -0700

Whenever I interview chefs, I always ask: "What's your favorite guilty pleasure food?" Of course, my definition of "guilty pleasure" is quite different from, say, FitSugar's. I don't consider it a guilty pleasure if it's high in fat or calories; that is a mere pleasure.

No, I'm talking about the food that you don't want your foodie friends to know you eat, whether it's Totino's frozen pizza rolls or "cappuccino" from 7-Eleven. Obviously, I make no secret of the fact that I'll eat pretty much anything, so now it's time for you to 'fess up. What foods do you secretly adore?

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Let's Dish: What Foods Did You Once Dislike But Now Love?

YumSugar — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:00:31 -0700

Most of the food lovers I know were pickier eaters as kids. Over the years, as we try more foods, we discover that tastes we once disliked have transformed into deliciousness. I don't know about you, but once I start liking a new food, I can't get enough of it. When I first realized I liked brussels sprouts, I went on a serious brussels sprouts eating binge. Does this happen to you? What formerly reviled foods do you now get excited to eat?

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Let's Dish: What's the Grossest Thing You've Found in Food?

partysugar — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:15:24 -0700

Last Friday, YumSugar discovered a random strand of blue thread in her salad. It was disgustingly attached to a piece of feta cheese. We got to talking about gross things we've come across in restaurant food. Whether it's as simple as a piece of hair or as gag inducing as a rat, we've all had bad experiences with finding things in our food. It's time for you to spill the beans: what's the grossest thing you've come across?

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Let's Dish: What Food Words Absolutely Disgust You?

partysugar — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:15:24 -0700

Yesterday Yum and I got to talking about the word "tater." While I have nothing against potatoes, tater tots, or the pocket-stuffing scene from Napoleon Dynamite, I can't stand the word "tater." Something about it rubs me the wrong way. Same thing goes for the word yield. I'm not exactly sure what I dislike about it, but I prefer to say "makes" or "serves" instead of "yield" when describing the amount of food a recipe produces. Yes, hating certain food-related words is totally illogical, but I'm not alone - many of you abhor the word moist.

So throw logic to the wind and get it off your chest: what food words drive you crazy?

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