It's ALIVE!!!

Greetings, everyone!

It has been a LONG time since my last update and I do apologize. Life in the non-cyber world ran away with me, I'm afraid. I'm back now, though, and I do have some new recipes and information that I hope you'll find interesting.

For starters, I want to tell you about a terrific book that I find really valuable for cooking with alternative ingredients. It's The Food Substitutions Bible by David Joachim. Fabulous! As it says on its cover, there are more than 5,000 suggested substitutions for a really staggering aray of ingredients and equipment.

What if you are fresh out of kefalotyri? What if, like me, you didn't even know what it was? Well, no problem. It can be interchanged, ounce for ounce with pecorino romano or parmesan, just to give you two options. There are even more listed in the book!

What if you are in a pastry sort of mood but don't have pie weights? Try dried beans. Just that simple.

I particularly like that the book is set up in simple, sensible alphabetical order. Just look up the ingredient you need to change out and you'll have a list of alternatives before you. It can't take care of every possible change you might need, but it is a big help. It can trigger all sorts of ideas, too. Once you see how some ingredients can be switched for others, you might be inspired to try some changes of your own.

I picked up my copy at Border's Books and it is available from Amazon.com, as well. Give it a look and tell me what you think!

In the meantime, let's go eat that!