Growing Bolder Community

Recently, a friend of mine posted a link to a youtube cooking show. A young woman had put up about half a dozen videos of herself cooking. They were nicely edited and she was personable...but she was also terribly obese, and the recipes she demonstrated were horrifying concotions loaded with fat, sugar and salt. The first one I watched was a macaroni salad with sweetened condensed milk as its...

My neighbor Richard Scammell is a wonderful cook. Cooking is Richard's hobby, but when it comes to food preparation, Richard is a highly skilled and well-educated professional. (He's even traveled to Europe to take cooking classes.) Richard and I share a love of creative, healthful cooking. When I asked him for ideas that I could share with readers, he sent this simple recipe for Pollo alla...

Bring out the slow cooker and line the bottom with cut up potatoes. Place a whole fryer chicken on top of the potatoes. Surround the chicken with more cut up potatoes. Season to your liking. For me, lots of garlic, Italian seasoning, Lawry's seasoning salt, pepper, and a dab of apple pie spice. Chop up celery and make a ring around chicken. Add carrots and red bell pepper. Cook...

Because slow cookers work at low temperatures with lids on, there is hardly any liquid lost during cooking. With most cooking methods, the water in meats and vegetables turns to steam and evaporates. But with a slow cooker, there's nowhere for the steam to go--it just collects on the lid and bastes the food. So if you're inventing your own slow cooker recipes or adapting your favorite...

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Picasso. Our lives have been a linear sequence of education, work, babies, minivans, college tuition, and care-taking. There is no question the joy imbued in these stages is irreplaceable. But somewhere in this process it’s easy to lose parts of ourselves. We begin turning beige as color and joy seep...

Zippy Green Beans with Pecans Ingredients: Serve cold as a salad or warm as an accompaniment to a roast or steak ¼ cup Pecan Halves 1 lb Fresh Green Beans 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 tsp Vinegar Salt and pepper to taste 1/3 cup Flat-Leaf Parsley, chopped 1 oz Dry Cured Ham such as Prosciutto, Jambon de...

Exactly where this idea began I’m not sure but I imagine my father was the originator. What intrigues me is how he convinced my practical, level-headed mother to go along with it. Amazing. In truth, it probably wasn’t as bad an idea as it turned out to be. Everyone involved was well-intentioned. The problem was, no one had any experience in such an enterprise, certainly not my...