Hilary Meyer's Blog (Page 2)

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October 16, 2012 - 11:25am

4 secrets for the best slow cooker beef stew

By Hilary Meyer in Food Blog

When I was in culinary school we learned a lot about how to develop flavors. These methods usually involved high-end ingredients, a lot of prep time and sometimes following complicated procedures to get good results. Little did I know a much easier path to culinary greatness was sitting in my pantry the whole time I was sweating in a restaurant kitchen. That would be my slow cooker.

The humble slow cooker can turn out some pretty mean food if you know a few tricks. Not to mention it’s convenient, relatively inexpensive and very easy to use. (Dinner practically cooks itself!) Take EatingWell’s recipe for Flemish Beef Stew (see full recipe below), for example. In culinary school I would have been...

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TAGS: Cooking tips, Food Blog, Hilary Meyer

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October 9, 2012 - 12:51pm

How to cook amazing healthy recipes with bacon

By Hilary Meyer in Healthy Cooking Blog

It’s hard to deny that bacon possesses some magical qualities. It regularly gets people out of bed in the morning, it converts vegetarians to meat eaters. In fact I’m having a hard time writing this blog because all I can think about is bacon’s intoxicating aroma. Everything about bacon—its smoky perfume, its salty, yet subtly sweet bite—screams “Eat me! Eat lots of me!” But here’s where the fairy tale ends. If you sit down to a plate full of bacon, you will probably die. Okay, maybe not. If you sit down to a plate full of bacon, you will probably regret it.

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That...

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TAGS: Cooking tips, Healthy Cooking Blog, Hilary Meyer

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October 3, 2012 - 9:18am

5 perfect food pairings every good cook should know

By Hilary Meyer in Food Blog

We all know couples that just “work.” One person might be a talker and the other a listener. One might be flaky and the other one more organized. Whatever it is, successful couples are often complementary. The same goes for food. One element plays off the strength of another, making it a winning combination—a power couple, if you will (think peanut butter and jelly). Below are 5 fantastic food pairings that play well together. Stick with these and you’ll never be disappointed.

Pork and Apples:
Pork has a mild, unobtrusive flavor. It does well with anything that can give it a little jolt. However, the best pairing is with apples. Apples aren’t particularly strong flavor-wise, but they deliver both a sweet and slightly sour element that works well with the mildness of pork. Apples are meltingly tender...

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TAGS: Cooking tips, Food Blog, Hilary Meyer

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September 25, 2012 - 11:57am

The magic technique to get people to eat their greens

By Hilary Meyer in Food Blog

I used to always cook my dark leafy greens like kale, broccoli rabe and mustard greens to death. I did that because I thought I had to, to get rid of their sharp, cruciferous and often bitter taste. That’s probably why my husband met my “we’re having kale for dinner tonight, honey” announcement with something less than enthusiasm. He always politely choked the stuff down, but I bet he would rather have been eating castor oil.

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That’s until I...

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TAGS: Cooking tips, Food Blog, Hilary Meyer

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September 18, 2012 - 12:01pm

How to make the best homemade stuffed shells

By Hilary Meyer in Food Blog

I’m a sucker for stuffed pasta of any kind. I don’t care what shape it is, ravioli, manicotti, whatever, if it comes out of the oven swimming in red sauce, oozing and bubbling under a thick layer of melted cheese then I want in. Who doesn’t? It’s comfort food at its finest. Not so comforting is the fact that meals like these pack a mean punch in the fat and calories department (some upwards of 800 calories and 20 grams of saturated fat!). So to continue to enjoy stuffed pasta, I’ve committed to making my own at home. One recipe I go back to again and again is EatingWell’s Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells. You get all the ooey-gooey goodness of stuffed pasta right out the oven, with less fat and fewer calories. Here’s how we made them healthier:

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TAGS: Cooking tips, Food Blog, Recipe Makeover, Hilary Meyer

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