Ah, All-Clad. But is it worth it?

Okay, look. I drool over All-Clad cookware like the rest of us. I often wonder if it's a scam and I am merely falling for a pretty pan.

But I don't think that's true. Every test and comparison I've ever seen or read about always puts the All-Clad at the top. And this is why my very few All-Clad pans are prized possessions. They say an All-Clad pan is becomes an heirloom; your grandchildren will be cooking out of it, someday. I hope that's true.

I found a blog post where they answered the question: "Why is All-Clad cookware so much more expensive than Cuisinart or other brands? Are the materials and construction far superior, or are we just paying for the All-Clad name?"

And I very much appreciate the answer. The two best tips from this article are:

• Because All-Clad pots are so costly, skip the sets that stores like Williams-Sonoma push. Instead, we suggest you buy just one pan at first.


• Buy irregulars. The 2 quart sauce pan is $139.95 on Amazon and $140 at Sur La Table. The same pan -- as an irregular -- is $95.20 at Cookware 'n More. That's a savings of more than 30%. Cookware 'n More runs occasional sales that cut the prices even lower!

Menu Plan for the Week (belated)

So remember when I mentioned I travel to San Francisco regularly for work? Well, guess where I am this week. :-)

But I still have a menu plan -- in order to cut costs while I'm gone, I always cook up a storm of food to leave in the fridge for hubby. The trick with these menu plans is coming up with meals that make a big batch and that last for a few days in the fridge. In fact, ideally, they get better with a little age! I look for the recipes that are even better the next day after the flavors have melded a bit.

So this week, hubby's eating the following while I'm gone:

• Chili (made with turkey instead of beef)
• Quinoa Pilaf with extra veggies

What are your favorite make-ahead recipes that make great leftovers and last for a while? I'm particularly interested in any casserole recipes you might know of....

I Won, I Won!

Omigosh! Look what I won: a copy of Eating Close to Home by Elin England! THANK YOU, Our Home Works! Yay!

Here's what I'll be reading and what I promise to share with you as I make my way through this book:

In this book, local author Elin England put together a compendium of simple, well-tested recipes using local, seasonal ingredients. The book is arranged by seasons and even has a handy chart depicting the availability of Pacific Northwest fruits and vegetables. As a bonus, Elin is graciously sharing 10% of the proceeds with Willamette Farm & Food Coalition.

Yay and yum. I can't wait. This is a perfect companion read to what hubby's reading these days because he won the lottery for a community garden plot! I'll share pics of our little 16' x 22' patch of organic community garden goodness soon.

(As an aside, Our Home Works is on my current list of heroes because they just got chickens!!! Check 'em out. I hope to follow in their footsteps someday.)

So Whaddya Think?

There certainly have been a lot of changes around here lately!

What do you think of the new look?

I loved this template when I first saw it. And now I've looked at it for so long I no longer have an objective eye. I can't tell if it's the right look for Dena's Recipe Exchange. I think it is. But I very well may change it to something else later today. And perhaps something else after that, in a month or two. I am currently pondering all my options. I really would love to have a banner photo in the header.

Will you help me figure out if this template works? What do you think?



P.S. Template is thanks to the amazingly cute Yummy Lolly -- check out her other adorable templates!

Doing the Happy Dance

WOW!

A link to my Farmer's Market Photo Essay is one of the featured headlines in the BlogHer ad network today!

I'm over the moon.

Yummy Creamy FAGE Yogurt

I don't know if you've heard about this already, but FAGE Yogurt is giving away a case of yogurt every day this week!

I know I'm a little late in getting this info out to you, but it's not about how early you got into the game -- anyone can win.

Why I love FAGE yogurt: I travel to San Francisco for work quite a bit -- about once every six weeks -- and I always stay with my beloved friend Winston. Traveling upsets the daily routine, and one way I've come up with to make sure I still have a healthy breakfast while I'm away from home that is easy, cheap, and not too perishable (so Winston doesn't have to babysit whatever I'm eating before and after I go) is a simple breakfast of yogurt with some granola and cut-up fruit -- things that Winston has on hand on a regular basis anyway. And Winston's a regular Trader Joe's shopper just like me, so quite often the yogurt I get to have for breakfast at his house is the creamy and delicious FAGE.

In short, I love FAGE because it is yummy, healthy, easy, and awaits me while I'm traveling in San Francisco.

Why do you love FAGE? Leave your comment on the contest site and hopefully you'll be a winner! If you are, please let me know!

Every day do something that won't compute

Happy Earth Day!

I just had to re-post this poem today of all days. The warmth and renewal of spring is inspiring, and made me think of this poem.

Today I am grateful for Wendell Berry and everyone who is committing, whether for the first time or the thousandth, to taking action to preserve our most precious resource: our wondrous, mysterious, generous, and sacred planet.

Practicing resurrection indeed.

The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.



As a first step, how about using a reusable aluminum water bottle instead of plastic water bottles? Every and anything we can do to prevent this from growing will help. (Scary, but true: it's a Texas-sized "island" of (mostly plastic) trash floating in the Pacific.)

Farmer's Market Photo Essay

Riding our bikes there....

Stopping to smell the flowers on the way....

Delicious oyster mushrooms!

Picked up a quick bite to eat....

Organic, grass-fed beef for our grill...from a farm only 20 minutes away!

Look at those collard greens!

Menu Plan for the Week

Oh what a beautiful day!!!

It is 80 degrees here in Eugene. Sunny and blue and just everything you could want out of a mid-April day.

Made me want to sing this this morning:



We did make it to the Farmer's Market on Saturday, on our bikes, after hitting the library book sale. What a perfect day!

And here's what we'll be eating in Casa Dena this week, thanks to the bounty we found at the Farmer's Market. Anything in green came from the Farmer's Market and is local!

• Monday: Grilled grass-fed hamburgers from Deck Family Farm, asparagus, and arugula salad
• Tuesday: Trader Joe's Thai Veggie Potstickers with Baby Bok Choy and Broccoli
• Wednesday: Out to cheap and casual dinner with friends
• Thursday: Quinoa Pilaf with Oyster Mushrooms (did you know that 2 cups of oyster mushrooms has 19 grams of protein?!?!?!)
• Friday: Turnip Raab and Garbanzo Bean Rice
• Saturday: Date Night

Mmmmm.... tasty, seasonal, and healthy. Can't wait to grill burgers outside in the warm evening air tonight!

What are you eating this week?

Farmer's Markets

I don't know where you live, but here in Eugene, Oregon, spring has really sprung and everyone's feeling it all over.

An interesting thing about living here in Oregon is that unlike in California (from where we moved 8 months ago), farmer's markets don't usually run year-round. At least the Eugene one doesn't, anyway. It runs until November 14th, with a mini-extension at the Holiday Market through the end of December. After that, we're all waiting and watching and hoping until April!

Well my friends, the Eugene Farmer's Market is back and it is beautiful and wondrous. It's actually been another really cool signifier of the change in seasons and of spring's gracing our part of the globe.... Cherry blossoms, daffodils, magnolias, singing birds, longer days, sun higher in the sky, and the farmer's market!

Part of my meal planning for the week now includes stopping at the farmer's market every Saturday to see what bounty catches my eye. Whatever looks good, we buy. From those ingredients, I craft my menu plan. It's kind of fun and interesting, a backwards way of planning. Keeps things fresh around here. Plus it celebrates the season perfectly.

Wherever you are, I hope you're near a farmer's market. And I hope you take a chance and stop by -- the produce will be unparalleled, and the experience of shaking your food's grower's hand and handing over cash directly to them is immensely gratifying.

As Earth Day approaches, I am saluting my local farmers. And hoping to keep them in business. We need them now more than ever.

Chag Pesach Sameach!

Which means "Happy Passover" in Hebrew. :-)

Tonight's the first night of Passover, when many families hold their seders. If you're looking for a good recipe, check out my Passover feast recipes and dessert recipe.

And something I just had to share with you, in case you haven't been following the OBAMAFOODORAMA blog like I have: the Obamas are hosting the first-ever Presidential White House seder!

According to a White house spokes person, the Obamas will hold a Passover seder tomorrow at the White House, on the second night of the Jewish holiday. It's apparently the first time a president has actually hosted a seder at the White House; President Clinton allowed seders to be held, but did not attend.

Holy guacamole. That is so awesome. I wonder if they'll be looking for good recipes?

We'll be attending a friend's seder tomorrow night -- vegan style! So I'm guessing there will be a beet on the seder plate instead of a shank bone and a flower instead of an egg? We'll see!

Off to make some delicious chocolate matzoh!

Best Blog of the Week

I came across this blog and *had* to share it with you!!! Especially pertinent today what with the G-20 and all that jazz.

I will simply leave you the link and let you peruse on your own. It is freaking genius and hilarious. And what's more, I find myself interested! I'm like, "Oooh Jamie Oliver is cooking for them? Cool! He's serving local lamb? Cool!" Good lord.

Obama Foodorama
A Daily Diary of The Obama Foodscape, One Bipartisan Byte At A Time