Healthy, tasty and unusual snack: East Indian Popcorn

Nov 28, 2009 by

This totally different popcorn recipe is a simple, quick and easy way to make a healthy and delicious homemade snack for kids or adults.  Popcorn is actually nutritious, if it’s not slathered in unnatural grease and tons of salt. This curry-spiced version is full of interesting flavors and textures.

When I first came across a Food & Wine cookbook recipe for “Indian Popcorn,” I looked for the “nigella seeds,” aka “black onion seeds,” it called for. Not finding them, I substituted sesame seeds. They ended up burnt to a crisp on the bottom of the pan.

Since then, my garlic chive plants have blossomed and are now dropping their little black seeds. I thought maybe I could use those seeds…

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Top 8 things to cut expenses on so you can spend more on quality groceries

Oct 23, 2009 by

  1. Restaurant meals
  2. Soda
  3. Junky snacks
  4. Cable TV
  5. Movies in the theater
  6. Electronic gadgets and video games
  7. New cars
  8. New clothes

Related post: “Reaching the Promised Land: Home Style or Restaurant” Style? https://www.thehappydinnertable.com/2009/09/28/reaching-the-promised-land-home-style-or-restaurant-style/

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“Tuna on Tuna” or Fresh Tuna with Tuna-Pickle Sauce

Jul 10, 2009 by

Stock tuna I only recently really discovered fresh tuna. I might have eaten it a time or two before, but recently I found such a recipe and such tuna!  It’s one of the most delicious things I’ve made lately.

Quite a different animal from canned tuna, good fresh tuna is worth the expense once in awhile.

While our gourmet grocery store, Central Market, sells sushi- or sashimi-grade tuna for $16 a pound, it’s only $8.99 at HEB, the average-Joe grocery owned by the same company. So it seems like a bargain, though I think that’s still pretty steep. The four of us can put away $14 worth of fish with no leftovers. Yet, it’s a real steal…

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The Caveman Salad Solution: Fast Food for Little Gourmets

May 21, 2009 by

TV Caveman

REAL CAVEMEN eat salad with fruit, even though it may sound like a bit of a girly lunch.

“I am all about salads with fruit now,” I told my husband last week during our lunch at home while our kids were at school. I had fixed for the two of us Watermelon and Arugula Salad with Walnuts. It was dressed with orange juice, lime juice, raspberry vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil. It also included a little dry ricotta salata cheese.  It was offbeat, but tasty, I thought.

A week or two earlier, I had made Watermelon Gazpacho. Gazpacho is usually basically a raw vegetable salad (no…

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Kid-Friendly Gourmet Recipe on the Cheap with a Few Strategic Replacements

Apr 23, 2009 by

I found a recipe that sounded yummy, healthy, quick and easy in my Food & Wine 2008 annual cookbook: “Italian Tuna, Green Olive and Tangerine Salad on Grilled Bread.”

So I headed to Central Market, where they have almost anything under the sun, including run-of-the-mill items, to look for the ingredients. I was pretty sure I’d find everything I needed there.

I started out by looking for the prescribed jar, not can, of “Italian tuna in olive oil.”  Who…

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