Tag: garlic

Eight made the cut. One will win the crown. Meet your 2012 Gilroy Garlic Queen contestants – in no particular order.

The last few weeks, I’ve tried to transform some meals that I like into healthier options. I love quesadillas, but I rarely ever order them when I eat out at a taqueria or make them at home. But when I found the recipe for veggie quesadillas, it seemed like a great way to make a favorite dish a little bit healthier. The one change we made to the recipe was to cook the vegetables before putting them into the quesadillas so they are tender instead of crispy. The recipe can be altered to include other vegetables such as asparagus, mushrooms, bell peppers and yellow onions.

Polish your garlic press and start practicing mincing Gilroy’s aromatic tenant because the 34th Great Garlic Cook-Off is now accepting recipes.

Whenever I try a recipe for the first time, I make notes of ways to improve it in the future if it doesn’t come out quite up to my expectations. One of the things about cooking with recipes is that there is always room to improve on them a bit and it’s totally fine to tweak them.

In reporting on changes to school lunches last week, the new federal recommendations include offering more fruits and vegetables with the daily meals. And schools will be offering more than celery sticks and oranges each day. One of the new directives is the idea of eating a “rainbow” of fruits and vegetables each week.

For those who are not into football - or whose favorite team just missed the big game by three points as happened for so many 49er fans recently - the only reason to watch the Super Bowl might be for the snacks.

I had minestrone soup twice this week - with a different flavor profile and a different mix of vegetables each time.

I've made chilaquiles at home once, and it's a tasty snack. But the tortilla chips-and-cheese dish isn't really substantial - or healthy enough - to be a full meal. But with a few improvements, thanks to a Rachael Ray cookbook, the flavors of chilaquiles can be turned into a real meal.