I challenge you.

I was thinking today. Cooking at home, more or less from scratch (no boxes, cans only where appropriate) is cheaper, healthier (unless you add bacon to everything, like I do), and better tasting. Not an original thought, certainly, but one I had.

We are currently, to use an economics term, a bunch of broke-ass bitches. And, to use a public health term, a nation of lard-asses. Cooking at home is good your health, financial and otherwise. On to the challenge.

Each Monday (or whatever day works for you), you have three tasks. Post pics, and use the hashtag #mondaymeals if you could be so kind.

1. Make a cheap meal, from scratch, that makes you smile. This isn’t a contest; it doesn’t have to be fancy. You just have to like it, and it has to be cheap. Split pea soup with ham? Sure. Pasta with homemade marinara? Absolutely.
2. Make enough to bring for lunch on Tuesday.
3. Do one thing to facilitate quick/easy cooking later in the week. Make stock with aging veggies, roast a squash and stash it in the fridge, or clean and de-bone a big package of chicken thighs. Do whatever is going to make dinner later in the week easier to make than buy out.

Who’s in?

via Nathan

Though, I would be more than happy to make it a contest. With the cheapest, best looking, best tasting meal being the winner.

via - Fark

It pretty much involves using a threaded rod to attach multiple baskets together. I only have one thing to add to his how-to, make absolutely sure to use stainless steel hardware. I’m pretty sure that everyone can agree that oxidizing metal is not good eats.

Hot on the heels of this research, an editorial in The Lancet points out that some of the most delicious “dark” chocolates have had all of the good stuff (flavanols) removed and are instead just loaded with delicious sugar and fat. Both of which will cause your heart to seize like the 1.5L engine in a ‘85 blue Honda Civic run for 600 miles without any oil… While there’s no good, consistent way to tell if the heart healthy goods have been removed, chances are that if the words “milk” or “sweetened” appear anywhere on the packaging you might as well just inject a syringe full of beef fat right into your heart. On the bright side, if you do have a weakness for truly dark chocolate you can eat it knowing only the fat content is causing the hardening of your arteries and that the flavanols are doing there best to keep you alive.

We’re still happy to offer full-article feeds, ad-free. You shouldn’t notice any difference — but we’ll be able to keep track of things a bit better.

The researchers seem to think that people saw these useless, discarded cacao seeds, roasted them and then made a horrible bitter drink that then took off and has become the fantabulous variety of chocolates we have today—which seems reasonable enough. The end of the article is a little bizarre with a random chef discussing how this research could:

… fuel creativity and spark the imagination of chocolatiers and chefs. … As a result, we get new ideas about using chocolate in savory as well as sweet dishes and about pairing the flavors of chocolate with other flavors, too.

I really don’t see how the discovery that chocolate was found earlier than previously thought will change the way we experiment with chocolate. I suppose it would be interesting to see someone do something like oh, say, a savory sauce made with chocolate and peppers. What I want to know is what this fermented cacao fruit drink tastes like.

… the only thing that will ever make a difference in the consistent quality of your photos is practice. You can’t learn it from a blog post, a book, a manual, it doesn’t come embedded in pricy [sic] prosumer technology — you simply need to take pictures of every single thing that you see.

The same is, of course, true for cooking, writing, programming, etc.

I also recommend checking out the smitten kitchen flickr stream for a constant dose of mouth-watering pictures.

So imagine my excitement when Dan Cederholm, one of the original creators of Cork’d and web designer supreme, announced his new beer-themed service today: Foamee.

And imagine my disappointment when the service turns out to be not equivalent to Cork’d on any front, but just a Twitter log of who owes who a beer on the Internet. I got out of bed for this?

Now, I’m not saying I’m against the idea; I’m not immune to the siren call of bacon-flavored popcorn or French fries. But Bacon Salt, which comes in Original, Hickory Smoked, and Peppered flavors, contains such appetizing ingredients as MSG, Disodium Guanylate, and Yellow 6. I’m also not sure what to make of the Hickory flavor, which is apparently vegan. Vegans, is there an unmet demand for delicious bacon-y products amongst your ranks?

Bacon Salt sells for $4.49 a pop. I remain skeptical, but does anyone have any real experience with this?