CK Friday Links--Friday December 21, 2012

Links from around the internet. As always, I welcome your thoughts.

PS: Follow me on Twitter!

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Remember CK's post on how so little of the real economic value of so-called Fair Trade chocolate gets manufactured in-country? Well, finally that's changing. (Rice and Beans)

Why grains are unhealthy. (Mark's Daily Apple)

If you make changes to your diet or exercise habits, get ready for the inevitable "Extinction Burst." (You Are Not So Smart)

Recipe Links:
Easy and delicious: Crispy Chicken Thighs with Prunes. (Beyond Salmon)

Salted and Spiced Homemade Peanut Butter. (Food In Jars)

Off-Topic Links:
Screw the 10,000 hour rule and stop trying to be an "expert." It's a distraction. (A Smart Bear)

Too much data wrecks our decision making and leaves us vulnerable. (Psychology Today)

Do you have an interesting article or recipe? Want a little extra traffic at your blog? Send me an email!


How can I support Casual Kitchen?
For those readers interested in supporting Casual Kitchen, the easiest way is to do so is to do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site. You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.

Share YOUR Best Post of 2012!

Did you write an article or a recipe for your blog during 2012 that you're particularly proud of? Would you like to put it in front of a wider audience?

Then share it right here at Casual Kitchen!

One of my key goals here is to match thoughtful readers with thought-provoking things that ought to be read. I've been running this feature at CK for a few years now, and every year I've been overjoyed with how many great posts readers have shared and cross-fertilized here.

So for today's post, I'd like to give the floor to you, and give you a chance to use Casual Kitchen to get the word out on your best work from the past year. It's my way of thanking you for your incredible support.

Here's how to participate: Just paste a link to your favorite post or your best recipe from 2012 in the comments section below, and add a sentence or two on what it's about. That's it! It can be your most popular recipe of the year, a great piece of food writing, or even something from outside of the world of food blogs.

PS: If you don't have a blog (or if you're one of the very few bloggers who don't want new readers), feel free to share a great post from someone else who you read and enjoy. Nothing wrong with spreading the link love around.

Finally, as Casual Kitchen wraps up its sixth (sixth!!!) year, let me take a moment to thank you, my incredible readers. I can't tell you how grateful I am for all your support, insights, feedback and comments.


How can I support Casual Kitchen?
For those readers interested in supporting Casual Kitchen, the easiest way is to do so is to do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site. You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.

CK Friday Links--Friday December 14, 2012

Links from around the internet. As always, I welcome your thoughts.

PS: Follow me on Twitter!

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Dos and Don'ts of keeping leftovers safe. (Stonesoup)

As the holidays roll around, don't forget to check out the hater's guide to the Williams Sonoma catalog. (Deadspin) PS: Um, what's "rimming sugar"?

What's it like reviewing a cookbook that calls for ingredients like 1 lavender petal from last summer? (Table Matters)

Why you should always buy the worst of everything. (Thoughtcrime, via Erica Douglass)

Recipe Links:
Five stars for this spectacularly good Highlands Chicken recipe. (Food and Fire) Bonus: Try this secret ingredient: Tomato Powder!

White Beans, Three Ways. Time to kick the can. (Table Matters)

Off-Topic Links:
Boredom has its benefits. (Retirement: A Full-Time Job)

Advertising's contempt for white males. (Whiskey's Place)


Do you have an interesting article or recipe? Want a little extra traffic at your blog? Send me an email!


How can I support Casual Kitchen?
For those readers interested in supporting Casual Kitchen, the easiest way is to do so is to do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site. You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.

The Very Best of Casual Kitchen 2012

Every year at this time I share the very best articles of the past year--and thank readers for joining the conversation here at Casual Kitchen.

CK passed some huge milestones in 2012:

1) A week or so ago, this blog turned six,
2) In June I published my 800th (!) post,
3) For the past several months pageviews have been running 60,000-70,000 a month! (for me, that's a lot.)

I can't begin to describe how grateful I am to you, readers, for continuing to visit and participate. Not only have you stayed with me, but you've also added hundreds of thoughtful and provocative comments along the way. You are the reason Casual Kitchen exists.

So without further ado, here's the very best writing of Casual Kitchen in 2012. Once again, thank you so much for being here.

PS: Next week, I'll give YOU a chance to promote and share *your* best post of 2012. Stay tuned!!
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Countdown! The Best of Casual Kitchen 2012

12) Attack of the Cheaps! Eight Great (And Temporary) Ideas to Save $500-$700 a Month
Best title of the year. Put these ideas to work and you'll save up to $6,000-$7,000 every year. See several excellent reader-submitted ideas in the comments too.

11) Anticipated Reproach, And Why Vegetarians Are Such Jerks
If you've ever wondered why otherwise well-behaved people start insane arguments correcting perfect strangers over the internet, this post pretty much explains it. Groupie moment: Mollie Katzen, one of my culinary idols and author of the incomparable Moosewood Cookbook, complimented me on this post on her Facebook page.

10) The Judgment of Paris: The Blind Wine Tasting That Changed the World
How history's most embarrassing wine tasting ended up putting California wines on the map once and for all. I know everyone loves hating on the French, but, well... this time they deserved it.

9) Review: The Mindful Carnivore
My review of one of the most unusual and intriguing books of 2012: Tovar Cerulli's intelligent and honest exploration of the ethics of hunting. If you're interested in this topic, don't miss A Mindful Carnivore: Books For Further Reading.

8) How Do I Follow the Wheat Belly Diet?
From my series on the controversial and inflammatory book Wheat Belly, this post explains step-by-step instructions on how to follow the book's dietary guidelines. This post quickly became one of my most searched-for articles. See also: Does Wheat Belly Eating Always Cost More?

7) Extreme Savings
Why the conventional wisdom to save 10% of your income is not only insufficient, it will condemn you to a lifetime of wage slavery. See this post for some of 2012's angriest comments, and see my response to them in On Excuses and Insensitivity.

6) Thinking Through Pink Slime
An important side of the pink slime debate that you'll never see in the mainstream media. Given the extremely emotional nature of the subject, this post received surprisingly civil comments.

5) Is Organic Food Healthier? Or Just Another Aspirational Product?
If you want to get real value from organic food, you simply must consider it from the perspective of those selling it to us. And those soft popping sounds in the distance? Those are the exploding minds of thousands of fanatical organic food buyers. By far 2012's most controversial post.

4) Who Gains From Fair Trade Certified Products?
It almost never occurs to people how skillfully companies capitalize on our desire to feel good about ourselves. Beware: this is one of the worst retail ninja mind tricks out there.

3) Two People, Fifteen Days, Thirty Meals. Thirty-Five Bucks!
Based on a real 15-day trial of simple, low-budget eating that I actually carried out. This post gives readers a full recipe list, a full menu list and an complete itemized grocery list that you can use to create 15 days' worth of simple, healthy dinners for the hilariously low cost of just $35. That's right--more than two weeks of eating for thirty-five bucks. I thank both Reddit and Get Off My Internets for picking up this post and sending me a ton of traffic.

2) How Food Blogs Disempower Their Readers
We all use mental lenses to look at the world. But why is it that most food blogs impose a disempowered, victim-based filter on their readers? More importantly, what can we do about it? Readers, I'm as proud of this post as I am of anything I've ever written all year.

1) How To Be Manipulated By a Brand
In just 300 words, this post unlocks a deeply empowering idea about the consumer products industry. Read this post and you'll never be manipulated by branding ever again.


Best/Most Popular Recipes of 2012:

1) Coconut Curry with Collard Greens and Black Eyed Peas -- An absolute home run recipe with unforgettable flavors that you can make in just 30 minutes. This was the runaway best recipe of the year.
2) Garden Pasta -- Possibly the easiest recipe in the entire history of Casual Kitchen, and you can easily get it on the table in 15 minutes.
3) Red, White and Blue Sangria -- Three sangria recipes in one post! Please enjoy responsibly.
4) Laughably Cheap Carrot and Fresh Cabbage Curry -- At just 50c a serving, this outrageously healthy and delicious recipe permanently disproves the ludicrous notion that healthy food has to be expensive.
5) Moroccan-Style Carrots -- A simple, memorable and delicious side-dish. You'll wow your guests with it.
6) Chickpea and Tomato Salad with Fresh Basil -- A delicious, distinctive and laughably easy dish. Just steer clear of the $6 heirloom tomatoes!


Bonus! Your Money Or Your Life
Finally, a bonus entry--one that isn't even about food. Rather, it's an archive of one of my most ambitious writing projects ever: A chapter-by-chapter companion resource to the one personal finance book that influenced me more than any other.

Readers, I'll make you a solemn promise. If you...

1) Read Your Money or Your Life,
2) Complete each of the book's nine steps, and
3) Carefully read this companion resource,

....you will solve all of your financial problems once and for all. Don't think for a minute that I'm exaggerating.


Honorable Mention:
And Ghirardelli Was Third
An Eight Point Manifesto Against Big Food
Zombies, Processed Foods and the Advertising-Consumption Cycle
Three Books In Three Days
How to Blind-Taste and Blind-Test Brands


How can I support Casual Kitchen?
For those readers interested in supporting Casual Kitchen, the easiest way is to do so is to do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site. You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.

CK Friday Links--Friday December 7, 2012

Welcome back to Friday Links, after a brief, one-month break! Here's yet another selection of interesting links from around the internet. As always, I welcome your thoughts.

PS: Follow me on Twitter!

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This New York Times takedown of Guy Fieri's new Times Square restaurant is by far the cruelest restaurant review ever written. (New York Times)

When hipsters use their food stamps to buy organic salmon. (Salon)

Why eggs are flawless for breakfast. (Dietriffic)

Recipe Links:
At 71c a serving, this easy Red Lentil Stew is hilariously cheap. (Budget Bytes)

Yet another easy, hearty and laughably cheap stew: Chickpea, Spinach and Tomato Stew. (Alosha's Kitchen)

Off-Topic Links:
Those hipsters in the link above? Here's why we're supposed to hate them. (The Last Psychiatrist)

A short lesson in perspective. (Linds Redding, via Monica Bhide)

Guess what? Global population will peak much sooner and at a far lower level than anybody expects. (Aleph Blog)


Do you have an interesting article or recipe that you'd like to see featured in Casual Kitchen's Food Links? Send me an email!


How can I support Casual Kitchen?
For those readers interested in supporting Casual Kitchen, the easiest way is to do so is to do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site. You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.

How Can I Give Up Salt?

"Food tastes so good now!"

My wife Laura sees thousands of patients per year in her work as an eye doctor. Which means she gets to see, up close, some broad and meaningful anecdotal samples of peoples' behavior.

And lately, for whatever reason, she's had a bunch of patients make offhand comments about how they've cut salt out of their diets. Some did so on orders from their primary care doctor. Others were trying to manage borderline-high blood pressure by adjusting how they eat.

What struck Laura, however, was this universal reaction from each patient: They were all shocked at how good food tasted once they stopped consuming so much salt.

Food tastes so good now.

I'm admittedly speculating here, but I'd bet money that every one of these patients dreaded cutting out salt at first. I bet they assumed food would forevermore be bland, boring and tasteless. In fact, this is a common reason why people resist cutting salt despite the obvious health benefits.

But once they make the change, and once they get through a brief palate-adjustment period, they ended up happier with their food.

Look, salt has an important role in cooking, and sodium has an important role in the chemistry of our bodies. Used appropriately, salt can be a powerful tool to bring out stunning flavors in our food.

The problem is, the vast majority of the prepared foods available to us do not use salt appropriately. Most restaurants overuse salt. And nearly all processed foods overuse salt to the point of madness.

And, sadly, consumers have simply adjusted to it. Just as our palates adapt to cutting out salt, they also adapt to excess amounts of it. We get used to what we eat, so a habit of eating salty junk food desensitizes you towards salty flavors. Which just makes you want still more salt.

(There's more than meets the eye here by the way: salt conveniently makes people want to eat more. And drink more. Hence the existence of bars offering free salty popcorn or peanuts to boost beer and drink sales, and likewise the existence of salty snack foods that you can't stop eating until you mow through an entire bag.)

Thankfully, this salt-desensitization process works both ways. Therefore, the less salt you eat, the more you'll condition your palate to not need salt. The more distance you put between you and your salt shaker, the more aware you'll become of subtle flavors and nuances in your food. Try it--and I mean give it a real honest trial--and you'll see exactly what I mean. Before you know it, a little salt will start to go a very long way, and your food will taste bolder, more delicious and more nuanced than ever.

Which brings us back to where we started. If you want food to taste good, try cutting out salt. Try it for a week or two, let your palate de-program itself, and see what happens.

Pretty soon, you'll be saying it too: Food tastes so good now.


How can I support Casual Kitchen?
For those readers interested in supporting Casual Kitchen, the easiest way is to do so is to do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site. You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.