THE LATEST FROM FRAN BERGER
Kitchen Hacks
It’s Summer So It Must Be Corn Season!
Corn etiquette: how to pick it, store it, and fix a bad choice. I look forward to summer every year for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the fantastic produce that’s perfect and in season for...
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Tips on How to Ripen that Rock-Hard Avocado
Can’t find a ripe avocado and you need one (or more) to make guacamole tomorrow? You invited friends over tomorrow night for a viewing party of the finale of your favorite TV show and you want to make your famous...
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Kitchen tip: How to use raw asparagus.
It’s Summer and that means Asparagus in all its glory! Who knew? Some of my most favorite fruits and vegetables are in season right now – beans of all types, eggplant, tomatoes, carrots, stone fruit, berries, grapes, pears – the...
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Recipe Cooking Times Can Be Deceiving!
Often, they’re just a suggestion. Recipe writers can’t always be quite as precise as they’d prefer when they list cooking times in a recipe. So many variables enter into the equation. This Spring, a friend’s daughter was making her first...
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8 Fruits and Vegetables that Don’t belong in your Refrigerator
How to keep your fruits and vegetables tasting as they should. In a perfect world we’d shop daily and prepare what we purchased for that evening’s meal. But, we all know it’s just not that easy to get to the...
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Don’t snap your asparagus—peel them!
You’ll enjoy more of your asparagus stems by peeling them. I’ve always loved asparagus and artichokes. They remind me that spring is coming. But they also bring back so many great food memories because there are so many ways to...
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Everything you need to know about your cast iron skillet.
The iron skillet is one of the most valuable tools in your kitchen and probably the one you take most for granted. After a lovely dinner at the home of a friend, a few of us walked into his kitchen...
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Kitchen Hints: The Three Most Common Onions you need daily.
White, Red, and Yellow Onions are the three that you need in your kitchen, indeed! A friend of mine told me about this 7-onion soup that she had the other day. She said it was so good and so tasty...
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How to buy the best tasting eggs!
Let’s decode the myths and labels around this favorite dairy product. Eggs are the most complete food – nutritious, affordable and can be served in more ways than you can imagine. Personally, I could eat them for any meal –...
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Kitchen Tool Upgrades to Take You to The Next Level
My list of handy ‘next level’ kitchen tools so you’re not caught without “the right tool for the right job.” There’s an old saying about using “the right tool for the right job.” It isn’t just about odd jobs around...
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How to Slow Roast Any Veggie for the Perfect Side Dish
Delicious ‘basic recipe’ for vegetables that NEEDS to be in your bag of tricks. Nobody has all the ‘basic recipes’ down. We all have our favorites that we return to again and again but I’ve found that there’s always room...
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Defining the 10 Essential Tools for Beginner Cooks
What you need to know about the top 10 essential tools for your kitchen. A client of mine just bought a second home near a lake. She faced the same problem all cooks face when stocking a new kitchen –...
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Bake, Don’t Fry Your Bacon!
You’ll be blown away how much easier it is to BAKE your bacon. I may be stating the obvious but frying bacon is a real hassle. Everyone loves the taste, hardly anyone complains about the smell of bacon cooking BUT,...
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How to dress your salad AND make sure it doesn’t wilt
A little “insider” trick that keeps your salad from wilting. The fact is, a slightly wilted salad isn’t bad for you. But, it looks terrible on the table and it certainly isn’t very appealing either. There’s nothing worse than a...
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The Essential 5: Must-Haves Knives for your Kitchen
Make your kitchen functional and safe with sharp knives that can get the job done! Maybe you’re thinking it’s time to get a nice block of knives for the kitchen. I couldn’t agree more. MOST kitchens need an upgrade. But...
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5 Minute Recipe for Parmesan Crisps – for salad or snacking
A quick recipe for Parmesan Crisps that will also introduce you to the Silpat non-stick baking mat. Here’s a recipe that you can literally use for anything – add to a salad, as a topping for a dish, or just...
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How to deseed and chop a jalapeño
If you love cooking, then technique matters: the right way to prepare jalapeños for your recipe. One of the things I’ve learned about home cooking: you don’t have to actually be a chef to cook excellent meals. But, I have...
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7 “Must-Have” items for a well-stocked pantry
You’ll be ready for just about anything if you keep these items in stock at home at all times. I keep my pantry well-stocked at all times. I owe that habit to years in the restaurant business. One of the...
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4th of July Party? How about a tasty recipe for marinated olives and feta?
Sophisticated but incredibly easy: smash some olives, crush a bit of garlic, shred some bread, and you’re good to go! Want to bring something different to your 4th of July party that DOESN’T need refrigeration or special care? A while...
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Food Tip – Keep your herbs fresh for up to a week!
A quick and easy way to save your refrigerated herbs – they’ll keep for a week! We depend on the excellent flavor of our herbs to enhance our cooking. I have many friends who wait until the day before they...
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