Possibly my favorite food ever. No joke. I remember being a kid at Bonanza (a cafeteria-style restaurant in Sanford, ME with a huge salad bar) and loading up my plate with this stuff. We rarely bought it at home. I swear, there was more dressing than salad on my plate most times. That and cottage cheese...but that's another story.

When I started my ( Read more... )

I hate yogurt.  It's sour and makes my stomach turn.  I remember being a kid whenever my dad went on a healthy kick, it was yogurt cups for breakfast every day.  Ew ( Read more... )

Finally!  My summer life has calmed down enough for me to start posting again.

Raise your hand if you love tacos.  (Don't be shy, now, just because you're the only one in the room doesn't mean there aren't a hundred or more other people doing the same thing!)  I LOVE tacos.  I could eat tacos every day.  Of course, I would then weight a bazillion ( Read more... )

Last year I posted my hummus recipe (loved by many).  It can be found here: aristaslab.livejournal.com/998.html.  Anyway, my fiance has turned me on to something that I hadn't previously considered: dried chickpeas.

See, I love the convenience of canned beans.  There are enough in one can to last several salads, or in this case, to serve for ( Read more... )

Nothing starts a day better than a healthy breakfast.  Of course, the traditional American breakfast is anything but: greasy bacon, greasy eggs, fried potatoes...it's SO tasty and yet we can't live off that every day!  So what makes a healthy (and filling) breakfast?  Something with protein to keep you running and carbs to get you going quickly.  ( Read more... )

Ah, summertime in Maine!  One of my favorite things about this time of year (and the rest of the season) has always been berry picking.  Sure, berries are tasty, and you can find them year-round, but there's something special about eating the berries that you know you just picked yourself.    Getting out early in the morning while the sun is still ( Read more... )

On of my favorites breakfast foods has always been corned beef hash.  My dad makes awesome corned beef hash, and although I love it I've never asked for the recipe.  Once in a while, when I go to a restaurant for breakfast (not something I do very often, by the way), I order hash with my eggs and all those happy memories come rushing back to me.  ( Read more... )

Peanut butter (and other nut butters) are hailed among the health-food world as both bane and blessing.  On the one hand, it's a tasty condiment packed with protein and healthy fats and oils.  On the other hand, it's full of calories and is really easy to eat too much.  Plus, as I've learned recently, you have to be careful what you buy.

At our ( Read more... )

Arista's Lab is starting up again!  With winter (and all its mishaps) behind us, we're making the kitchen healthy once again!  I know, I say things like this all the time, but hey, at least I try.  That being said, here's what has happened in the many months since my last post.

In November I spent Thanksgiving away from my family for the very first ( Read more... )

Eating seasonally in the northeast isn't easy...with such a short growing season everything from November on to March is either preserved or grown indoors.  Of course, since the advent of mass shipping, you can get just about anything year round.  Naturally, Leslie and I are trying to eat as much local produce as possible, and that has led us to ( Read more... )