Apple pie, banana pudding, beef stew, chicken pot pie, chocolate chip cookies, fried chicken, a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and meatloaf…the list goes on and on.

Depending on your ancestry, there will be additions from foreign lands. Borscht with boiled potatoes and sour cream and bagels with chopped herring or smoked whitefish are on our list.

Blake’s All Natural Foods specializes in frozen comfort food entrées from American and U.K. traditions. The line consists of all natural, frozen meals. They get popped into the oven or microwave, wanting only a large side salad to round out a convenient, healthful, and delicious lunch or dinner.

There are individual portions and family-size:

Most varieties can be cooked in either a microwave oven or a conventional oven. For the pot pies, you’ll want to use the oven so the lovely crust will crisp delightfully.

For more information and to find a retailer near you, visit BlakesAllNatural.com.

The products are made from scratch by actual people (not machines) in small batches by hand. The ingredients are all natural, the poultry and meats antibiotic- and hormone-free, the cheese rGBH-free.

There’s also an organic line that includes most of the varieties above plus All Meat Chicken Pot Pie and Upside Down Chicken & Waffle Pie. The organic meals contain at least 70% organic ingredients and some varieties are 100% organic. The organic vegetables are also used in the all-natural line.

We tasted a few varieties—all comforting, some requiring a bit of extra seasoning (a tablespoon of grated Parmesan, a shake of nutmeg, some fresh-cracked pepper). In particular, the sauce for the Veggie Mac & Cheese was very buttery, but not cheesy enough for us. A couple of heaping tablespoons of Parmesan solved that!

 
ABOUT BLAKE’S

The company traces its origins to a 25-acre farm purchased in Concord, New Hampshire in the Great Depression the farm’s first season in 1929. Clara Blake’s son Roy grew up to farm award-winning turkeys.

In the third generation, grandson Charlie was experimenting with his grandmother’s recipe for turkey pot pie. With a dozen pies in 1970, he sold out in 20 minutes. For the next 40 years, he sold turkey and chicken pot pies throughout New England—through modern distribution networks, not the back of the van.

Charlie’s daughter Amy and her husband joined the business, and expanded the line to accommodate the wishes of their own young family—a fifth generation that one day may be the face of Blake’s.

Grandma Clara would be proud.
  

You don’t have to lower the flame and watch that the water doesn’t boil over. Just add rice, water and salt, set the dials and walk away until it’s time to serve the rice.

The rice cooker can cook other grains as well. So if your goal is to pack more fiber and nutrition via barley, brown rice, quinoa and other whole grains, consider adding a rice cooker to your countertop.

Thanks to USARice.com and Blendworx.com for some of these tips.

You can find an electric rice cooker for under $20, or a superpremium Zojirushi model for $150 or more (take a look at this beauty). You’ve got decisions to make, starting with capacity. Size: Is a a four-cup rice cooker enough, or do you want the option to make 10 cups? Then, consider your other options:

 
Other rice cooker features include slow cook, quick-cook (a cooking cycle that bypasses the soak stage for faster rice), cake “baking” functions and more.
 
MEASURING RICE FOR A RICE COOKER

The rice cooker includes a measuring cup that conforms to rice cooker industry standards. Different from U.S. cooking standards, it measures 180 ml or about ¾ cup.

If your recipe does not call specifically to measure a “rice cooker cup,” you may need to adjust your recipe accordingly.
 
TYPES OF RICE

How many different types of rice have you had? Check out our rice Glossary and discover some new options.

Roasted beets and carrots: colorful,
healthful, tasty. Photo courtesy Love Beets.

We love this dish for the harvest season. It evokes the Halloween and the harvest moon. And root vegetables are good for you as well as pretty. They’re filled with antioxidants, fiber and vitamins.

While we love all of the beautiful varieties of beets we find at farmers markets, packaged, precooked beets are a real time saver.

This recipe is courtesy Love Beets. It can be customized with three different favors: garlic and caraway, orange and maple syrup or capers and parsley.

Preparation time 5 minutes, cooking time 15-20 minutes.

RECIPE: ROAST BEETS & CARROTS THREE WAYS

Ingredients For 4 Servings

Garlic & Caraway Recipe

Orange & Maple Syrup Recipe

 
Capers & Flat Leaf Parsley Recipe

Preparation

Garlic & Caraway Recipe

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F.

2. LAY the beets and carrots in a baking dish, sprinkle the garlic and carawayover them and drizzle with olive oil.

3. BAKE for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
 

Orange & Maple Syrup Recipe

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F.

2. LAY the beets and carrots in a baking dish. Drizzle the maple syrup and orange juice over them; then sprinkle with orange zest and dot with butter.

3. BAKE for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F.

2. LAY the beets and carrots in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

3. REMOVE from the oven and stir in the capers and parsley.
 
CARROT TRIVIA
Carrots are native to the Mediterranean. Early Romans ate them wild, then cultivated them.

The original carrots were purple, not orange. Today’s ubiquitous orange carrot was bred in Holland in the late 16th century. You can find heirloom purple carrots and other colors at some farmers markets. A mutant strain of white carrots—the same pale color as parsnips—is also grown.
  

Crystal Head vodka gets our vote for “best packaging.” Photo courtesy Crystal Head.

Today is National Vodka Day, a spirit that comprises up 25% of distilled alcohol sold in America.

Skip the Stolichnaya, the biggest Russian brand, and other Russian imports. We’ve got 10 excellent brands to recommend that are neither made in Russia nor owned by Russian interests.
 
10 EXCELLENT NON-RUSSIAN VODKA BRANDS

Special diet alert: Vodkas distilled from corn or potatoes are gluten free. Crystal Head Vodka is certified kosher.

Absolut Vodka is owned by the French group, Pernod Ricard, and distilled in Sweden. It is made from winter wheat.

Chopin Vodka is a family-owned Polish brand. The original expression was distilled from potatoes; the potato vodka has since been joined by vodkas distilled from rye and wheat, respectively.

Crystal Head Vodka is owned by a Canadian company, Globefill Incorporated, and distilled from corn in Newfoundland. You pay a premium for the crystal skull bottle, but we love it! Here‘s the story behind the skull. The vodka is certified kosher by OU and is gluten-free.

Grey Goose Vodka is produced by Bacardi Corporation, a family-owned spirits company that began in 1862 with rum production in Cuba. The company is now headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Grey Goose is distilled from winter wheat and bottled in France.

Ketel One Vodka is made in Holland. It is jointly owned by the Nolet family of The Netherlands and Diageo, a multinational alcoholic beverages company headquartered in London, England.

Pinnacle Vodka is owned by American distiller Beam Inc., and produced in France.

Skyy Vodka was founded in the U.S. and distilled by SKYY Spirits in San Francisco. The brand is now owned by the Campari Group of Milan, Italy.

Smirnoff Vodka, the world’s largest vodka brand, began in Russia in the 1800s but is now owned by British company Diageo. It is distilled from corn in Ireland, Italy, Scotland and the U.S.

 
Vodka originated in Poland, not Russia.

CHECK OUT THE HISTORY OF VODKA.
  

How do you roll (your apple, that is)? Photo
courtesy Kimberly Reiner | The Sugar
Mommas.

For a family treat or Halloween entertaining, how about a caramel apple bar?

Unlike the crackling-hard red candy apple coating, caramel coating remains pliant and you can press in candies and other garnishes.

Start with this recipe for caramel apples; then pick your toppings.

Also check out our other food bar ideas: breakfast/brunch, lunch/dinner, desserts and drinks/snacks.

Candy & Snack Foods

Look for mini versions of chocolate chips, M&Ms and Reese’s Pieces.

Plus

Nuts

Chop them so they’re easy to roll on.

 
THE PROCESS

1. SET out the plain caramel apples and bowls of toppings with spoons or scoops. Give all participants a soup bowl on a larger dinner plate.

2. SCOOP toppings of choice into the bowl, one-by-one or mixed together.

3. ROLL the apple in the topping(s), pressing hard.

4. TAKE a bite! People can adjust the toppings as they like (something saltier, something crunchier, etc.).

CARAMEL APPLES VS. TOFFEE APPLES: THE DIFFERENCE

For the purpose of candy apples, there’s no difference between “caramel apples,” “taffy apples” and “toffee apples.” The coating is made from melted caramels.

In the world of candy, however, there are distinct differences. Check out the difference between butterscotch, caramel and toffee.