You can crisp everything but the garlic. Photo
by Scott Bauer | U.S. Agricultural Research
Service.

Other times, you forget about the vegetables for days, then find them wilted.

This tip helps you revive asparagus, bell peppers, carrots, celery, greens, lettuce, scallions, zucchini and much of what you’d put on a crudité plate.

Vegetables wilt when they dry out. You can restore the moisture with an ice bath:

Fill a bowl with water with ice cubes. Add the vegetables (cut as you plan to use them) and let them sit for 15 minutes or longer. Remove with a slotted spoon or tongs and drain on a cloth or paper towel.

Voilà: Your soft veggies are now crisp veggies, thanks to a chemical process known as turgor pressure.*

IT WORKS FOR GRILLING, TOO

Before you grill them, put your vegetables in an ice bath. When they come off the grill, they’ll be moist and crisp.

Refrigerators have crispers to help vegetables remain fresh in a moister environment; the drawers trap moisture and slow the dehydration.

Some crisper drawers have controls that regulate the moisture level in the crisper. If your crisper has settings, make sure to choose “Vegetables.” Fruits prefer less moisture rather than more: That’s why there are separate drawers for fruits and vegetables.

If there’s no more room in the crisper, store the vegetables in plastic bags or containers.

Mushrooms should be stored in paper bags or wrapped in paper towels, rather than stored in plastic. Remove any plastic wrap from a carton of mushrooms and replace it with paper.

What Not To Put In The Fridge

 
 
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*Turgor pressure: Turgor pressure. In wilted vegetables, the water inside the cells has evaporated, lowering the pressure on the cell walls. Think of a balloon loosing its air. When the vegetable soaks up the water (osmosis), the water pushes against the cell walls, making them hard (crisp) again—like re-inflating the balloon. That’s because the water pressure inside the vegetable cells is greater than the air pressure outside the vegetable. Turgor pressure gets its name from the turg?re,  to swell. This is also the root of our word turgid (Latin turgidus), meaning swollen and distended (as well as pompous and bombastic).

They let you mix up a refreshing lemonade wherever you find a glass or bottle of cold water. We’ve become hooked—a surprise to us, as we haven’t liked other mixes we’ve tried—and this one has just five calories per glass! So congrats to Crystal Light for the excellent lemon flavor.

After we used up the individual packets—in one day—we raced to the supermarket to buy the pitcher-size packets, which make two quarts. While 64 ounces of lemonade sounds like a lot, it’s the equivalent of four 16-ounce bottles. We’ve been going through a pitcher a day.

We’ve also been playing with flavor variations.

 
We love all the variations, but will be serving pitchers of spicy lemonade on Cinco de Mayo. Yes, you can add Tequila…and gin and vodka.

Want To Make Lemonade From Scratch?

Here’s the recipe.
  

Many people enjoy tacos at restaurants, but far fewer make them at home. It’s really easy.

You don’t need a holiday to make this family and party favorite. But if you haven’t made tacos before, use the upcoming Cinco de Mayo as the occasion.

Tacos require a relatively long list of ingredients, but they’re all easy to gather: chopped beef or diced/shredded chicken, canned black beans and corn, onion, taco seasoning (packaged, or use the recipe below) and an optional jalapeño—remove the white ribs and the seeds unless you like things really hot.

Then, it’s simply into the skillet for these ingredients. When the meat is cooked (20 minutes), set the skillet on the table, buffet style, along with taco shells, chopped lettuce, salsa, shredded cheese and sour cream.

Then, everyone can build his/her own taco.

Tacos can be nutritious food, especially when you:

 
Beans, lettuce, onions and salsa contribute fiber (in addition to nutritients), and corn taco shells are whole grain.

MAKE YOUR OWN TACO SEASONING

McCormick’s Taco Seasoning includes chili pepper, cumin, paprika, oregano, onion, whey, salt, sugar, garlic, potato starch and citric acid.

You can eliminate the whey and sugar by making your own taco seasoning from ingredients you already have on the shelf. And you’ll save money in the process.

ingredients

 
Preparation

1. Combine ingredients in a small bowl.

2. Substitute for a 1.25-ounce package of commercial taco seasoning.

Bohemia* is one of our favorite Mexican beers. It was named after a region in the former republic of Czechoslovakia† that produced some of the world’s finest beers.

A pale pilsner-style beer, it is the most awarded of Mexican beers. It’s worth tracking down.

To set up a beer and salsa bar:

1. Pick six different beers† and six different types of salsa. Choose among green salsa/salsa verde/tomatillo salsa, red salsa, salsa fresca, or pico de gallo (fresh red salsa), salsas made with beans, chipotle, corn, and fruit.

2. Serve the salsa in bowls. Place the salsa containers behind the bowls so people know what they’re eating.

3. Use small cups/glasses. You want your guests to try all six beers, but not to overindulge. The five-ounce disposable plastic tumblers (“rocks glasses”) available in supermarkets are on the generous side. You can also use plastic or glass shot glasses.

4. Beer tasting notes. If you have time, make cards to set in front of each of the beers, mentioning the style and any tasting notes you want to provide (you can find this information online).

5. Don’t forget the napkins and plates!
 
 
MORE TO NIBBLE

 
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*Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic (capital, Prague) and Slovakia (capital, Bratislava) in 1993. Bohemia is located in the contemporary Czech Republic.

†The majority of Mexican beer is produced by two large companies. FEMSA is the maker of Bohemia, Carta Blanca, Dos Equis, Indio, Sol, Superior, Tecate and the seasonal Noche Buena. Grupo Modelo produces Corona, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Modelo Light, Negra Modelo and Pacifico. Estrella, Montejo and Victoria are made by smaller producers.

[1] Serve as many different types of salsa as you like. Your guests will enjoy tasting them (photo © Rodnae Productions | Pexels).

[2] Bohemia beer: a fine way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (photo by Jaclyn Nussbaum | © The Nibble).

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A standard plate of meat and veggies gets a sprinkling of glamour with pomegranate arils. Get the recipe at PomWonderful.com.

Garnishes can improve any dish, savory or sweet, plain or fancy—a tuna sandwich, filet mignon, plate of pasta, dish of ice cream. As with fashion, the “accessories” take a look from now to wow.

Deciding in advance on the garnish is as much a part of our planning process as the basic recipe. It’s easy to choose the right garnish, as we show in this article.

The right final touch on the plate makes people take notice. In other words, it’s not just another bowl of tomato soup.

It’s easy to keep garnishes at the ready in the pantry and the freezer. Freeze extra chives, rosemary sprigs, berries and pomegranate arils and you’ll be prepared for most dishes.

Check out our article, Garnish Glamour, for an easy roadmap.