Articles by Roz Cummins

Beans, beans, good for your recipe

In keeping with the recent topics of eating low on the food chain for environmental reasons (e.g., beans instead of meat) and cooking for a crowd, I dug out an old recipe for a curried red lentil soup with an apple cider or pear juice base, so I could double it to serve 10-12 people instead of 5-6.

I've always been told that to double a recipe, you should double the basic ingredients but not the spices. What I do is adjust the spices by slowly adding small increments and tasting the results. The amounts that work usually do turn out to be less than twice the original.

How to form a vegetarian dining co-op

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a meal I'd made for my weekly vegetarian dining co-op. A reader asked how we went about setting up the co-op, because he wanted to create a similar group that would focus on local, sustainable foods. Since he lived in the area, we invited him and his wife to dinner on March 18. He modestly replied, "I'm in a band with an Irish flavor and we're kind of busy that weekend." (Kind of busy? He's in The Larkin Brigade, and they're gigging all over the place. Check out their video.)

So I've written up some tips from our dining group that I hope will be helpful to him and to anyone who wants to start a co-op of their own.

Kedzie Press: An eco-friendly publishing house

There is an interesting article on Mediabistro.com about Kedzie Press, a small publishing house that publishes environmental titles, as well as other genres, using environmentally friendly manufacturing practices.

Roz Cummins whips up Valentine vittles

I don't know about you, but sometimes it just seems like more fun to have dinner with a group of friends -- those who are single and those who aren't -- on Valentine's Day than with just one person. Why? Well, let me put it this way: having dinner with just one person, no matter how beloved that person is, does not guarantee that your evening will be a romantic one.