How To Peel, Cut, Core, and Dice: Tips for Fruit and Vegetable Prep

The Kitchn has compiled a super-handy list of 20 tips and how-to's for prepping various fruits and vegetables. Some of the more interesting entries:

How to peel a head of garlic in 10 seconds. Two bowls, a solid surface, and you're 10 seconds away from a bunch of naked garlic cloves.
How to peel roasted red peppers.
How to cut a mango.
How to dice an avocado.
How to dice an onion.
How to core a head of iceberg lettuce.
How to seed a pomegranate.

See the full list of 20 items.

BLT's -- without the bread

Once locally grown tomatoes are in season in Kansas, I always start craving BLT's! (Bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwich, for any poor souls who are unacquainted with this little bite of summer.)

I made some homemade bread last week just for this. Added some smoked turkey to punch up the protein. But to keep my carbs and proteins (sort of) in balance, I limit myself to one piece of bread per meal. After devouring one delicious BLT -- ripe, sweet juiciness of the tomato contrasting with the salty crunch of the bacon -- I wanted more! Looking hungrily at the remaining tomatoes and bacon, I wondered if the bread were really necessary.

So I took a bit of romaine, smeared it with a little mayo, and topped it with tomato and bacon. Added a slice of avocado to some of them. Oh yeah! It's all the best flavors and textures of a BLT, without the carbs! Perfect for the gluten free, low carb, Paleo or Whole30 diet. They'd make a great snack or appetizer, too.

A couple notes to make them healthier: choose nitrate/nitrite-free bacon; look for a mayo that contains no corn syrup. Or make your own! I like this super-easy 4-ingredient mayo recipe.

The cookie thief

A few days ago, my dear daughter made a batch of oatmeal cookies, and at my request, put pepitas in them; roasted, salted, dehulled pumpkin seeds. I like the little extra crunch and subtle saltiness they add. (And I love having my DD home, but it does make it harder to kick the sugar monster!)

I had set up a few cookies in my high tech studio (aka, a bench from the kitchen table, pulled up close to the sliding glass door so as to catch some indirect sunlight). I stepped away to get something from the office, but when I came back something wasn't quite right.


Here's the before:

And here's the after:

Hmm... One cookie seems to be missing. Now, who could the culprit be?

Oh, I just can't get mad at that adorable face!