Star City Blog / Food

Homemade Pizza for the Time-Starved Cook

By Alexis Abel

Every February, my film professor husband skips off to Europe for two weeks to attend the Berlin film festival. On the same day he departs, so does my desire to cook. Every night that he’s away, I stare longingly into the fridge and hope that dinner will magically materialize. Sometimes I’ll flip through the phone book perusing the takeout menus before ultimately deciding to nuke some Kraft EasyMac or pour myself a bowl of cereal and milk. At least, that’s what I used to do.
 
The nightmarish “What’s for dinner?” dilemma is frightening even if you’re not eating alone. But I have a solution that gets dinner on the table in less than 15 minutes: homemade pizza. This pizza is tastier and healthier than the typical fat-laden grease bomb you’ll get when you order takeout. By making your own pizza, you can also customize it to meet your exact taste, diet and health specifications. For fast homemade pizza, I recommend partially baking, or parbaking, your favorite homemade crust and stashing it in your freezer to pull out during a busy week. This technique does, however, require advance preparation, making it perfect for a lazy weekend afternoon.

Judy a la Carte: Demystifying Cooking Terms

By Judy Gilliard, "Judy a la carte"

In recent days, I have been so pleased to discover a renewed interest in the art of cooking and the simple act of joining friends and family around the table. I have found that when I teach cooking classes, there have been a lot of questions regarding some of the cooking terms, so I thought I would list the terms I get the most questions on and demystify them for you, as well as give you a few easy, basic recipes. 

Book Review: Food Rules – An Eater’s Manual, by Michael Pollan

by Dennis Kornbluh

You might not think that the simple act of eating would require a manual.  If that’s so, then why are millions of Americans killing themselves with food?  By eating too much sugar, salt and fat, getting too little fiber and too few vitamins and minerals, Americans can proudly claim the highest incidence of obesity, diabetes and cancer in the world.  Not only are we killing ourselves, but our poor eating habits have an impact on those around us.  Consider, for example, how the unhealthy diets of so many of our citizens may impact the cost of healthcare across our nation.

But what is a healthy diet?  Nutritional advice can be very confusing, and most people don’t have time to make sense of it all.

Fortunately, Michael Pollan, the author of five previous books on food, including In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, has written a very short (140 pages) manual for eaters that is as easy to digest as a ripe banana.  It consists of 64 “rules” that will help you understand, in very simple and precise language, what you should endeavor to eat.  To explain his approach from a high level, the author is able to boil it all down to the following seven words: “Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not too much.”

Second Annual Lincoln Wine & Food Experience to Benefit the Lincoln Community Playhouse

With a goal of raising $40,000 for the Lincoln Community Playhouse, the Lincoln Wine & Food Experience is coming to the Embassy Suites for its second year on Friday, Feb. 26, from 4 to 8 p.m.  Proceeds will be raised through ticket sales and a silent auction during the event.
 
Reserve room tickets are available in limited quantities for $50.  Reserve room guests will be treated to a special selection of reserve wines and professionally catered food from Russ’s Market.  Reserve room ticket holders will also have access to the entire general admission area and the silent auction.