90210 Style | DanaSlatkin.com

10 Ways to Get Inspired by Vegetables

01/16/2013 By Dana Slatkin Leave a Comment

Many of you have asked me how to add more vegetables to your diet in the New Year. So I thought I would reprint my recent interview in Food + Wine Magazine. How do you get your veggies on? Write to me and share with our readers! By Emily Thelin, Food + Wine Magazine Make a weekly trip to the farmers’ market. Fall in love with what’s on the stands. There’s always something colorful and appealing, and always someone enthusiastic to tell you what to do with it. If your farmers market closes for the winter, take a trip to the produce section of a natural foods store. Be sure to visit a local farmers market whenever you are in a warmer climate. Don’t be ashamed to use frozen veggies, because if they save you time, you’ll be … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style, At the Market, In the Kitchen

Summer Entertaining 101

05/24/2012 By Dana Slatkin Leave a Comment

The grilling season officially kicks off this weekend, and so do my shoes! Time to unplug, unwind, and reboot for summer. But how easy is it to pull off? Here are a few do’s and don’t’s to keep your cool… DO… Blend In. Summer cooking tends to rely more on fresh fruits and vegetables in the raw. Blend them into smoothies, frozen cocktails, creamy salad dressings, gazpacho and yogurt-based soups. Invest in a powerful but quiet blender to do the job. Go casual. Family-style is the way to go in summer…meaning glass pitchers, giant wooden bowls and beautiful platters. Your guests help themselves while you enjoy the company. Improvise. You don’t need elaborate centerpieces to decorate … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style, Dairy-free

Top 20 Holiday Gifts for Your Favorite Foodie

12/14/2011 By Dana Slatkin Leave a Comment

If you are still hunting for the perfect holiday gift, there’s no need to brave crowds and traffic. Here are some gourmet goodies that you can buy with your slippers on. I’ll bet your favorite foodie doesn’t have these… 1. Cast Iron Pans — a gift to last a lifetime 2. Copper Fondue Pot + Skewers (wrap it along with my recipe for Chocolate Coconut Fondue) 3. Glass Food Storage Containers — safe to go from the fridge to the microwave 4. Cake Paper Placemats + Napkins — what I use now in all of my cooking classes 5. Nespresso Citiz Automatic Espresso Maker with Aeroccino — a true game-changer 6. A 1-month supply of fresh produce from FarmBox LA — your local farmers market … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style

Farmgirl Holiday Menus

11/08/2010 By Dana Slatkin Leave a Comment

The holidays are all about bringing family and loved ones together…not an easy feat in itself. And if you are the one attempting to feed the hungry crowd, you will need a plan of action. Here are some menus to help you sort it all out. They are designed to please a variety of appetites and dietary desires — Kosher, low-fat and low-cholesterol, meatless, or vegan. For the recipe, simply click on the name of the dish. Once you have decided what’s on your menu, be sure to check out my Farmgirl Shopping List before heading to the market. By popular demand, I will be posting more menus in the coming months. For delicious and do-able weekday dinners, you’ll find more menus at A Week of Farmgirl Menus. A … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style

A Week of Farmgirl Menus

05/12/2010 By Dana Slatkin Leave a Comment

When iTunes took over the planet, all of a sudden there were millions of songs at our fingertips. It was exciting and overwhelming, to say the least. Many of us (of a certain generation) freaked out and refused to embrace the technology. Then someone ingeniously decided to help us out with playlists. Suddenly, the world of music wasn’t so vast. We just needed someone to tell us what we wanted to hear. I believe cooking is heading down a similar road. Despite the jillion recipes out there, I often have no idea what to make for dinner. Even with shelves of cookbooks and bulging recipe files, it is still a daily challenge to come up with menus that are nourishing, satisfying, and exciting. What we need is a playlist to tell us … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style, Gluten-Free Recipes

Contain Yourself

02/26/2010 By Dana Slatkin Leave a Comment

www.countryliving.comI had one thought this week: Must…Get…Organized. I was desperate. After tripping over a can of tomatoes and finding granola bars in the onion basket, I concluded it was time to rearrange my life. So I decided to start with the room where I spend the majority of my time…the kitchen. My past organizational skills peaked at Ziploc bags. Every time I opened a cupboard, I cringed. I started leaving leftovers on plates in the fridge because finding the matching lid to a plastic container would take up 10 minutes. Then, on a trip to the mall, I discovered a store entirely devoted to controlling clutter. There was hope. But I needed a plan. There were so many options, so many ways to keep my stuff … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style

My Top 10 Favorite Holiday Gifts for a Foodie

12/06/2009 By Dana Slatkin 1 Comment

Many of you have already finished your holiday shopping and if so, big time domestic goddess points for you! But for those of us who will be doing most of our gift hunting with our pajamas on, here are ten great ideas for the food-lover who has everything (I’ll bet they don’t have these!)… 1) Executive Pen Salt and Pepper Grinders by Grind — $60.00 This sleek set is attractive enough to be put on display in your kitchen or on your dining table. There are so many salt and pepper shakers out there, but only a few grind both the salt and pepper of your choice…and these require the use of only one hand. You decide what to do with the other hand! 2) Silicone baking sheets — $19.74 to $26.95 on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style

Cold Weather Entertaining

11/14/2009 By Dana Slatkin 2 Comments

Entertaining this time of year is all about creating warmth and memories. There’s nothing more inviting than a sumptuous dining table laden with glowing candles, fully-bloomed flowers and abundant fresh fruit. From tabletop to menu, here are some ways to help you create a memorable experience for your guests. But as with any celebration, the magic ingredient is gratitude. Keep it in mind and your soirées will always be meaningful. 1. Place pillar candles inside glass hurricanes (see Eight Ways to Decorate a Hurricane) and light votives everywhere (don’t forget the powder room). 2. Arrange wooden or vintage platters and bowls (mismatched is more stylish) using squashes, pumpkins, apples, crabapples, clementines, multi-hued grapes, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style