Stephanie Bostic's Blog

Blue Apron, Purple Carrot, HelloFresh, Plated… you’ve probably seen someone create a meal outside their usual Monday through Friday list using that box of groceries delivered to their door.  Or perhaps you have seen the photo of the excessively packaged organic egg. Or considered signing up, until you saw the price tag.  I have a coupon sitting on my desk, right now, for something called SunBasket. There are some great reasons to try a meal kit.  New ideas, a bit of a timesaver, add some vari...

A recent op-ed in the New York Times makes a few interesting points– partly through what is said, and partly through what was not said. Let’s start with the obvious:

1) It is increasingly challenging to receive NIH funding for research. It is highly competitive, and you must craft a compelling story on a solid foundation to have any hope of realizing your dreams. Basically, you need the support of some pilot work, previous research, logic for your project, institutional support, and the right...

It was quite controversial several years ago when the USDA changed the language it used to discuss food security. They took out the word HUNGER. As you can imagine, organizations that work in the hunger arena were horrified. And outraged. Politically, it meant that they lost a compelling word. Think about it–

24% of children in So-and-so county experience very low food security.

Now think about:

24 of children in So-and-so county are hungry.

They, in this case, mean the same thing. It was the sam...

This post of part of a series exploring the food environment using the Reasonable Person Model. Check out my guest post on Your Registered Dietitian, and keep an eye open for the final installment!

Grocery display in Helsinki, courtesy of author Marcela via Wikimedia Commons.

Food labels can either be a blessing or a bane. They offer us (usually) helpful information but, too often, it’s obscured by marketing bling. Reasonable Person Model (RPM) offers a frame for examining labels. RPM suggests...

I started to write this up months and months ago, but I’ve been thinking more about food security and governmental programs as the long-term unemployment benefits have been cut. Why? Because people were using them for everyday expenses like food, housing, heat… so what’s left? Family, friends, SNAP (if they are eligible), or food pantries, or selling off belongings.

So, how is it living off of SNAP benefits? I’ve never honestly tried. Why? Because I’ve never eligible for SNAP. (I was nearly el...

We’ve had enough cold weather that I think even the serious salad devotees are open to salads beyond those based on tender greens. A spin on the classic blue cheese-based salad, this winter mix is a little friendlier to those of us who are not indoctrinated into the cult of blue cheese-love. Now, if you absolutely had to, I suppose you couldadd some mold-infused cheeseto this… but honestly, the lemon, walnuts, and celery offer nice counter-flavors to the fruit. And I find the textures to be a...

November already: the heat is on, the leaves have fallen, and I saw the first snowflakes yesterday. Fortunately, the Cornell orchard still has plenty of fruit. As I was browsing through Katrina’s posts on Baking and Boy for November’s Secret Recipe Club assignment, I kept gravitating to the fruit recipes (despite my longing looks at all the delightful Christmas cookies Katrina has made over the years). Should I make one of those lovely crisps? Should I try a tart? Or– even better– take fruit...

My birthday was fairly recent (we had a lovely time, thanks for asking), and I ended up with a plethora of food in my fridge from visitors who came bearing culinary gifts of all sorts. Among other things, my mother brought me a produce drawer worth of peppers (in photo!) and pears, a jar of honey, a dozen eggs, buttermilk, and a precious pint of homemade chevre. The texture is somewhat dry and crumbly, and reminds me of Russian farmer’s cheese, which is (surprise!) drier than the American cou...

My brain hiccupped over the idea of a pasta frittata for years (literally- I probably first heard of one in 2003), but I finally received a ringing endorsement from a self-identified picky eater and decided to go for it one morning when I didn’t have my usual breakfast floating around. It was well-worth the effort, and I think the method does a nice job of reheating the pasta without getting that tacky dryness that sometimes emerges when you microwave it. It’s also just enough different that...

October already! The leaves are turning, the mornings are frosty, and it’s beginning to be dark in the mornings again. My Secret Recipe Club assignment for the month was Jenna’s Cooking Journey. Jenna is one of the most avid participants in different group cooking projects I’ve ever seen. I was tempted by some of the Christmas treats she’s already posting… as well as those she’s posted in previous years. It was also fun having Jenna because she had actually pulled a couple of my recipes from...