EatingWell November - December 2015

When I moved across the country to work for EatingWell I brought a box of old food magazines with me. Most were Gourmet and Bon Appétit. That’s what both my mom and grandma had always subscribed to, so I did too. All the issues were from November and December. I had ditched the other months long before the move. But those holiday issues, I couldn’t part with. Here’s why: starting in early November I pored over food magazines, daydreamed about menus and marked pages with tiny scraps of paper that stuck out from the edges like flags. Each year the stack grew. Each year I would go back through the whole thing looking for recipes that I wanted to make again or might have overlooked. I knew the layouts inside and…

WIN A MIXER and whip up some meringues! (See the recipe on page 77.) Enter the sweepstakes for this mixer, which is the prize of the day on November 6. eatingwell.com/WinMixer NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Subject to Official Rules and entry at win.recipe.com. There will be one Daily Giveaway Sweepstakes per day. Entries for each daily sweepstakes must be received by 11:59 p.m., E.T. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia, 21 years or older. One entry per e-mail address per day. Online entry only. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: Meredith Corporation. CONNECT WITH US:…

HOME SHUCKED Get step-by-step instructions on how to shuck an oyster at eatingwell.com/webextra In the shallows of the Perrin River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, ruffle-shelled oysters grow in wire cages and feed on passing plankton in the water. For 20 years, Tommy Leggett of York River Oysters has planted and farmed beds containing 1 million oysters at a time in these quiet waters. Through the 19th century, oysters practically paved the Chesapeake Bay—but overfishing, diseases and water pollution decimated the population. In 1996, oyster harvests in Virginia dropped below 18,000 bushels. Now, thanks to reef restoration and aquaculture programs for shellfish breeding and farming, they’ve rebounded to more than 500,000 bushels last year. And that’s critical, because oysters are living filters, crucial to the health of waterways that they clear…

Garlic & Chive Combine 6 Tbsp. dried chives, 5 Tbsp. dried “chopped” garlic, 3 Tbsp. dried dill, 1 Tbsp. kosher salt and 1 tsp. ground pepper. Spicy Indian Combine 3 Tbsp. each ground coriander, ground cumin and dried cilantro, 2 Tbsp. each turmeric and crushed red pepper, 1 Tbsp. each ground ginger and kosher salt, 1 tsp. each ground fennel seed and ground pepper. Crazy Herb Combine 4 Tbsp. dried parsley, 3 Tbsp. each dried basil and oregano, 2 Tbsp. onion powder, 1 Tbsp. each celery seed, sugar and kosher salt, 2 tsp. ground pepper. Turkish Combine 6 Tbsp. paprika, 3 Tbsp. dried mint, 2 Tbsp. each cinnamon and garlic powder, 1 Tbsp. each ground cumin and kosher salt, 2 tsp. ground pepper, 1 tsp. ground cloves. TAG IT! Download recipe gift tags at eatingwell.com/webextra MAKE IT A DRESSING! Shake 2…

Albert Katz slowly works his way down neatly tended rows of olive trees as he fills his bucket with green fruit. Right now, he’s picking the Leccino variety, an earlyripening olive with a spicy, grassy taste. These olives will be at the mill in a matter of a few hours, and this year, as always, he’ll rush to catch the very first drop of the olio nuovo—or December’s new oil—from the spigot, checking it for quality and fresh peppery notes. In a few days, a panel of sensory experts up the road in Berkeley, California, will swirl, sniff, slurp and swallow their way through a sample of Katz’s oil along with hundreds of others. A well-balanced oil will include notes of fruitiness, bitterness and pungency. Pungency, characterized by a burning sensation…

On a small farm outside Chicago, active-duty soldiers and veterans are finding reprieve from the hardships of war. The Freedom Farm for Vets, founded by John Ress, is a 5-acre property with opportunities for vets to garden, work in a woodshop and take care of horses. Its mission is to alleviate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through farming and positive surroundings. “It calmed me down quite a bit,” says Rob, a 30-year-old former Navy sonar technician who suffers from PTSD and asked that his last name not be used. “It helped me get my motor skills and memory back. And it keeps your mind off things.” The farm acts as a safe haven for the 30 or so veterans and service members who come seeking shelter from the pressures of daily…