Don Mauer
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The secret to going gluten-free? A great rice pastaAug 27, 2025 5:32 am - For Don Mauer, tasty food items made with wheat — like cookies, bread and pizza — trigger a strong desire to eat more. It’s like one cookie is too many and a dozen is not enough. His solution: stop eating wheat in any form. No trigger, no hunger, no problem. Luckily, cutting out wheat does not have to mean giving up pasta.
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Bacon gives sweet corn a Southern sensibilityAug 13, 2025 6:00 am - Thoughts of Illinois sweet corn inspired Don Mauer to put his own spin on this side dish from Millie Peartree using ingredients he already had on hand.
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Fewer ingredients makes a simple broccoli salad even easierJul 23, 2025 5:30 am - In 2018, Don Mauer shared his favorite broccoli salad recipe. It included 11 ingredients and several steps, such as blanching the broccoli as well as cooking and chopping bacon before it’s added to the salad. This version trims it down to seven ingredients. Bonus: No stove required.
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Rethinking hard-boiled eggs, againJul 09, 2025 4:57 am - Readers have lots to say about hard-boiled eggs and the best ways to prepare and peel them, Don Mauer found in this Best of Lean and Lovin’ It column from 2022.
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Poppy seed dressing an instant time machineJun 23, 2025 6:00 am - For a very special occasion, Nana would take her first grandson, Donny, all dressed up, to lunch at The Dominion Room in Evanston, a “charming colonial-style tearoom.” All-grown-up Don Mauer clearly remembers their poppy seed dressing, so he decided to build a time machine and make his own version.
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What makes a good brownie great? Quality ingredientsMay 28, 2025 4:29 am - The ingredients in most brownie recipes are pretty similar, though the quantities may differ. But using quality ingredients like natural high-fat cocoa and einkorn flour can take your brownies from basic to melt-in-your-mouth.
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Caesar-style salad dressing has staying power — and no added sugarMay 14, 2025 5:47 am - Has the classic Caesar salad lost its appeal? At one time, Caesar salad was a popular part of an upper-tier dining experience. Were those salads good? Depended on the restaurant and their ingredient choices. Excellent ingredients, like high-quality, extra virgin olive make a superb salad.
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Milk Street’s latest cookbook an adventure through Italy’s back roads and kitchensApr 23, 2025 5:55 am - “Milk Street: Backroads Italy” is the rare cookbook you will want to read from cover to cover. In it, Christopher Kimball and J. M. Hirsch crisscross Italy, visiting farms, local markets, hole-in-the-wall trattorias, and home kitchens to interview cooks, eat their food and share their recipes.
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With care, cast-iron can serve for a centuryApr 09, 2025 4:56 am - A properly seasoned cast iron skillet can function as well as any Teflon-coated one and last for generations, as long as you follow some basic steps in its care and use.
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Colorful cold chickpea salad a great way to get legumes on your plateMar 26, 2025 5:38 am - Chickpeas are good for so much more than hummus. Toss canned organic chickpeas with shallots, sweet red peppers, English cucumbers, carrots, fresh parsley and a sherry vinegar dressing to brighten up any plate.