One of my favorite holiday dishes is homemade cranberry sauce. But fresh cranberries can be really expensive! Sometimes I find great deals on them around Thanksgiving, but this year I was hit with a stroke of genius that will allow me to enjoy cranberry sauce year round; Cranberry Apple Sauce. Not only do I get big jars of cranberry apple sauce for my family to last through every season, but smaller jars make really great gifts for the holidays! Read more
I’ve had many nicknames in my life. Dianasaur followed me into adulthood, but most of them I outgrew. The other title I still earn on a regular basis was given to me by my father: “The Pickle Monster”. Both my sister and I have been pickle lovers since we could eat solid food. Our family would go through at least one large jar of pickles a week because not only would we pile 10-20 pickles on each sandwich, but we would often eat them straight from the jar whenever the craving hit. Our brand of choice was Heinz Hamburger Dill Chips, and nothing else would satisfy. Fortunately, after 3 years of experimenting , I’ve created my own perfect pickle recipe. Read more
After picking a ton of strawberries a week and a half ago, I put the word out on twitter asking what I should do with them. My favorite suggestion was from Jennie who suggested I make jam or conserve with them. I was planning to make some jam and strawberry ice cream, but her suggestion of conserve got me all excited. Conserve is basically a soft set jam with chunks of fruit. I knew that my just picked strawberries would be fantastic in this form and had to give it a try. Read more
I don’t remember where I first heard the idea of pickling asparagus, but as soon as I did I had to try it for myself. I love almost anything pickled and I love asparagus, so it just seemed right. This is a sweet spicy pickle with red pepper flakes, whole garlic and whole mustard seed. A perfect crunchy summer picnic treat! Read more
For this month’s 24, 24, 24 event I proposed preparing food for a big party using ingredients that were locally produced, grown, and made. Some ingredients I used were ones that I canned or froze over the summer months. But most of the ingredients were ones that I bought this week, and in season. It was a lot of fun talking with farmers and vendors about what’s in season during the cold month of December, and what’s available locally. Eric and I were getting pretty excited about being locavores, and are considering trying a month of only eating local because of the bounty of local food in Washington. Here’s a video of the local producers and the party.
