Soup is so unique, in that two homemade ones never taste identical. Get ready for some really thick, yummy, hot or cold soups.
It’s also a time to think about some interesting “soup pools,” like sour cream to support tasty garnish floaters like popcorn, shaved chocolate, crushed chips, creamy cheeses — use your imagination! Remember, these soups don’t depend upon fat, flour or heavy cream to be thick.
Below are some suggestions:
Vegetables fresh or raw
- Asparagus
Avocado
Bell Pepper
Carrot
Celery
Chilis
Coconut
Corn
Cucumber
Garlic
Ginger root
Leeks
Onion
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Shallots
Squash
Tomatillos
Tomato
Turnip
Zucchini
Fancy it up with some sautéed aromatics: Continue reading
In a morning rush, needing a worthwhile breakfast and on the go?
Keeping a loaf of fruit/nut bread around most of the time serves as a quick breakfast, great to carry for lunch or as an after-school snack. And, it’s plenty okay to serve friends. Keep in be mind no kid is neglected if found running out the door with a nice hunk homemade fruit/nut bread in his hand.
A great baking timesaver is putting all your dry ingredients in a good-sized bowl and arrange all other ingredients, including sugar, around your blender. Then, many hours later, whirl up your blender add it to the bowl of dry, mix well and place in a heated oven.
Don’t think you can successfully make any “loaf” item by taking one recipe and packing in what you have on hand. Simply pick a shape you want, then select some nuts, a dried fruit and maybe a texture. _Now. Take the time to SEARCH for this combination and shape you desire. i.e. “Walnut, Cherry, Bran Bread.” _
When we did this, we found:
https://www.google.com/search?q=walnut+cherry+bran+bread
with several recipes. Feel free to choose interesting combinations. You’ll need a recipe, though, to be sure the liquid, eggs and leavening are in line with your “drop-ins.” Online recipes abound! Continue reading
Do you secretly admire those who make bread? For them, understanding yeast and kneading dough is no problem. It’s not complicated to turn yourself into a bread baker.
BE SEEN WITH YEAST IN YOUR OWN CART. You are becoming a bread baker! 
Think of your yeast as a friend, one you must not harm with great heat and one who will get very disinterested in you if you don’t keep him comfortably warm. Under these conditions, he will froth for you, once you’ve tickled his palate with a little sugar or honey. He likes to be stirred. There’s more. Continue reading
We already know it’s important to coddle chickens after we buy them. Keep them refrigerated, use very soon and do not wash in your sink or on your counter. If you do, and the chicken is with disease, it’s then all over your kitchen. Not good. Next, when seemingly cooked, we know the dangers of any pinkish fluids in their joints when examined. After we seemingly successfully challenge all these hurdles, it’s time to consider the rest of the meal, serve it all and then sit down and enjoy eating it.
In our travels we ran across a link to the CHICKEN GLOSSARY put out by the Raising Chickens Organization.
Take a look at it. Chickies are complicated little critters, and we eat an awful lot of them.
Beer jelly is fun, it’s sweet, it’s savory, it jiggles, it contrasts, it complements, it surprises, it glazes, it dresses and it borrows craft genius from some amazing brewers. No buzz, tho.
Also called beer jam, beer is usually one of only four ingredients: beer, sugar, pectin and lemon. The buzz may be gone, but the delicacy intended by its brewers comes through nicely – a purist’s joy of joys.
Food Republic in an article titled “Spreadable Beer Jelly Could Be The Next Big Thing,” Tiffany Do states,”Potlicker Kitchen makes a slew of different varieties of the stuff, including Black India Pale Ale, Hefeweizen with Orange, Oatmeal Stout and something called the Heady Jelly made with Alchemist Brewery’s Heady Topper. Each jar is made with a different beer and includes a suggested food pairing. We’re already thinking about trying out the Apricot Ale with some bacon sticky buns.”
For those who care to elaborate on “perfection,” they contrive savory concoctions by adding tomato, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, shallots, Parmesan cheese grated, rosemary, olive oil or something you choose. For sweet experimentation some add vanilla bean, lemon, star anise, sugar, allspice, cloves, orange zest, or again, you think create! Continue reading
You have made, or many times almost made, unintentionally, France’s revered, warm gourmet sauce, Beurre Noisette, or brown butter as we call it in this country.
Serious brown butter is an art and one you can make on purpose to achieve a nutty, near-caramel, toasted, almost hazelnut-like flavored butter with countless uses. It is the careful cooking of unsalted butter just long enough to cook away the water found there, then medium-toasting the butter’s milk solids, which makes your highly-sought-after, delicious brown butter sauce.
There are three popular ways to process butter for different cooking needs. All butter is composed of fat, milk solids and water. The Indian culture uses a lot of Ghee-processed butter, and clarified butter is used frequently for seafood sauces by all cultures. These processes separate the water from the butter then strain the milk solids away from the butter. They are usually made in larger batches than brown butter.
How to make BROWN BUTTER
Total time about 5 to 7 minutes.
• 2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter cut into uniform, smaller chunks
• Choose a stainless-steel skillet or saucepan to show contrast between browning milk solids and the pan bottom. Continue reading
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