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Half Sour Dill Cucumber Pickles
Half sour pickles, sometimes called “new pickles”, weren’t my favorite growing up. They were overlooked in the quest for the most lip-puckering sour garlic pickles. As my taste buds matured, however, I came to appreciate the more delicate saltiness of a good half sour pickle. From what I’ve noticed, half sours are made from very […]
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Split-Pea Soup
Unfortunately for me, growing up I never knew a good pea soup, let alone one outside of the school cafeteria. My mom didn’t make pureed soups from scratch often, so for me the words “Split-Pea Soup” conjured up images of gelatinous vats of over-salted green-gray mush, not unlike in the Exorcist, that would send me […]
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Bread and Butter Pickles
Of the three kinds of cucumber pickles I experimented with since the summer, the most successful were the “bread and butter” pickles. Because of their sweetness, these usually aren’t on my crave list. When I think of bread and butter pickles, I think of almost-neon manufactured, sickly sweet, acidic spears that seem to last indefinitely […]
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Pickles and Pickling
I’ve mentioned before how I have more of a salt-tooth than a sweet one. There’s no better example of this than my childhood favorite: garlic cucumber deli pickles. The saltier, the more sour and garlicky, the better. Ask my mom, she’ll tell you that pickles were pretty much a food group in my diet as […]
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My Grandma’s Vegetable Soup
I was a pretty adventurous eater as a child, but not all of my cousins and siblings were. Every kid has at least one food they won’t touch with a ten-foot fork. From what I remember, it didn’t have much to do with taste. We just picked a food we were going to hate (mine […]
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Bittersweet’s Chocolate Chickpea Spread
Move over Nutella, I’ve found a chocolate spread that’s richer, thicker, cheaper and easier to get my hands on. I’m not sure I’ll ever look back.
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Lemon Pickles
This post has been a long time coming. I really wanted to make sure I liked these little guys before posting them. Last night, we finished the jar of lemon pickles we made around the time we had Iron Chef Lemons at work. That’s how many lemons there were – it took over three months […]
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“Unfried” Black Beans
I love refried beans, but I’m trying to pay more attention to the amount of processing food goes through before it gets to me. Refried beans vary greatly between companies and sometimes have ingredients I wouldn’t want to use in every situation (lard and preservatives, for example, in the non-vegetarian varieties). They are often high […]
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Dilly Potatoes
August went by quickly. I took a vacation with family, and it ended up being a “vacation” from this site as well. It has not, however, been a vacation from cooking. In fact, as the summer has been winding down, I’ve been experimenting with entirely new techniques to add to my repertoire. Expect more to […]
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Collard Greens with Chick Peas
With very little effort, search this dish reminds me of a Syrian dish my grandmother used to make with lamb, Swiss chard and chick peas. Collards are an amazing leafy green that are relatively easy to find in the frozen section of grocery stores all year round in my region. This hearty side is packed […]