Rum Soaked Preserved Cherries + Boozy Cherry Molasses are one of my favourite two-fer recipes. While you're making these gorgeous, luscious rum-soaked, sweet cherries, you happen to be making the incredible, ruby-hued, rum-infused cherry drizzle that improves ice cream, crumbles, and seltzer water. And believe me, you've never had a cherry pie until you've tossed a tablespoon of two of Boozy Cherry Molasses in there! Cherry season usually gets away from me. It seems like I find out cherries are on about twelve hours before the end of what feels like a twenty four hour season. I usually manage to get one or two glorious pounds. We View Post
Creamy Garlic Cauliflower Sauce
You have to taste Creamy Garlic Cauliflower Sauce to believe that something so low in calories can taste so unbelievably indulgent and rich. This is a family favourite! Have you ever stumbled on a recipe that made you holler because it was so good? And then you’re shocked to find out that it’s low in calories and fat? Yeah. No. Neither had I until just a couple of days ago. I was chatting with my friend and fellow food blogger, Mary Younkin of Barefeet in the Kitchen. She isn’t really given to hyperbole about recipes. She makes good food and is content to know and share it without promising the moon. She started View Post
Blueberry Syrup for Pancakes and Homemade Soda | Make Ahead Mondays
I just turned almost-forty. I believe I’ll refer to my entire year that way, because this is my last year before that big four-oh. I think the almost-forty was probably harder than the actual-forty will be to face. The decade birthdays seem like a celebration, where the ones that immediately precede somehow seem like a clanking bell. Or is it just me? As an almost-forty gift, my family gave me something that makes me happier than just about anything else I can imagine. The boys and I had planned to go to the opening day of our local blueberry patch to attempt to put a sizable dent in our annual one-hundred-pounds-of-blueberries goal. My View Post
Sun Dried Tomato Spread
Sun Dried Tomato Spread is a vibrant red, garlic and herb packed, quick and healthy way to add a taste of summer to sandwiches, dips, crackers, pastas, and more. Whip up a batch of Sun Dried Tomato Spread today and explore the possibilities! I saw my blogging compatriots 'In Sock Monkey Slippers' and 'Farmgirl's Dabbles' whip up versions of Sun Dried Tomato Spread (or Sun Dried Tomato Jam) a couple of weeks ago and knew instantly that I was going to be making some in my house pronto. It was one of those things that I felt -beyond a shadow of a doubt- would be right up my food alley. I tinkered around until I found the perfect blend View Post
Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps
You see those lettuce wraps up there? That's another Unicorn Meal for our household: an extremely rare meal that pleases them all, even the no-veg contingent. Somehow lettuce leaves as delivery vehicle for meat works in their minds, and I'm surely not going to out their contradictory stance on it because OHMYGOSH this is a great meal. And fast! It's a fast meal. Did I mention that? The bulk of effort, like with most stir-fry dishes, comes before anything hits the pan. You cube up chicken thighs, grate some ginger, chop some garlic, whisk the aforementioned ginger and garlic into some liquids, chop some cashews, and wash some lettuce View Post
Garlic Parmesan Stadium-Style Baked Steak Fries
Welcome to the third installment of Dude Food Week in our celebration of all things snack food and lead up to The Big Game. If you're on Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook, please tag pictures of Dude Food you've made with #DudeFoodWeek! I would LOVE to see what you've made! There are few things that speak to my soul more than a giant plate full of fries. I go through phases where all I want is skinny fries, curly fries, waffle fries, or any other kind of fries, but one thing is certain; I always want fries. The current Tarzan to my Jane is steak fries. I'm digging the hearty potato-y-ness of the big fries. I almost always dress View Post
Cherry Habanero Lime Jam
While working my way through the sixty pounds of cherries I had ordered from the Amish store, I got to the point where I was making jam. On a whim, I minced and tossed a little fresh habanero pepper into my regular cherry lime jam. Whoa. It was so good I made everyone in the house come taste it right away. I even made the "I only like jelly I don't like jam" crew try it. Now before anyone gets made at me for making a bunch of kids try habanero jam, I'd like to remind you these are MY kids and they were raised on spicy stuff. Besides, it isn't face-meltingly hot, but it has a little background warmth that you can't get without the little View Post
Pickled Garlic Scapes | Make Ahead Monday
I’m a pickle fiend. You may or may not know that every summer I put up in the neighborhood of eight dozen jars of garlic dill pickles. I also put up bread and butter pickles, dilly green beans, dill relish, bread and butter relish, Sweet and Spicy Asian pickled carrots, and other pickled goodies like Refrigerated Pickled Salad. You’ve probably also seen my crowned jewel in my pickle arsenal: Claussen Knock-Offs. One of the things that differentiates the Claussen Knock-Offs from my garlic dill pickles –because they are made with many of the same spices and other ingredients- is that they are fresh (or fermented) pickles. They never see the View Post
Homemade Feta Cheese | Make Ahead Mondays
I have been promising to bring you my homemade feta cheese recipe for a while (Ahem, probably a couple of years. Eek.) Today is finally the day. You may be wondering why I bother making feta cheese from scratch. The answer-as is often the case- is that homemade tastes great and because I can. I am, after all, the daughter of a man who feels driven to walk laps around the house outside in blizzards when authorities warn that you shouldn't go out unless you have to do so. There's an enormous satisfaction in doing something that seems just undo-able, isn't there? Not only does homemade feta taste incredible, but it delivers a pioneer, View Post
Whiskey Vanilla Extract | Make Ahead Mondays
I am obsessed with vanilla extract. Since I started making my own extract several years ago, I haven't bought vanilla extract (either faux or pure) once. Once you've made your own and tasted just how much better it is (and realized just how easy the entire process is) it's hard -if not impossible- to go back. Why bother when you can get pure vanilla extract relatively cheap? First, the homemade stuff is customizable. You can make it as strong or as weak as you'd like it. Normally, the method involves splitting beans, pouring a neutral high-alcohol spirit such as vodka over it, capping it, shaking it and letting it age until you View Post