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General Reference/Tutorial

Breakfast/Brunch, General Reference/Tutorial

Breakfast Bacon, in the Oven

Yup, a stack of bacon! It’s breakfast, right? Well this is more about technique than a recipe per se. Everyone has their own way of cooking bacon. In the pan, in the oven, even in the microwave. My method involves the oven, covering the pan with aluminum foil, and by placing the bacon on a wire rack placed on the prepared baking sheet. This increases the airflow so the bacon cooks evenly and makes it crispier, and reduces clean up and splatters in the oven. Very much a “set it and forget it” for at least 45 minutes (and then I usually check until it is the crispiness of my liking). It might not completely count as a full breakfast, but it IS bacon, so I’ll eat it! 🙂

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18. January 2022
General Reference/Tutorial

How to make your own Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Mix

As many of you know, I try to make many of my Christmas pressies myself (including of course, cookie madness!), so trying to get a head start on some, I made Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Mix. Quite easy to make, though bashing the hard caramels to bits first with a meat mallet and then the food processor was loud! I put ratios in the recipe instead of exact measurements, in case you wanted to make a lot or a little.
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21. November 2021
General Reference/Tutorial

Seasoned Salts:
Summer Tomato, Meyer Lemon and Italian Herb

It’s about this time of year that I start making some foodie things that can also double as stocking stuffers. This year, I decided to make seasoned salts. The Herb one and the Lemon one were really quite simple; the tomato one took a little more effort, but is well worth it, as it has a surprising amount of tomato flavor.

The colors of these will fade within a few weeks, but the herby flavor and aroma will remain intact for much longer. There is no shelf-life limit, and this can be kept indefinitely. I use these as a finishing salts, meaning it’s used to season cooked food at the table; however, they can also be used in place of regular salt in any recipe preparation.
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1. November 2021
Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, General Reference/Tutorial

Spiced Crispin Apple Jam

Here’s another apple recipe! This one to keep those apples “long term” (depends on how quickly you go through the jar of jam!) and still as delicious! Apple cider, warm mulling spices and chunks of Crispin apples all mixed together. This jam tastes sort of like a really intense apple pie filling. Delicious on toast or even mixed into yogurt. A spoonful of autumn!
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8. October 2021
Appetizers/Starters, General Reference/Tutorial, Lunch, Sides

Baby Dill Refrigerator Gherkins (Cornichon)

I have a thing for pickles. I have told the story many times that my first word was actually “Gurke!” which is the German work for pickle. And I will eat them by the jar. OK, hopefully not by the jar because that is a little too much vinegar even for my iron stomach. So, I decided to make my own this year. I do this every few years, but when I saw the baby cornichons (these are literally just an inch or two in size), I just had to make them. They are a little salty (next time add a little more sugar to the brine), but otherwise, these are pretty fantastic. They should stay good in the fridge for a while, but I’ll likely eat them all by next week!
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20. September 2021