Tag: homemade

Great Aunt Margaret’s Chocolate Frosting

Aunt Margaret (right) and my great grandmother, on my mother’s graduation day from kindergarten. Their three vastly different expressions are curious, and priceless. My son just celebrated his very first birthday.  I was naturally flooded with an enormous range of huge emotions.  But, instead of being very weepy and nostalgic for the entire month prior,… Continue reading Great Aunt Margaret’s Chocolate Frosting

Lemon Verbena and Thyme Soda Syrup, and Sorbet too!

  Our herb garden is growing like weeds.  Well, truth be told, the weeds are also growing like weeds.  But between the weeds are fragrant, mystical herbs, that are spicing up meals and will also shortly be hoarded away in ziplocks in the freezer for less bountiful months. My favorite herb is lemon verbena.  It… Continue reading Lemon Verbena and Thyme Soda Syrup, and Sorbet too!

Cardamom and Coriander Soda Syrup

The cilantro we planted in our garden around Memorial Day, has already started to bolt some from the heat in recent weeks–it is nearly July after all–and shortly will start to go to seed.  Those seeds, as you may or may not know, are coriander.  They will first be plump and bright green, a wonderful… Continue reading Cardamom and Coriander Soda Syrup

Sorrel Pistou and Fresh Ricotta Crostini

With sorrel in its tangy, bright abundance at the farmers’ markets now and throughout the summer, this pistou (or pesto or coulis) is a dynamite way to show it off.  Set out a platter of baguette slices, ricotta, and the green stuff and let your BBQ guests at it for a DIY appetizer.  Less work… Continue reading Sorrel Pistou and Fresh Ricotta Crostini

Buttermilk Honey Wheat English Muffins

  I don’t know about you, but I am a tad worn out from all of the high-spirited holidays that have been crammed into the calendar as of late.  Earth Day, Easter, Passover, National Eggs Benedict Day (I wish I was kidding), Arbor Day, May Day, Cinco De Mayo, and even a wedding of the… Continue reading Buttermilk Honey Wheat English Muffins

Homemade Butter

Ever since the first time I whipped my own fresh whipped cream, I have kept my gaze obcessively glued to it, in dreaded fear of over-whipping and having it turn into butter.  The horror!  Imagine!  And so to this day I anxiously sweat that critical make or break, stiff peak to useless butter, moment. But… Continue reading Homemade Butter

Homemade Mango Lime Soda Syrup

Here is another soda syrup recipe to accompany yesterday’s homemade ginger soda syrup.  Super refreshing and light, making me crave flip flops and sunscreen.  Try mixing a little of both syrups together for mango-lime-gingerlicious beach blanket bingo in a glass.  Who says it’s only april?   HOMEMADE MANGO LIME SODA SYRUP by Catie Schwalb makes… Continue reading Homemade Mango Lime Soda Syrup

Homemade Ginger Soda Syrup

Perhaps because of the few (very few) days of slightly decent weather we’ve had lately, my attention has recently shifted from hot teas and afternoon hot mochas to cold, effervescent beverages. We are not big soda drinkers in our house, almost none at all, for all of the obvious reasons (high fructose corn syrup, chemicals,… Continue reading Homemade Ginger Soda Syrup

Olive Oil Everything Crackers

Here is another cracker recipe with which to send you off into the weekend! This recipe and the Cornmeal and Chive Cracker recipe from earlier this week contrast each other nicely, and would make a sublime little cracker basket assortment.  This cracker is a little more subtle in flavor and more tender in texture than… Continue reading Olive Oil Everything Crackers

Cornmeal and Chive Crackers

In my ongoing quest to eliminate store-bought processed foods from our kitchen and life, this week I tackled crackers.  There is a long and growing list food items that I no longer even think of not making myself, and yet almost weekly I think nothing of tossing (overpriced) box after box of these crisp vices… Continue reading Cornmeal and Chive Crackers

Homemade Irish Cream

  Kiss me!  I’m nearly 1/4 Irish! The tradition of enjoying a “drop of the hard stuff” on St. Patrick’s Day is an old custom known as Pota Phadraig or Patrick’s Pot.  The legend goes that St. Patrick taught a stingy innkeeper a lesson, when served a less than generous portion of whiskey.  He threatened the innkeeper,… Continue reading Homemade Irish Cream

Lobster Stock recipe

Sweet, elegant, rosy, and full of the ocean, homemade lobster stock grabs my attention like little else.  Having a few quarts of this on hand in my freezer has allowed me, on more than one occasion, to pull a seafood risotto out of thin air for unexpected dinner guests.  I’ll repeat that–pull seafood risotto out… Continue reading Lobster Stock recipe

Anandama Bread: 33 % whole wheat, 100 % comfort.

I’m covered in flour and the entire house smells like warm bread.  A good day by all standards. With slender baguette pans, gurgling jars of sourdough starter, and an array of silky flours, my father was a talented bread baker.  One of his specialties, the one I hold dearest, was Anadama Bread.  As a kid,… Continue reading Anandama Bread: 33 % whole wheat, 100 % comfort.

Homemade Infused Vodka and Spirits

The flavored vodka market appears to have exploded in the past few years.  On a recent trip to the spirits shop, there were shelves upon shelves of vodkas in all imaginable flavors.  Whipped cream, bacon, and sweet tea were new ones that caught my eye, but not quite my wallet. Infusing alcohols is an ancient… Continue reading Homemade Infused Vodka and Spirits

Flavored Salt

In honor of last week’s National Popcorn Day, I’ve done some tinkering in the kitchen with flavorings.  My favorite project was coming up with different flavored salts.  It is outrageous that I haven’t done this sooner, and even more outrageous the number of super costly little precious jars of flavored finishing salts that I have sitting… Continue reading Flavored Salt

Pie Crust 101

Bleached flour, partially hydrogenated lard with BHA and BHT, wheat starch, water, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate and sodium propionate (preservatives), Yellow 5, and Red 40. Butter, Flour, Salt, Water, and sometimes an egg. The first is a list of just some of the ingredients of a popular, store-bought, ready-to-unroll, pie crust. The second is what… Continue reading Pie Crust 101

Edible Gift Series: Homemade Vanilla Extract

There is little that will get me running to the kitchen faster than reading about a new (or most of the time, quite old) culinary trick to produce a food or ingredient that I had never thought about making by hand.  Food and Wine magazine has a great feature this month on the Best Handmade… Continue reading Edible Gift Series: Homemade Vanilla Extract

Spiced Cranberry, Ginger, and Pear Sauce

I was recently asked to be a guest blogger for the wonderful heart-healthy food blog What Would Cathy Eat? Cathy asked for a cranberry sauce for thanksgiving, that was less sweet than usual.  Here is the post and recipe below, in case you hadn’t caught it on her site.  –Catie For years, as a child… Continue reading Spiced Cranberry, Ginger, and Pear Sauce

Homemade Fresh Ricotta

Lately we have been getting the most wonderful fresh milk from Dirie’s Farm, a small family-owned dairy farm near us.  The milk has a whole melody of flavor, that clearly illustrates what people are talking about when they refer to the terroir in wine.  You can taste this area.  You can taste the differences in… Continue reading Homemade Fresh Ricotta