RachH's Profile

Oh holy yum. This will be made immediately, as everything in it is a weekly staple. Thank you!

1. North Shore Distillery Aquavit
2. Maker's Mark Bourbon
3. Pimm's No. 1 Cup
4. North Shore Distillery Vodka
5. Grand Marnier
6. Whatever whiskey strikes my fancy :-)

I made chili with a bunch of dried cayenne peppers I got at the Chicago Food Swap this past fall--it was my best one yet! Buttermilk cornbread to go with it. Also stocked the freezer with one pan of lamb & eggplant lasagna, two pans of mac & cheese, KAF European-style Hard Rolls, bagels, and rye bread, and topped it off with blueberry buttermilk cake (from the blackberry buttermilk cake recipe from Fine Cooking).

I built my pantry by reusing glass jars from olives, tomato sauce, nut butters, etc. so my rule is I can't add a new-to-me ingredient until we have finished an opened jar in the fridge (thus clearing out some fridge space) or emptied another pantry jar whose space we can use. Using the bulk bins when shopping has been enormously helpful, too, but mainly because I'm finally forcing myself to only buy what we will use in the next 2-3 months, and because I'm finally giving myself permission to not have everything ever on hand (for example, I used to have black, pinto, great Northern, cannelini, and garbanzo beans on hand, as well as red and green lentils and either green or yellow split peas. Now, my rule is to keep two bean varieties and one lentil OR split pea variety on hand at all times, and it's directed our meal planning better and kept the pantry organized.).

I always get into a failure rut after a long bout of sickness/exhaustion, and it made me essentially have to write off the month of January. This weekend I resolved to make a lentil stew recipe I found on SimplyRecipes and to mix up trail mix. Both ended up tasty, only one involved cooking, and it broke my failure streak (burned bacon, bread that did not rise, and finally a broken oven). It's so hard to get back on the horse, but when I remember that that's what life always asks of us (and not just in the kitchen), I can usually coax myself into starting again.

We rarely had people over when I was growing up because my mom also complained about our small house and because my parents weren't social due to a perpetual lack of money (4 kids in a 2BR/1BA on one income, yet somehow we were all sent to parochial school). As a result, I gravitated toward friends whose parents loved having family friends over, and I vowed to myself at a very young age to keep my doors as open as I can to anyone I know. For a messy girl like me, this was quite the vow, but so far I've kept it, and at least every other week (aside from illness) some dear or new friend is over for brunch, Sunday lunch cookouts, or even midweek meals. I never liked having to ask to have friends over as a kid because I was told no 95% of the time, so now I am thrilled at the gift of being able to have them over as often as I like.

Now, as I said, I'm messy, but this is vow also a gift to myself and a safeguard against my mess--I know that if I am having someone over, I will have to clean up at least the floors and horizontal surfaces in my home, and if someone has dust or pet dander allergies, I have even more incentive (love!) to clean thoroughly. My own breathing and sanity benefit from it, though, so once the place is clean I'm more likely to keep it that way--and I often nail down plans to host someone else only a few days after the last dinner so I can clean once but enjoy twice!

Last thought: someone told me once that when he moved out of his childhood home, his mom told him to always have popcorn kernels and tea bags--always. When he asked what she meant, she said because you don't need more than that to have an impromptu party if you have true friends. I think it's true. Your friends love you. Just feed them something edible, provide a place to sit, and be present. It all will take care of itself.

I think there's some middle ground between serving mushy bruised grilled peaches and eating only perfectly unblemished food. My husband will get to the bottom of a bag of apples to find a wrinkly one that's on its way out, but I'll always ask him to set it aside on the counter for me to use up rather than tossing it, because while it's not most people's first choice to eat out of hand, I can throw it in a dutch baby for breakfast or roast, chopped, alongside carrots and onions for a side dish with dinner. Maybe instead of grilling mushy or bruised fruit anyhow, it could be poached or simmered into a fruit sauce or butter to be drizzled onto pound cake, ice cream, or even toast? And just like that, it'd save money and prevent waste of something still edible.

I made this for Christmas with my in-laws and it was a huge hit. We had it as toast for breakfast with butter and later in the day as part of a cheese board. It was so delicious that I think it's going to be on a monthly baking rotation (although I am considering doing a version with no cinnamon, olives instead of raisins and feta instead of walnuts, too...and a version with dried cranberries, orange zest, roasted squash seeds, and black pepper). Definitely try this!

If it had a slide-out bottom panel so that you could easily clean out crumbs (like a toaster tray), I'd love it. If not, I probably would not want this.

I actually finally *just* created an account to suggest something for you--many people do not like the almost soapy flavor of turnips, but there's a trick: after peeling and chopping them for your recipe, blanch them in water with some baking soda in it (about a tbsp. depending on how much water you use). Then, rinse them off well and continue in your recipe. It really cuts down on the soapiness and makes them much more palatable!