Cured Egg Yolks

Cured egg yolks! I read about these the other day and knew I had to try them. Guess what? They are super duper easy. The hardest part is waiting until they are done curing. Once they are cured the yolks are firm enough to grate with a cheese grater. They can be sprinkled over pretty much anything you would put Parmesan over, plus more. My favorite use so far is sprinkled over roasted baby potatoes along with some chive flowers. Adds a ton of color along with a delicious salty/umami flavor.

Everything Seasoning

Everything seasoning is everywhere! I think thanks to Trader Joes “Everything but the Bagel seasoning”. It’s probably cheaper to buy that if you don’t have the spices on hand, or live close to a Trader Joes. But I do have the spices and don’t live by a TJs. Also, shocker, I like to customize it. It’s INSANELY EASY to tweak to your personal tastes. I add caraway seeds because I like that taste, I don’t add traditional poppy seeds, because I don’t think they taste like anything. I up the salt and onion/garlic ratio and add both white and black sesame seeds.

Blackberry & Lime Shrub

Shrubs. What to say about shrubs… A shrub is a Colonial way of preserving summer fruit. The fruit is mixed with sugar to macerate, creating a syrup. The syrup is diluted with vinegar which preserves it. Herbs, spices and a blend of fruits can be used to create a complex tart and sweet beverage base. More here. I made a cherry balsamic shrub once before and found it very heavy on the vinegar and difficult to enjoy. I do like vinegar, but it isn’t immediately appealing to drink it. I saw this Blackberry Lime shrub on Beehive Bitters Instagram account and it looked great. SO I gave shrubs another shot! This one does not disappoint!

DIY Cocktail Bitters

Hands down, bitters are my favorite way to add super concentrated flavor to a cocktail. All you need are a few shakes to transform a regular drink into something more polished. More recently bitters have gone way outside the classic Angostura or Peychaud's*. There are so many interesting and awesome flavors/flavor blends available. They can be a little hard to get your hands on though, often necessitating buying online. That can also make them expensive. Today let’s try something that should be a little easier and cheaper. Though it does involve some waiting!

Butter Rum

Over the holidays I was reading the NPR food section called “The Salt”, and they described a Christmas Cookie cocktail. It sounded sweeter than my taste, but they discuss “Fat Washing” of alcohol which peaked my interest. I know, sounds gross right? The cool thing about fat washing is even though you add fat to alcohol, when you strain it you remove all the fat but are left with the taste of it. We don’t want pools of grease in our drinks, yuck. This isn’t that at all!

Taco Seasoning

Something quick today, homemade taco seasoning! Over the super bowl I made some beef nachos that called for taco seasoning. I wrote it on my grocery list then scribbled it out. Why buy something if you already have the spices to make it!? If you also have these spices on hand I recommend making your own. You can control the salt level, and heat level. Plus this spice blend isn’t just for tacos. Add it to burrito meat or enchilada meat. Or just season some chicken or fish with it.

Rose Water Facial Mist

We’ve all been told water dries your skin out. It’s true, but with conditions. Your skin needs water. It needs water from the inside and on the outside. But if you don’t trap that water on the outside it will evaporate, wah wah- dry skin. That is what lotion does best. It doesn’t so much put moisture into your skin, as keep it from evaporating (unless of course it as a humectant like glycerin that will draw water to your skin from the air). This is why body oil doesn’t work unless you trap some water under it. This is why lotion after a shower works so much better! Why staying hydrated from the inside is so much better! And why humectants are king of the skin world. So, let’s trap some fancy dolled up water against our faces.

Dying Aida Cloth

For those of you that cross stitch you’ll know how hard it is to get colored aida cloth in any size above 14. (For those of you who don’t cross stitch, aida cloth is the grid you stitch on and the higher the number the smaller the grid). I was looking for a 22 size black or navy, nearly impossible! But, but…it’s fairly easy to buy white 22 count Aida and any color of Rit dye you desire.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

Spicy dark chocolate is a bridge between the sweets loving people and the savory loving people. It has everything! Sweets, little hint of heat from the chili pepper, warm spiciness from the cinnamon, and of course chocolate. I went through a couple online hot cocoa mix recipies before using this one from Smitten Kitchen. I like that it doesn't have powdered milk. That isn't something I keep on hand, and found it strangly expensive to purchase.

Quick Pickled Onions

When someone who is not normally a pickle eater or an onion eater tells you they have started liking pickled onions… you make some for them. I love it when people start liking or trying to like foods they previously did not like. Maybe I’m a food nerd, but I find it fun and exciting to like new things myself or watch other people enjoy new things!

Sausage Spice Blends

Subs in cooking. They are your friend. I love tips or workarounds that allow you to buy the basic versatile pieces of something and assemble it into whatever you need.It’s not limited to one application.

Coffee Liqueur

Some drinks have a winter “feel” to me. Red wine, dark beers, Scotch, any warm drink or rich drink just sounds right when it’s chilly out. So give me your Grasshoppers, your Hot Toddies, your White Russians! Wait… scratch that last one, we are out of Kahlua.

Silky Facial Oil

I tested this formulation for a LONG time before sharing it. Confession, a lot of the B&B products I make are one-offs. I make them, use them and enjoy them- but never make them again. This facial oil (and another product coming soon!) are the exceptions. I have been using this for a year and I love it.

Homemade Mayonnaise | Three Ways

Get ready for some gratuitous mayonnaise pictures! I’ve been on a “Three Ways” trend for a little bit, but this ends the streak. I found this easy way to make mayo after discussing what a pain it is with some friends. They were doing Whole 30 which allows you to eat mayo if you make it yourself using olive oil. You have to use a super light olive oil (believe me, I tried regular olive oil and it’s very bitter) or for us non-Whole 30 folk, vegetable oil. It’s a great basic mayo and open to a lot of flavor combo options. Three of which I share below!

Preparing Fresh Tomatoes for Cooking

As you may have gathered from my “scratchiest-scratch” tag, I like digging into a food project. Can I make ____? Can I make it from the most basic pieces? Not everyone has the time or desire to do that, hey- I don’t ALWAYS do that. This post might not appeal to anyone, but just in case there is someone else out there with a slowpoke garden.

Preserved Lemons

Preserved lemons. They are so easy to make, why wouldn’t you. Even though lemons are $.59 a piece at the grocery store (ugh- highway robbery!) it’s still an affordable project. Recipe for roast chicken with preserved lemons to follow- as soon as Denver weather dips into cozy territory where a blast of oven heat to the face is a nice feeling.

Homemade Ketchup: Study #2

Take 2! I made ketchup a while ago, and it was just awful. It tasted like it would go better on a cake than a french fry. I didn't feel inclined to try again until I saw this Whiskey BBQ Ketchup on the Minimalist Baker while I was looking for a baked french fries recipe (the fry recipe is killer too). It didn't have cinnamon or what I associate as bakery spices, and the idea of a smoky whiskey ketchup was super intriguing. Oh man this stuff is good! Yay! I'm forever indebted to them for posting this recipe.

Orgeat

A while back a couple friends told me about a crazy new cocktail they had at a restaurant and recreated at home, a Trinidad Sour. These are the same friends who recommended the first good margarita I've made! I had all but one ingredient for the Trinidad Sour, orgeat. This is an almond syrup. Not just any ol' almond syrup you could buy to put in coffee though, it's been around in some form for centuries and is more complex than something like amaretto. My friends recommend the best orgeat they have had, by Small Hand Foods. Sadly I couldn't seem to get my hands on it, sooo big surprise, I looked up how to make it. I mean, why not right?

Homemade Grenadine

The red stuff you buy at the store is really just colored sugar syrup. While that is cool for a Shirley Temple, it's not as great for a real adult drink. I found a recipe (unfortunately it doesn't look like the website exists anymore!) that didn't involve heating the syrup and instead used a food processor to whir the sugar into the pomegranate juice. It also advised adding 1 ounce of vodka to the syrup and freezing it. It won't totally freeze because of the vodka, but this method of storage will preserve it way beyond just leaving it in the fridge. The alcohol helps with preservation too.

Cured Salmon

This isn't smoked salmon nor lox, but it's in the same family! This is more like Gravalax because it's cured in salt, sugar and dill. This cured salmon is really easy to make at home and doesn't require anything special like a smoker or dehydrator. Get some good sockeye salmon for this application. I got two pieces because I couldn't find a whole side of sockeye. To start you'll want to peel the skin off the salmon if it has any, rinse it and press all the water out of the flesh that you can. I used this recipe from Chow, but decreased the salt and sugar to two cups of each (which was still a little much) and decreasing the white pepper to two tablespoons. I have a little grinder and got tired after two! I skipped the parsley but used all the lemon zest from one lemon and a whole bunch of dill.