Tag: quick & easy

Homemade Body Scrub

17 December 2010 by local kitchen

Have you ever made body scrub? I hadn’t, until a few days ago, and now I’m embarrassed that I ever bought the stuff. Five minutes of mixing together ingredients already in my pantry and what do you know? A wonderful spa treatment, made completely of natural and organic ingredients, for literally pennies a jar. I confess that I’m already somewhat addicted to the lavender sea salt scrub: the salt makes your muscles really warm & tingly (great for those of us who have been spending long hours […]

Categories: gifts, holiday, year round • Tags: bath, beauty, body scrub, holiday, homemade gifts, quick & easy, recipes, spa

Dark Days: Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Roasted Pumpkin Seed Oil

13 December 2010 by local kitchen

I’m participating, along with a whole lot of other bloggers, in (not so) Urban Hennery’s Dark Days Challenge again this year: the challenge being to eat one meal a week that is made exclusively from SOLE (sustainable, organic, local & ethical) ingredients and to blog about it. Since local eating, and with that, sustainable, organic, humane and ethical eating, is the norm around here, the challenge for me is to make more 100% local meals, without any of my standard exceptions (olive oil, […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, Dark Days Local, main course, quick & easy, scallions, stir-fry, winter, winter squash, year round • Tags: cooking, food, gnocchi, local, pasta, pumpkin, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Turkey Vindaloo

8 December 2010 by local kitchen

New World bird meets Old World spice: film @ 11. Well, it’s not the most attrative dish I’ve ever made. It certainly isn’t authentic; while turkey is common in the Americas and Europe, it’s a rarity in India, and I’m pretty sure they aren’t making vindaloo with pre-made spice packets from Penzeys. Despite those knocks against it, this dish was simple to prepare, easy on the wallet (helpful in these holiday-cash-strapped times), satisfyingly filling, and warming, for a nippy December night, and a great […]

Categories: cauliflower, main course, potato, quick & easy, stew, turkey, winter, year round • Tags: budget, cooking, food, local, main course, quick & easy, recipes, stew, turkey, vindaloo

Can Jam: Raisin D’Être Mustard

6 December 2010 by local kitchen

Well, here it is, the last Tigress’ Can Jam post of 2010. How the year has flown! It seems only yesterday that I was mulling citrus options, looking forward to hundreds of new recipes, and meeting all sorts of new friends. Before we dive into the details of this month’s ingredient, dried fruit (selected by the Tigress herself), let’s take a little walk down Memory Lane, shall we? Januray, citrus: Lime Curd for Water Bath Canning and Blackberry Lime Jam February, carrots: […]

Categories: Can Jam, canning, condiments, mustard, raisins, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: beer, canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, mustard, quick & easy, raisins, recipes

Locavirgin: Roasted Cauliflower with Bacon

27 November 2010 by local kitchen

So, you get it right, the way this blog works? Every other cooking blog on the planet regales you with Thanksgiving recipes in the weeks prior to the event. Bah, I say. Humbug! Now that everyone else is featuring turkey tacos, turkey tamales and turkey tettrazini, I’ll give you… Thanksgiving dishes! The ones that were on my table. Because, you know that I love to test recipes on the fly (and making any of my Thanksgiving recipes in advance would […]

Categories: 100% local, cauliflower, fall, holiday, Locavirgin, pork, roasting, side dish, winter • Tags: bacon, cauliflower, cooking, fall, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, side dishes

Fresh Cranberry Salsa

23 November 2010 by local kitchen

Having a last-minute Thanksgiving? Relax – you are not alone. I just tested out this fresh cranberry salsa for my own Thanksgiving table: it took me under 23 minutes from start to finish (yes, I timed myself) and that included rooting around in the Thanksgiving-stuffed fridge for ingredients, searching the packed-to-the-gills utensil drawer for the apple corer (and eventually turning it up in the dishwasher – oops), weighing the ingredients, and jotting down the recipe for you, the time-stressed Thanksgiving cook. […]

Categories: apples, cilantro, condiments, cranberries, fall, quick & easy, salsa, winter • Tags: cooking, cranberries, fall, food, holiday, local, quick & easy, recipes, salsa, thanksgiving, vegetarian

Use it or Lose it! Fruit Butter Granola

16 November 2010 by local kitchen

Ever since I tried the pumpkin granola recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod (thanks to Marisa’s link) I’ve been thinking more about the potential for using fruit purées, sauces and butters in granola. The concept of replacing oil with fruit purée is not a new one: applesauce, prunes and dates are common replacements for oil in many a quickbread. I just had not thought to apply this method to granola; I’m so glad that Maria & Josh over at Two […]

Categories: breakfast, fruit, grains & legumes, nuts, oats, snack, Use it or Lose it!, year round • Tags: baking, breakfast, food, fruit butter, granola, local, quick & easy, recipes, snacks, vegetarian

Jalapeno Cornbread

5 November 2010 by local kitchen

I was nearly out of whole wheat pastry flour and, with the holidays approaching, I knew I would need some more, sooner rather than later. I placed an order with Amy at Wild Hive Farm, my wonderful local flour producers, and asked Tai to pick it up on his way home from work. At the last minute, I tacked on a “grab some corn meal, too, OK?” request to my darling hubs, because the last time I made pizza, I realized I […]

Categories: 100% local, baking, breads, corn, grains & legumes, hot chile peppers, side dish, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, bread, cast iron cooking, cooking, corn, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, tex mex, vegetarian, whole grain breads

Use it or Lose it! Roasted Turkey with Plum Preserves

4 November 2010 by local kitchen

Like many of my fellow canning bloggers, I’ve had a lot of requests for recipes that fall into the “What to do with all of that jam?!” category. For me, this is a bit of a conundrum, because I’m not really sure how I use it up: I don’t eat a whole lot of jam on toast (mostly preferring peanut butter); the obvious classics, like a jam tart or thumbprint cookies, aren’t things that I make often; and despite giving some of it away, […]

Categories: 100% local, fall, main course, plums, roasting, sage, turkey, Use it or Lose it!, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, fall, food, main course, plums, preserves, quick & easy, recipes, roasting, turkey, winter

Oven-Braised Barbecue Chicken

28 October 2010 by local kitchen

This was my lunch on Tuesday, such a glorious, warm, sunny day that I was compelled, despite a crazy-busy week and a looming analysis deadline, to enjoy it out on the back deck. Because basking in the sun, watching the leaves drift down, and reveling in sticky, messy, moist & delicious, finger-looking good barbecue chicken is soon going away, not to be seen again around these parts for many moons. If I were a Brit, I’d call this recipe “cheap […]

Categories: 100% local, braising, chicken, fall, meat & dairy, sauces, winter, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

100% Local: Maine Graple Syrup

11 October 2010 by local kitchen

More goodness from my haul of Concord grapes from Tai’s grandmom Louisa’s Downeast Maine grapevines: grape + maple = graple syrup! This syrup is like Voltaire: if it didn’t exist, someone would have to invent it. Mostly so that someone could run around the house singing “graple, graple, graple, I made you out of clay…graple, graple, graple, with graple I will play!” Until that someone’s husband shakes his head, rolls his eyes, says “You’re insane,” and escapes to the garage. This recipe […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, condiments, fall, foraging, grapes, preserving, sauces, wild foods • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Purple Basil Vinegar

8 October 2010 by local kitchen

Purple basil is a lovely thing: a deep, dark, almost black purple, with that familiar basil flavor & aroma, but just slightly mellower; a little sweeter, a little less grassy, perhaps just a touch more refined. Dare I say regal? Must be the purple. Whenever I get some, I feel I must do something special with it, not just toss it into salads, bruschetta, pasta or pesto like most of the green basil that comes my way. Are you still […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, herbs, preserving, summer, vinegar • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Pumpkin Granola

4 October 2010 by local kitchen

Since I made my very first batch of homemade granola last year, based on Kristin’s recipe at The Kitchen Sink, I’ve never gone back. I’m not the biggest granola fan, but Tai loves it, and will gladly eat a bowl of granola in milk every morning of his life, and I have to admit when this granola comes out of the oven I find myself sneaking pinches of sweetly-spicy oats & nuts as it cools. Let me tell you folks – […]

Categories: apples, breakfast, cranberries, fall, nuts, oats, quick & easy, snack, winter squash, year round • Tags: breakfast, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Wild Purple Scones

29 August 2010 by local kitchen

Because woman cannot live on jam alone: wild & crazy purple scones for your Sunday morning. Made with wild black raspberries from my backyard, these delicious scones get their wild purple color (and flavor!) from slightly smushed black raspberries in the dough. Much like many of the area farms, we’ve had a terrible wild berry crop this year; I only saw a few black raspberries on the bushes, the wineberries came and went in a flash, and I haven’t harvested […]

Categories: baking, berries, breads, breakfast, citrus, milk, whole wheat flour, wild foods, year round • Tags: baking, berries, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, whole grain breads

Blueberry-Basil Vinegar

20 August 2010 by local kitchen

Can you believe that blueberries are still going? Well, they are, for today at least: Jones Family Farms (in Shelton, CT) has announced today is the last day for blueberry picking at the farm. And what better way to preserve your late-season haul than an infused vinegar? (Um… what?) OK, I’ll admit, there are a million lovely things to do with blueberries, including, but not limited to: pancakes, scones, tarts, (a blueberry-peach pie that I am making today for a […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, berries, condiments, preserving, quick & easy, summer, vinegar • Tags: condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes