Above: salad from my garden, with lettuce, peas, radishes, and carrot seedlings.
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
I have to include a plug here for Aerogarden. I live in the Northeast US, where the growing season isn’t very long. Grocery store herbs are hit or miss — sometimes they’re out, sometimes they have crummy ones, sometimes I get lucky. So for years now, I’ve grown herbs on my countertop in my Aerogarden. I get delicious, fresh herbs all year long! And I know precisely what chemicals (usually none) are used on them, whose hands touched them (and whether those hands had been washed), and how long ago they were harvested. And let me tell you, this company has customer service like you wouldn’t believe! If something’s wrong, they make it right, it’s that simple. They’re a joy to do business with. No, I don’t get anything from them that I don’t pay for. I just believe in giving credit where credit is due. Although if they wanted to send me a freebie or two, I won’t say I’d turn it down!
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
I’m very excited to have found Syracuse Salt at the Cazenovia Farmers’ Market. Can’t wait to try out my new Himalayan slab, lemon salt & Thai ginger salt! Update: Salt Slab Sirloin – magnificent!
Still Tasty can tell you just how long you can keep those leftovers.
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
The sheet pan suppers actually go on a “half-sheet pan.” The full sheet pan won’t fit in most people’s ovens. You can get a quarter-sheet pan, too.
An easy way to line one with foil is to flip it upside down and mold the foil over the bottom. Then flip right side up & the foil fits right in. 
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
Tomato paste works well in a lot of recipes, but most of them only call for a tablespoon or two. I’ve tried the stuff that comes in tubes, but find it somewhat bitter. I prefer to stick to cans. Rather than leave an opened can in the fridge, or worse yet, waste the rest of it, I freeze whatever I don’t use. Just measure it out by tablespoons, scoop it out onto a plate, cover, freeze. Once frozen, they go into a zip top bag. The next time I need some, I just take out however many tablespoons I need.
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
My favorite tool for when you need to mince more than just a single clove of garlic – up to about 2 or 3 Tablespoons – but not enough to warrant getting out the full-size food processor: Cuisinart Mini-Mate. Unfortunately, mine died recently. Well, it was actually my second one, that I’d bought when the first one died. I got about 5 years hard use out of each. But when I went online to replace it this time, I discovered they’ve discontinued it! Sad, sad day for me. I was able to score one (ridiculously overpriced) on Amazon, but I doubt there are very many more out there to be had. So eventually I’ll need to come up with an alternative.
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
Best tool by far for zesting is the Microplane.
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
A nice little “cheat” for making a lattice pie crust is a Lattice Pie Crust Cutter.
And for rolling out a shortening pie crust, if you can find them (sometimes on E-Bay), Perfect-a-Crust.
To simultaneously peel, core, & slice apples, this gizmo:
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
I don’t remember where I got these cute little mini-measures. They come in handy when cooking for two and needing smaller amounts while remaining accurate. If you don’t have these, you can estimate from a ⅛ tsp measuring spoon. A smidgen will fill it about ¼, a pinch fills it about ½, and a dash about ¾ full.
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
Some ingredients are worth ordering online if you can’t find them locally:
Baldwin’s, for vanilla & other extracts
I buy my cedar planks at Outdoor Gourmet for a fraction of the price Whole Foods wants. And guess where WF buys theirs? I know, because most of the “seconds” I always buy are cheaper because the logo of the store they were destined for didn’t come out quite right. I’ve also seen The Fresh Market and Wegmans.
Rancho Gordo for dried beans
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
Here are links to recipes I’ve found online that I haven’t tweaked (yet). They’re great as is!
Braised Fennel With Parmesan Breadcrumbs
Calzones (See Pizza Dough & Pizza Sauce below)
Fennel Spinach Salad with Shrimp
Olive Tapenade Crusted Chicken
Pizza Dough (for calzones, too)
Pizza Sauce (for calzones, too)
Savory Chicken With Freekeh, Root Vegetables, & Prunes
Seared Scallops with Wilted Watercress
julienne.red 