Remember moving into your first home or apartment? Remember the freedom you felt? The excitement of independence? You felt powerful because the decisions were yours alone. You decided where your furniture went, how late you stayed up, how late you stayed out, what you ate, who visited you, and what you watched on T.V. Cleanliness was…
Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette
I have three “beefs” with store bought salad dressing, I’ve listed them below in order of importance. (My importance, anyway.) 1. The bottled ranch DOES NOT taste the same as the ranch you get at restaurants. If I wanted vinegar in my ranch, I would add it. It turns out, I do not. 2. They…
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
This is the first post in our American Thanksgiving series, and we are starting off with our homemade cranberry sauce. Do me a favor and close your eyes for a second and think of a beautiful Thanksgiving table. The wonderful foods start to make their way around the table. You look down as someone hands…
Jeff’s Easy Refrigerator Pickles
Fall is officially upon us, as I’ve turned on the heat in my house for the first time since last winter. Fall is a magical time of year when people find wonderful ways to preserve the spoils of the late summer harvest. Pumpkin spice, squash, and apple cinnamon flavors abound, contrasting the cool air. One…
Homemade Pesto
Friends, it would appear that summer is nearing an end. This makes me sad. It means less golf, more work, and probably a few colds heading my way. We could sit here all day and discuss the sad parts of summer ending, but let’s try something different. Let’s focus on the positive! We live in…
Getting (Homemade Barbecue Sauce)d
Getting Sauced Welcome friends of the internet to the second part of our three part barbecue installment. Last week, we covered a nice, basic barbecue rub. This week, we are going to tackle some barbecue sauces. All great barbecue starts with a rub. Not all great barbecue actually requires sauce. I believe that a…
Barbecue Spice Rub
Greetings fellow food friends! Welcome to another edition of SPF. This week is the first part of our three part barbecue installment. Barbecue is about as American as it gets. It involves meat and smoke. That sounds pretty good to me. Good barbecue, however, is a process. I wish I could tell you what…
Kick for Your Steak and Stuff? Homemade Horseradish!
Barbeque season is here people! There are tons of condiments out there to have with a steak, but in my opinion, if it’s a well grilled steak, the only one you need is a good creamy or straight horseradish. Why not make a homemade horseradish? As you know, my biggest motivator for making something homemade…
Homemade Salsa and Guacamole for Cinco de Mayo
How do you have the BEST Cinco de Mayo EVER? How do you eat the tastiest salsa and guacamole you’ve ever had? You make the salsa and guacamole yourself with fresh ingredients, that’s how! Once you’ve made homemade salsa and guacamole, it’s pretty hard to go back to eating the store bought stuff, especially my…
Homemade Mayonnaise
Greetings again members of a literate society! This week, we thought we would do a post on homemade mayonnaise. There is no denying that mayo is not the healthiest thing for you. In fact, it’s almost entirely fat. The thing is that it’s used in a lot of recipes. So what we thought we would…
