It is 2020 and We Are Food Blogging, Baby!

One of the biggest things I am trying to be better at is stretching my produce to last as long as it can. Unfortunately, I do not have the space to compost and my building isn't included in those brown compost bin pick ups that the city does. However, I still wanted to find a way to do something with some of my vegetable scraps. So while I saw many folks making beautiful broths with their chicken bones, I decided to do the same for my vegetables! A box of veggie broth can go for $4-5 here but if I can make it for free with what I already have, it seemed like an obvious small and easy project to do.  My biggest pro-tip is just putting all your scraps into a one-gallon Ziploc bag and have it hang out in the freezer until it's full. This will yield you at least 2 liters of broth, which you can store in the fridge for up to one week, or in the freezer for a month. My freezer broth has date labels so I know when to use it by!  Here are some vegetable scraps you can throw in: Garl...

What a privilege it is to go to the grocery store whenever you want. To pop in just for the one or two things you need to get to execute a recipe perfectly. To have the money to do so, as well! In any case, it has been a creative puzzle to try to find adequate substitutes in my own kitchen and pantry for a meal, especially at the last dregs before you do  have to make that one big grocery haul a week (or two). As I was scrounging around my kitchen, I came upon one can of chickpeas and one lemon. I knew I had some dried pasta left (although I only had one serving of gemelli and one serving of rigatoni) and the last few stems of parsley that I was able to stretch out for three weeks. Then, I remembered a Melissa Clark recipe that included all of these ingredients, and a wave of excitement rushed through me. We can make a very delicious, very easy lunch! Yes, I had to substitute fresh rosemary for dried thyme and basil. Yes, I had a bowl with two different types of pasta s...

I am writing this after taking a little break from washing my clothes in my (luckily large farmhouse) sink because the laundromat closest to my apartment closed up for the foreseeable future last week. I *could* venture out further to find an open laundromat but since I am trying to limit my time outside/around people as much as possible, walking a further distance with a bulky bag just doesn't seem like a great  choice right now if I can avoid it.  Limiting my grocery runs/hauls is also another way to limit my time around folks, which means a lot of leftovers. Leftovers can be, I WILL SAY IT, boring after a day or two but I feel like throwing in some fresh herbs really helps liven it up a bit, and makes the dish feel like new.  How do you keep fresh herbs around for a long time? I am glad you asked! Here are some tips I have leaned on for many years and, if it's all new to you, you can use now, too!  Herbs can be divided into tender and hardy types. An...