Sick of Salt? Add Flavor With These Commonly Used Spices

[Today is a guest post from Andrew Hall at the Apple a Day blog.] While it's important to salt foods in order to bring out their true flavor, salt is not the only way to add a little oomph to your cooking. Bring some ethnic flavor to everyday meals with these commonly-used spices. Simple to incorporate and readily available at any grocery stores, these spices are the perfect starters for your foray into ethnically-inspired cuisine. … [Read more...]

Make It Yourself Monday: Grenadine

Do you remember when you were little and went out to a special dinner with your family? The only thing that made it barely bearable was getting to drink a Shirley Temple filled with extra cherries by a server who was trying to keep you from throwing crushed cracker crumbs all over the floor.[1] … [Read more...]

Larry’s Jalapeño Cheese Bread — Part 4

This is Part 4 of a 4-part series on Larry’s Jalapeño Cheese Bread. Act III -- The Bread Are you ready? Before you make the bread, better yet, the night before, gather the cheese, jalapeños and sherry. You can substitute dry vermouth, but do not use cooking sherry (it contains salt which will interfere with the yeast). Sherry develops the flavor and heat in the jalapeños. … [Read more...]

How To Dehydrate Cheese

This is part 3 of a 4-part series on Larry’s Jalapeño Cheese Bread. Act II — The Cheese I grate my own, but then I'm retired and often bored. Probably easier just to get cheese already shredded. I tried shredding cheese in my trusty Cuisinart™, but with the mild cheddar I use, it didn't work out too well. I get my best results from my ancient Moulinex™ appliance which is so old it's model number is in Roman numerals. If I didn't have it, I'd probably buy (shudder) already grated … [Read more...]

How To Dehydrate Jalapeños

This is Part 2 of a 4-part series on Larry's Jalapeño Cheese Bread. Act I — The Jalapeño ¡Ay, caramba! ¡Ariba, ariba, andalay! You can get these in cans, but I like the food grade plastic bottles. Just dump the pequeñas jalapeños nacho in a strainer and wash them. ¡Caliente Caliente! Hot, hot! One or two jalapeños aren't too bad, but in large groups jalapeños can be dangerous. Seriously consider latex gloves. Under no circumstances rub your eyes! ¡Santo Toledo! … [Read more...]