So here’s the gods honest truth: I used to boil the ever-loving crap out of eggs. To be fair, Easter was about the only time we ever boiled them growing up. After we’d dyed them, peeled them to reveal the tie-dyed ellipses beneath, and mixed the yolks with a generous amount of mustard and Miracle Whip (an ingredient I’ll defend to the death when making Deviled Eggs), the gray-green, sulfury halo around the yolks didn’t really seem to matter much.

On the rare occasions that I ate straight-up, un-deviled hard boiled eggs, I only ate the whites. And small wonder! I was, however, flummoxed: how come the yolks in some store-bought eggs looked so, well, appetizing I decided to actually look up a recipe, and what do you know: other people have already figured this out. But since I was TWENTY-NINE before I actually learned to do this right, I thought you guys might want some tips too. The big secret Hard boiled eggs don’t actually need to boil for more than a moment.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Get some eggs. Fresh eggs are the hardest to peel, so this is a great way to use up the end of an older batch.

2. Place the eggs in a single layer in a pot large enough to accommodate them. Cover the eggs with at least an inch of water.

3. Bring the pot to a boil over medium-high heat. (You’re probably won’t be as foamy as this… one of my eggs broke early in the process, which makes a big ugly foamy mess.)

4. Once the water comes to a full boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Leave the pot on the burner (I have a glasstop stove, so I put the pot half off the burner since those suckers NEVER cool down) and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your eggs and how hard you want the yolk. I want my yolks to be solid, and I generally use large to extra large eggs, so the full 15 minutes works for me. If you are nervous about going to far, boil an extra egg so you can check one after 10 or 12 minutes. I can think of worse things to do with 70 calories.

5. Drain the hot water off the eggs and add cold water to the pot, along with a big handful of ice cubes. You’ll want to wait until the eggs are completely cool before peeling.

6. Peel the eggs. Eat the eggs. Love the eggs!

If heaven is real, then I really don’t think it’s made of puffy clouds and golden harps. I rather imagine it must be filled with endless tables, buckling under the weight of all the chips, dips, cheeses and crackers (all calorie-free, OBVIOUSLY) that a person could possibly want. Really, is there a better way to eat than scooping up succulent dips and salsas with crisp, salty shards of simple carbohydrates?

My obsession with chips is pretty severe. I’m hopeless at Mexican restaurants. Those continuously re-filling bowls of free chips and salsa at the start of the meal virtually guarantee that I’ll be in a food coma before my main course even arrives. I’m pretty shameless about them at potlucks and dinner parties, too. But unless I am hosting a party of my own, I actually avoid buying them: if I have chips in the house, there’s like a 70% chance that I’ll skip cooking dinner and simply dine on chips and salsa instead, strangely able to justify it by pretending they are vegetables. Sad, I know.

But I’ve found a little loophole. As long as I have corn tortillas in my fridge (which is pretty regular) I can make teeny batches of chips whenever I like! Satisfy my cravings without overdosing! Plus they are baked, which in the chip world, is code for healthy! (Right?)

It’s shockingly simple. Cut tortillas. Spray with cooking spray and salt. Flip over and repeat. Bake. Eat.

I’ll admit: it’s hard to compare these to true, deep-fried tortilla chips. But for an emergency craving, they are quite, quite sufficient. And a bit healthier, I daresay. Emphasis on bit.

Whatever. Sometimes I just want chips and now I can have them whenever I want. NOW THAT IS POWER.

Baked Tortilla Chips

Makes 24 chips, but this can obviously be flexed up or down

4 corn tortillas (white or yellow, the thinner the better)
cooking spray
salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut tortillas into six even wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Spray lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Flip over each wedge and spray the other salt, also adding a bit more salt.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, flipping chips partway through, or until chips are lightly browned and fairly crisp. Chips will still be a bit bendy while they are warm, but they will crisp up in 2-3 minutes after they are removed from the oven. Sprinkle with additional salt if needed.

I realize that I’m a month or two late for the PUMPKIN-EVERYTHING craze that annually arrives in September, but I finally gathered the time, the initiative, and the pumpkins to try my hand at making my own pumpkin puree. I’ve always been a big fan of Libby’s, but I’m pretty pleased with both the results and the ease of making this myself. Right after Halloween, it’s easy to find pumpkins for just a couple dollars, so it’s a great time of year to stock up for all your coming holiday desserts, as it freezes wonderfully.

And it’s sooooo easy. I urge you to give it a try for your own pumpkin recipes this year! Here’s how it’s done:

1. Select 1-2 small-ish pumpkins, or as many as you want to make in one batch. You can definitely puree pumpkins of any size, but they flavor and texture will be better from smaller pumpkins. These are often sold as “pie pumpkins” or “sugar pumpkins”.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the stem-end of the pumpkin off, slicing off as little of the orange part as possible. Then, cut each pumpkin in half.

3. Use a metal spoon or a pumpkin scraper to clean out the cavity of each half. And don’t pitch the seeds! They make a delicious snack when they’re roasted.

4. Place the pumpkins cut-side down on the parchment paper. You can also place them cut-side up, but you’ll want to add a tablespoon of water to the cavity of each half.

5. Bake the pumpkins for 45-50 minutes. To ensure they are done, flip one half over and prick the flesh with a fork. It should be soft and easy to prick.

6. Use a metal spoon to scrape the flesh off of the skin of each half. Place the flesh in a food processor or blender. I work with one half of the pumpkin at a time to help the pureeing go quickly.

7. Empty the puree into a separate bowl and continue until all of the pumpkin flesh is pureed.

And that’s all! My sugar pumpkins yielded about 32 ounces of puree per pumpkin, or roughly the equivalent of two cans.

You can use this puree immediately if you have a dish ready to cook. Or, keep it in the fridge for up to five days.

I, however, freeze mine. I like freezing it in eight-ounce baggies. Just use regular zippered sandwich bags and a food scale to add the puree, then press them flat before freezing to maximize your storage space.

Looking for new ways to feature pumpkin at your festivities this year Try these Mini Pumpkin Cream Pies, Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream & Sugared Pecans, or Pumpkin Chiffon Pie for dessert. Or! Kick off the party with Sweet & Savory Pumpkin Dips. Then when you’re done eating them, the dip bowls will make you another great batch of pumpkin puree.

Two years ago, I wrote a rather desperate post about my first experience in bulk tomato canning. I scarcely realized the task I had undertaken, did not have pots quite large enough or a food mill worth its weight in feathers, and I had unwittingly committed to waaaaay to many products for a two-day stint. At the time, I wasn’t sure it was worth the effort, and there are least a few moments that tears dripped down my tomato-flecked face.

But over the course of that year, I grew quite fond of the sauces I had made and became rather dependent on them in my cooking. When tomato season rolled around again, I decided to tackle the project a second time with a few changes. I reduced the variety of products, but I also added about 25% more tomatoes since I had run out of many favorites in the weeks previous. However, the project still produced a vast amount of stress. I had to do my canning at a friend’s apartment (I didn’t have the right kind of stove to manage it), which meant packing up all my supplies and commandeering a kitchen that was not my own. More tomato-stained tears were had.

They say third time is the charm, and in this case I agree: I tackled my tomatoes this year with some MAJOR upgrades that turned this somewhat dreaded experience into an exciting one.

I know many of you are completely uninterested in large-scale canning. Even with upgraded equipment and a few years of experience, putting up 120 pounds of tomatoes (!!!) is a massive amount of work. However, if you are interested but have not approached the craft because it seems too daunting, I want to share with you a few of the things I’ve learned that I wish so much I had known the first time around.

Get the Right Tools

I know this sounds like a no-brainer. Canning requires lots of unique tools, many of which are now finally available at average grocery stores. But honestly, I am thoroughly convinced that the biggest key to my success this year centered around two new items: a really, really big cooking pot and an electric tomato strainer.

Let’s talk about the pot for a minute. For the last two years, I’ve cooked my batches of tomatoes in a 6-quart pot, which only left about two inches of space at the top for the pureé to bubble along for over an hour. The result is tomato splatter ALL OVER THE KITCHEN. This year, I invested in a 16-quart stainless steel pot, which seemed absurdly huge. However, even though my raw tomato puree filled only about a third of the pot, the splatter that used to bloody my walls and stove now stays merrily inside.

As for the strainer. Brad gave me mine, a tremendous gift, after he’d asked what one item I would splurge on for myself. He went all out and bought me this one, an Italian model with good reviews and a sturdy motor that should last for years to come. There are a variety of others out there, as well. Normally, I’m not a fan of one-trick ponies in the kitchen, let along ones that only come out once a year.

But let me tell you: after two years of washing, scoring, blanching, cooling, peeling, slicing, seeding, and pureéing one tomato at a time, for over 100 pounds, the strainer was EVERYTHING. Wash tomato, slice in half if large, put into strainer, receive beautiful pureé in one pot and seeds and skins in another. What used to take two-three hours for a batch now takes 30 minutes. If you can bulk tomatoes, I can’t recommend it enough.

Can What You’ll Actually Eat

The first year, I tried all kinds of things: sweet relish, ketchup, three kinds of salsa, pickled okra, and three kinds of tomato sauce. I used the tomato sauce and most of the other cans sat dormant. The second year, I canned whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and three kinds of tomato sauce. I used the tomato sauce and most of the other cans sat dormant.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t try new recipes. But if a bulk-canning weekend is what you’re aiming for, I find that the fewer recipes I’m working with on those two days improves my efficiency tremendously. Starting with the easiest first, a rhythm develops that makes the whole day (or weekend) flow smoothly. This year, with just over 120 pounds of tomatoes, I finished in 14 hours, a record one-day can-a-thon for me, making multiple batches of only three kinds of tomato sauce.

Prep Your Kitchen the Night Before

On Friday night, I pick up my bulk order of tomatoes. I do my grocery-shopping to collect the other ingredients. I schlepped out my canner, cooking pots, scrap bowls, jars, lids, cookbooks, towels, and canning tools. I lay out towels for filling jars and for resting them once they’re canned.

Why stretch this process out Canning day is a lot of work, a lot of standing on your feet in a steamy kitchen over boiling pots and boxes of tomatoes. I hate preceding that with a couple hours of cleaning and organizing and much prefer to wake up to a kitchen that’s ready to go.

Be Prepared for HARD Work

Even with the tremendously-time-saving tools I gained this year, my back still screamed with pain by the time I hit the third box of tomatoes. My arms ached from pressing 120 pounds of tomatoes through a hole the size of a half-dollar in the tomato strainer. Slowly, the tomato boxes drained, and my kitchen table filled with glimmering ruby jars. All told, at the end of the night, there is always a little bit of anti-climactic disappointment at the resulting jars. The volume of 50-some jars is so much smaller than the huge boxes I started with.

I was extremely caught off-guard the first year by the work. Now, I know what’s coming, so I’m better able to prepare for it. I had Brad bring me lunch in the middle of the day so I could keep working efficiently, and I stocked up on snacks in advance to avoid while hangry (a dangerous mix under any circumstance.)  I wear good shoes and comfy clothes, and I stretch and break when I need to. By treating it like an event, planning in advance what I’ll need, and giving myself every opportunity to be successful, the resulting work feels much for acceptable.

Finally, Savor Your Efforts

You could absolutely go and buy tomato sauce of varying kinds at the grocery store. It will probably cost you less (unless you’re lucky enough to be growing your own tomatoes in which case I’m quite envious) and will taste just fine.

Canning your own food is not about beating the best price at the grocery store. The cost we pay for cheap groceries comes in other forms: unsustainable growing, often inferior products, additives and preservatives, low wages, incentive to be wasteful, the list goes on and on.

Each jar of tomato sauce on my shelf is special to me. I’m proud of the work I’ve put in to support a local grower. I like knowing exactly what’s in my sauce. I like always having some on hand (except for those scary days in August when I’m running low on last year’s supply.) I am cautious to never waste a drop, probably because I remember the back pain and sweat and effort that went into producing it.

And simply put, it’s delicious. It does take a bit of time to get used to when you’ve grown up on grocery-store sauces. But now that we have, Brad and I can hardly imagine not having these staples in the pantry year-round. One long weekend of work yields almost 8 weeks of meals. Not to shabby, I think.

The Recipes

Below are the three recipes I canned this year. After two earlier years of trying a variety of different recipes, these are the ones I use the most consistently in my kitchen. They’re extremely versatile, and don’t require a huge number of additional ingredients. I can in batches large enough to fill my water bath canner with jars, usually 8-9 pints at a time. If you’re curious, I canned this year four batches of Basic Tomato Sauce (yielding 29 pints), two batches of Marinara Sauce (yielding 17 pints), and one batch of Pizza Sauce (yielding 15 half pints.)

The recipes below do NOT outline basic canning safety procedures. For those, I highly recommend the two cookbooks I adapted my recipes from: The Food in Jars Cookbook, and the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. They are tremendous resources. Plus, you’ll likely find other recipes that you love in each and maybe even add them to your canning agenda.

Basic Tomato Sauce
Adapted from Food in Jars

Makes 8-9 pints

20 pounds paste tomatoes (Roma or San Marzano)
2 tsp salt
1 T lemon juice per pint jar

Wash tomatoes. If using a tomato strainer, run tomatoes through strainer to collect all puree in a large pot. If not using a strainer, cut a small “x” in the skin of the non-stem end of the tomato and remove the core of the stem end. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and blanch a few tomatoes at a time for 1-2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Peel off the skins into a scrap bowl, then slice each tomato in half. Use your fingers to remove the seeds into the scrap bowl. Pureé peeled and seeded tomatoes in a food processor or blender and pour in a large pot.

Add salt to the tomato pureé and stir well. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-high and cook for 60-75 minutes without a lid, stirring frequently. The sauce should reduce be almost half.

While the sauce is cooking, prepare your jars and water bath canner.

Once the sauce is nearly done, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to each prepared jar. Pour the hot tomato sauce into the jars, leaving 1/2″ of headspace. Wipe the rims and place the flat lids on each jar. Add rings and spin to finger-tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes. Note, you will need longer processing time if you live at an altitude higher than 1000 feet. Consult a canning cookbook for recommended additional time.

Remove jars from canner and let sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Ensure lids have sealed and store in a cool, dark place.

Marinara Sauce
Adapted from Food in Jars

Makes 8-9 pints

Note: Do not add extra onion or garlic. They are low in acid and could make your final product unsafe for long-term storage.

20 pounds paste tomatoes (Roma or San Marzano)
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup (160 g) finely chopped yellow onion
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp salt
1/4 c finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 c finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 T lemon juice per pint jar

Wash tomatoes. If using a tomato strainer, run tomatoes through strainer to collect all puree in a large bowl or pot (not the pot you’ll use for cooking). If not using a strainer, use the method outlined in the Basic Tomato Sauce recipe to skin, seed, and pureé the tomatoes.

Heat olive oil in your cooking pot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and salt and sauté for 5-6 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add tomato pureé, basil, and parsley and stir well. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-high and cook for 70-80 minutes without a lid, stirring frequently. The sauce should reduce be about half.

Once the sauce is nearly done, add 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice to each prepared jar. Pour the hot tomato sauce into the jars, leaving 1/2″ of headspace. Wipe the rims and place the flat lids on each jar. Add rings and spin to finger-tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes. Note, you will need longer processing time if you live at an altitude higher than 1000 feet. Consult a canning cookbook for recommended additional time.

Remove jars from canner and let sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Ensure lids have sealed and store in a cool, dark place.

Pizza Sauce
Adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

Makes 8-9 pints (I can mine in half-pints, which each make one pizza perfectly)

20 pounds paste tomatoes (Roma or San Marzano)
4 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 T lemon juice per half-pint jar (or 2 T per pint jar)

Wash tomatoes. If using a tomato strainer, run tomatoes through strainer to collect all puree in a large pot. If not using a strainer, use the method outlined in the Basic Tomato Sauce recipe to skin, seed, and pureé the tomatoes.

Add oregano, pepper, salt, and garlic powder to the tomato pureé and stir well. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-high and cook for 70-80 minutes without a lid, stirring frequently. The sauce should reduce be about half.

While the sauce is cooking, prepare your jars and water bath canner.

Once the sauce is nearly done, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to each prepared half-pint jar. Pour the hot tomato sauce into the jars, leaving 1/2″ of headspace. Wipe the rims and place the flat lids on each jar. Add rings and spin to finger-tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes. Note, you will need longer processing time if you live at an altitude higher than 1000 feet. Consult a canning cookbook for recommended additional time.

Remove jars from canner and let sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Ensure lids have sealed and store in a cool, dark place.

The answer should be YES. I felt for years that pizza rolls were just one of those things that could only be purchased in the freezer section, compliments of food scientists and packaging specialists. But no! You can make your own, and I daresay they are even better than their freezer-burned counterparts. For one thing, you can know exactly what’s inside and make that choice yourself.

For this, my first foray into homemade pizza roll-dom, I stuck with the basics: pepperoni, zesty red pizza sauce, and the three cheeses I put on all my pizzas all the time always: mozzarella, parmesan, and asiago.

I like my pepperoni in little chunks for pizza rolls. Instead of buying your pepperoni sliced, you can ask your local deli for a few inches of the pepperoni “stick” (I asked for four inches, which turned out to be six ounces). I also know that Boar’s Head makes a stick that would work equally well. Or, if you don’t want to fuss with it, cutting up sliced pepperoni will also suffice.

Since there’s no cooking involved until you fry these suckers up, the only well time commitment is the making of the rolls. Pizza rolls are basically wontons or ravioli, pick your filling-filled-pasta name of choice. You can make these any shape you want, but I wanted a nice round little pouch of pizza. Don’t be scared of folding your own, it’s easy!

First, add 2-3 teaspoons of filling to the center of the wrapper. Don’t worry about being too precise, you’ll know pretty quickly if you’ve put too much in. Then, after running a wet finger along all four edges of the wrapper, begin folding it like a little letter.

Look how pretty! Now repeat a gazillion times (okay, 50 times).

Once the rolls are made, it’s time to fry. You don’t need a deep fryer for this, just a candy/deep fry thermometer and a medium sauce pan. For most everything that you want to fry at home, this is all you’ll need. Since these rolls are so small, a couple of inches of oil in the bottom of the pan is all you’ll need.

Working a few at a time, you’ll fry all of your pizza rolls in no time.

I took a bite of one after I let it cool for a bit, thinking there was no way it could be as good as the ones the food scientists make and package and sell from the freezer: I was dead wrong. They are pizza rolls exactly as I dream they should be. And next time, I may expand beyond pepperoni! For as many toppings as pizza can have, rolls can have just as many fillings.

Happy pizza rolls to you!

Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

Makes about 50 rolls

6 oz pepperoni (from a whole stick, chopped into small cubes)
4 oz mozzarella cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
1 oz parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/3 cup)
1 oz asiago cheese, grated (about 1/3 cup)
1 c pizza sauce
50 wonton wrappers (one package)
2-3 c vegetable oil

Once pepperoni has been chopped and cheese has been grated, combine them in a medium bowl along with the pizza sauce and mix well. Working one wrapper at a time, place 2-3 teaspoons of the mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Dip your finger in water and run it along all four edges of the wrapper. Fold the two side corners over the mixture the press one over the other. Then, fold the bottom corner up over the mixture, then roll the whole wrapper so that it presses onto the top corner. If any gaps remain, press them closed. Set aside and repeat until all filling is used, making sure to exclude as much liquid as possible to prevent the wraps from getting soggy.

In a medium sauce pan, add enough oil to fill the pan about two inches deep. Place a candy/deep fryer thermometer over the edge and heat on high until the oil is about 375°F. Working in small batches, add rolls to the oil and fry until golden brown in color. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels. Continue with all rolls.

Allow to sit for a few minutes before serving to avoid squirting yourself in the face with boiling hot pizza sauce. Be amazed at how quickly these will disappear.

I don’t eat a lot of sandwich bread. Brad can finish off a loaf of bread in three or four days, even faster if he’s trying to eat at home. I, on the other hand, have a tough time getting through even half a loaf before it takes a turn for the moldy.

I’ve always tended to prefer my breads in other forms. Tortillas, bagels, biscuits, cornbreads, and baguettes are much more likely to appeal to me than a loaf of sandwich bread. And more recently, English muffins.

Considering that I love finding ways to replace my store-bought staples with homemade versions, I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I really haven’t spent a lot of time focusing on breads. I do have some go-to recipes for quite a few quick breads, but not many that I cook on a regular basis (the dramatic exception being my favorite, favorite cornbread, which ends up on my menu quite frequently).  So when I ran across a recipe for this, my current bread-of-choice, I decided it was time.

To bulk up the nutritive value of these muffins a little bit, I swapped out about half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat. I don’t like baking with ONLY whole wheat flour because the final product is incredibly dense, but I was really happy with the balance on these. The whole wheat flour adds a nice nuttiness, as well as some darker color and texture. Aside from the flour, the only ingredients needed for the dough are salt, yeast, and water.

The dough starts off sticky but after several minutes of vigorous kneading turns into a soft, smooth ball. Magic!

Now here, perhaps, is the hardest part of bread-making: the wait. This particular recipe has two raises: one overnight for the unshaped dough, and one shorter one, about two hours, once the muffins have been formed. If you take out the waiting time, though, it really doesn’t take long to make these muffins. You just have to plan.

Once the dough has raised overnight, it will be really easy to break it into muffins. This recipe makes ten muffins. To make sure I had all of mine the same size, I used my kitchen scale to weigh each tenth. Once measured, each wad of dough is formed into a muffin-shaped disc for the final raise.

And then! My favorite part of baking English muffins was the discovery that they aren’t even baked. Nope. These little guys are actually cooked on the griddle (or in my case, in a frying pan), which gives them nice crispy crusts and a chewy, porous center.

Cool, huh I had no idea!

Once they’re done cooking, these muffins can be sliced open immediately, stored in a bag on the counter for 4-5 days, or frozen for about a month. Perhaps, this will mean for you ten days of  muffins sliced open and served warm, slathered in butter and jam for those of you who like your breakfasts sweet.

Or, if you’re more like me and prefer a savory, protein-filled breakfast, these make the perfect foundation for your very own homemade breakfast sandwiches. How about ten days of a toasted muffin featuring a gently fried egg topped with cheese and a thin slice of Canadian bacon?

SIGN. ME. UP.

Whole Wheat English Muffins
Adapted from Tasty

1 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water, divided
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp coarse salt
solid vegetable shortening
cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 c warm water. Allow it to sit for a few minutes until it’s somewhat frothy in appearance. Combine flours and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well with a fork. Add the yeast mixture and the remaining 1 c water. Stir with a sturdy wooden spoon to make a dough. Dough will be fairly sticky.

Empty the bowl onto a well-floured surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed to create a smooth, firm ball of dough. Clean out the mixing bowl and grease with shortening. Place the dough ball in the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, grease a large cookie sheet with shortening and sprinkle generously with cornmeal. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove from the bowl. Punch it down on the counter and divide into even tenths. I weigh the whole ball of dough on a kitchen scale and then divide by ten, weighing each piece to ensure the muffins are the same size. Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten between your palms, forming a disc about three inches across. Place each disc on the cookie sheet at least an inch apart. You should just barely have room for all ten muffins. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours.

Heat a large frying pan or cast iron skillet over medium heat. When hot, scoop about a tablespoon of shortening into the pan and tilt it so it melts evenly over the pan. Carefully slide a spatula under the muffins and place cornmeal-side down in the pan. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook for about 8 minutes. Check the underside of the muffins every few minutes to ensure they are not burning. Flip the muffins over and press down on them gently with the back of the spatula. Cook for another 8 minutes. Once the first batch is done, add a bit more shortening and continue with remaining muffins (I could only fit four muffins in my pan at a time).

Muffins can be served immediately, and they are truly delicious when fresh! However they also store well. To store, cool completely and store in a zippered bag with the air squeezed out. Store on the counter for 4-5 days or in the freezer for up to a month.

With another wedding cake baked and spring semester in my rear-view mirror, I finally feel like summer has begun. No, summer isn‘t quite the same as it used to be; the three-month vistas of free time I enjoyed from age 5-22 no longer lie ahead. I’ve been nostalgic for those childhood summers lately: sleeping in, spending the day flitting about town with mom, attempting badminton on the lawn with my sister, eating dinner off the grill in the cool Colorado evenings. Bliss!

After the sun set, summer nights in our house usually involved a movie. And where there are movies, there sure as Sam was gonna be some popcorn.

Admittedly, most of the popcorn I remember eating at home was microwave popcorn, though there was also brief stint where Kelli and I found an air popper almost as entertaining to watch as whatever movie was selected for the night. I do remember, quite vividly, one attempt to pop corn on the stove and the ensuing clouds of smoke that followed when it cooked too fast and burned to a crisp. Perhaps scarred by this event, up until recently I had mentally relegated popcorn popping to the arts of yesteryear, one that I was unlikely to ever master. But then, after seeing some friends pop corn at a party — quite casually and deliciously and with no clouds of smoke, I might add — I bravely bought a bag of cheap yellow kernels and decided to give it a shot.

OMG.

Revelation. Perfection. Obsession. Sublime happiness.

It turns out making popcorn is really easy. And really fast. I’m really not sure now what happened that fateful night as a child when I developed a fear of popcorn-making, but I am now here to say that if any of you have similar fears, give them up! Tonight! You can make freshly-popped popcorn with just a few kitchen tools that you already have.

Here’s how:

1. You’ll need a large pot with a lid, measuring cups, some popcorn kernels, and canola oil. The sea salt is not necessarily required, but I’ll be using it later.

2. Measure out the quantity of popcorn you’d like to make. A little goes a long way… 1/4 cup of kernels will yield about 5 cups of popcorn. If you’re making popcorn for more than one of two people, use 1/2 cup of kernels. Add the kernels and 2 tablespoons of canola oil to the pot and tilt the pot back and forth to coat the kernels.

3. Place the pot on the stove over medium heat, making sure the lid is nearby. As the pot heats up, shake the pot back and forth over the burner every 15-20 seconds. The oil will begin to sizzle lightly around the edges of the kernels. Once the first couple of kernels pop, quickly place the lid on the pot and continue to shake back and forth across the burner until about the popping frequency reduces to one every two seconds or so.

4. Remove the popcorn from the heat and continue to shake for a few seconds before removing the lid so that no rogue kernels pop out in your face. Pour the popcorn into a large bowl.

5. Now it’s time to season and flavor these puffy little kernels! They are tasty on their own, but the possibilities for flavoring popcorn are endless. I wanted three different flavors, so I separated mine into three separate mixing bowls.

6. Season your popcorn, using a light hand, and sampling along the way to ensure you don’t over-salt. Here are a few of my favorite combinations:

Melted Butter & Sea Salt
Sea Salt & White Truffle Oil (just a dash! A little goes a long way!)
Garlic Powder & Rosemary

Et voila! In less than ten minutes, you can have fresh, homemade popcorn, seasoned exactly the way you want it. A bag of popcorn kernels costs just a couple of dollars and can yield WEEKS worth of single servings. You know what I’m getting at.

Now I just need to figure out a way to smuggle THIS into the movie theatre… I don’t think they’ll notice, do you?

What are your favorite popcorn seasonings and flavors

Brad and I sometimes grapple a bit when it comes to ordering pizza. Brad likes lots of toppings: meats, mushrooms, onions, veggies, goat cheese, herbs… and I actually like those, too. But if I ever have a choice, if I’m ever ordering pizza just for me, I get cheese. Beautiful, glorious, unadulterated cheese pizza.

But the shocking truth is that until last week, I’ve never made a cheese pizza at home. I know. I know. I can’t explain myself. I’ve been making pizza regularly now for a couple of years, but I’ve always dressed it up. It was high time I build my own perfect cheese pizza from scratch.

This pizza started with my go-to pizza crust recipe. I have another crust that I really love, but I only make it when I have excess whey from a batch of homemade mozzarella. This recipe, on the other hand, is super-easy to whip up when you need dinner in less than an hour. It’s a no-fuss crust that requires little resting time and rolls out easily.

And on this soft spread of dough Cheeeeeeese!

Mozzarella, parmesan, and asiago form the trifecta of awesome atop this particular pizza. Mozzarella is the classic pizza topper, but I love the punchy, sharp flavor provided by the two harder aged cheeses.

I also used a batch of the pizza sauce I canned last summer. I don’t exactly know what possessed me to can this sauce in half-pint sizes, but it was BRILLIANT. One jar gave me just the right amount for this little pizza of mine.

The result was a cheese pizza worth making all the time.

Can you add any manner of toppings to this Of course you can. But if cheese pizza is your favorite too, stand up against the toppings! Defend the cheese! And then eat as much as you want of it, because this is YOUR pizza.

Three Cheese Pizza

Makes one 12-inch thin-crust pizza

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 T instant dry yeast
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c warm water

3/4 c pizza sauce (your favorite!)
2 c grated mozzarella cheese
2/3 c grated asiago cheese
2/3 c grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

If you’re using a pizza stone, place it on a center rack in a cold oven. Preheat oven to 450°F. Sift together flour, yeast, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Add water and mix with a fork until a dough is formed. You may have to abandon the fork and switch to using your hands before a dough is fully formed. Dough should be slightly sticky. Knead lightly on a floured surface for about five minutes. Form dough into a ball and cover with a damp cloth while you prepare the rest of your pizza ingredients.

Grate all cheeses and grind black pepper. Once the dough has rested for a few minutes, roll it out on a floured surface until it is about 1/4″ thick. Sprinkle a cutting board with corn meal and transfer the crust to the board. Spread pizza sauce evenly across the surface of the dough, leaving about 1/2″ of space around the edges. Sprinkle the three cheeses evenly over the pizza: first the mozzarella, then the asiago, then the parmesan. Finally, sprinkle the pepper over the pizza.

Slide the oven rack with the pizza stone out of the oven, and gently transfer the pizza to the stone before sliding the rack back inside. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges of the crust are browning and the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown. Carefully remove the pizza stone from the oven and slide the pizza onto a cutting board. Slice into pieces and serve hot.

Every once in a while, I come across a recipe for a homemade version of a dish that I’ve previously classified as “will-never-be-made-as-well-at-home” that blows my mind. It’s the culinary equivalent of an explorer uncovering an ancient temple, a researcher finding stunning results, an eager learner having their first philosophical epiphany. I’ve felt this on a number of things I’ve shared with you here: yogurt, fresh mozzarella, handmade pasta, beef jerky… all products that, a few years ago, I never would have considered being possible.

Such was my opinion with french fries. I always heard other people talk about making them, but I was firmly convinced that they couldn’t possibly be as good as fries I could get from my local burger joint. I’d learned that the best fries are cooked twice: once to actually cook the potato so the inside of the fry is light and smooth, and again to give that light-and-smoothness a crisp outer shell. There was no way I could be bothered to hand-cut my own fries, purchase large quantities of oil, possibly a deep-frier, and then cook TWICE a side dish that I could have exactly perfect in 10 minutes from a dozen restaurants near by.

Folks, I have never been so wrong.

This method, which I’ve repeated already and plan to again, is SO easy and SO satisfying. No special equipment is required beyond what I’ll wager you already have in your kitchen. The ingredients are simple and few. And let me repeat: it is breathtakingly easy.

It starts, of course, with the humble but mighty potato. Russet potatoes are generally considered the best fry-making potatoes due to their high-starch, low-sugar content that yields a very fluffy baked potato or, in this case, a very fluffy inner-fry. Now that I know how to make these fries, I may invest in a fry-slicer, but it didn’t take long to chop these potatoes into sheets and then strips.

You can see I’ve left my potatoes unpeeled. I like a more rustic fry. Plus, potato skin is packed with fiber. Plus it makes more interesting pictures. But you can certainly peel your potatoes before slicing them if you prefer.

Once the fries are cut, they are added to a cold pot. I use a 6-quart Dutch oven, but any wide, heavy pot will do. Then oil is added to cover the fries by about an inch.

Then to the stove! As I mentioned earlier, many fries are cooked twice. These ones are not: they are simply cooked slowly. The oil is added cold, but as it heats over medium, it gently poaches the fries to give them that fluffy center we’re after.

Then, once the fries are so tender you can pierce them with a fork with no effort at all, the heat gets cranked up for the “second cooking”, which will give our fries the crisp outer shell we want.

You’ll be able to feel the difference with your spatula as the fries begin to crisp. They will be easier to move around the pot and will clank against one another as hard objects rather than soft ones. It’s only a matter of minutes after that before their color changes to golden brown and they are ready to remove from the oil.

Out of the oil, I seasoned these fries with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. It took all my willpower not to eat them all before I finished photographing them.

These fries are truly splendid. They’re not instant, but they can be ready in less than an hour, and the slow-cooking allows you to work on other dishes at the same time.

I will never doubt again. (Ha.)

Also!

30 Pounds of Apples has been nominated for The Homies,  a series of blog awards from Apartment Therapy and The Kitchn!

My site has been nominated in TWO categories: Best Recipe Blog & Best Food Photography on a Blog. First round of voting is this week, and you can vote once in each category. If I stay in the top six, I move on to round two!

If you like what you read here, please go vote! If you don’t already have an Apartment Therapy account you have to make one, but it’s easy and they don’t spam you, the account is their way of preventing spam comments on their own sites. I’d love your support!

Really Awesome Homemade French Fries
Adapted from Bon Appétit

2 pounds Russet potatoes
2 quarts vegetable oil (may need slightly more or less, depending on the size of your pot)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Vigorously scrub potatoes to remove any dirt particles and remove any eyes with a knife. Pat dry. Cut potatoes into long strips, about 3/8″ inch on each side. If you are using a knife, you can slice each potato into 3/8″ sheets, then slice each sheet to form the strips. Spread the strips evenly in the bottom of a large, wide-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, stacking them no more than two or three deep. Pour the vegetable oil over the strips until they are covered by about an inch.

Line a cookie sheet with paper towels, or my preference, one side of a brown grocery bag, and set aside.

Place the pot over medium heat. Once the oil begins to bubble, continue to cook, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes. Use a heat-safe spatula to occasionally loosen the strips from the bottom of the pot and turn them, taking care not to splash hot oil on yourself. Once the potatoes are very tender and can be pierced effortlessly with a fork, increase the heat to medium-high. Cook the fries for another 10-15 minutes, turning often with the heat-safe spatula, until they are golden-brown and crisp. Working quickly to avoid burning them, lift the fries from the oil with a slotted spatula or spoon and dump them on the paper-lined cookie sheet. Once all fries are out of the oil, turn off the heat and allow the oil to cool.

Keeping the fries on the cookie sheet, season lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss fries to evenly distribute the seasoning and add more salt and pepper as needed.

Serve immediately, or, if  you have a bit to wait until dinner, place the cookie sheet in the oven. Heat the oven to 200°F and then turn it off so that the fries stay warm but do not continue to cook. Remove from the oven immediately before serving.

I’ve always strongly associated oranges with summer. Their summery orange glow, bright flavors, and balmy geographic origins have all contributed to this perception. And yet I also remember that my dad always brought home the best grapefruits, even in thoroughly NOT balmy Colorado, in January and February. Occasionally, we’d receive boxes of citrus as Christmas gifts, and I even recall the local chapter of FFA selling them to neighbors as a fundraiser in the weeks preceding the holidays.

Citrus is cultivated year-round in many of the southern-most states of our continent, but it really shines in the winter. Not surprisingly, when I was driving back to North Carolina from a late-November trip to Florida with the fam, I simply couldn’t resist stopping at a roadside stand for a bag of this fruit so far outside my normal local fare.

I probably could have just eaten or juiced each and every one of these golden orbs, but I’ve been curious for some time about marmalades. I don’t remember growing up with marmalade in the house, though my mom confirms that she loved it when she was a child. Our spreadables tended to be homemade from the berries and stone fruits my grandma and grandpa grew in their garden, so perhaps that accounts for the marmalade vacuum of my youth. I’ve heard from some that marmalade is an acquired taste, that it’s a bitter product not suited for those who prefer sweet jams. I wanted to give it a shot, but wasn’t sure how I would feel about a bitter final product. I ran across this recipe, a blend of oranges and cranberries, and thought that it might be just the transitional product between sweet and bitter I was looking for.

This marmalade is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. The bulk is made up of equal parts cranberry and oranges, along with a lemon tossed in for a little extra brightness. The oranges and lemons contribute not only their juicy flesh but also their colorful, flavorful rinds.

The rinds contribute a touch of bitterness to this otherwise sweet jam, but it’s also the primary vehicle for the brilliant citrus flavor that punches through the cranberry.

This marmalade is a great way to use up any glut of cranberries you may have left over from the holidays, as well as any citrus you may have received as a gift. It’s delicious when used as a spread, but I’m also confident it would make a great stir-in for a poultry marinade or even as a topping for ice cream.

To those of you who live in climates where citrus grows freely and rampantly: I am incredibly jealous. How do you make the most of your fruit?

Cranberry Orange Marmalade
Adapted from Small Batch Preserving

Makes about 5 pints (10 cups)

5 medium oranges, thoroughly washed and dried (I used Red Navels)
1 lemon, thoroughly washed and dried
6 cups water
4 cups fresh or frozen whole cranberries, washed and picked through
8 cups granulated sugar

Use a vegetable peeler to remove the thin, colorful outer rinds from the oranges and the lemons. Chop the rind into a fine confetti and combine with the water in a large stainless steel pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover, reduce heat to medium, and boil for about 20 minutes.

While the rind is boiling, peel away the remaining white rind from the citrus and discard. Separate the oranges and lemon into segments and remove seeds from each segment. Discard the seeds. Place all of the citrus segments in a food processor and pulse until thoroughly chopped. Add citrus to the pot. Add cranberries to the food processor and pulse until finely chopped, then add the cranberries to the pot as well.  Turn the heat back up to high and bring pot back to a boil. Cover pot and continue boiling for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While this is boiling, prepare a boiling water bath and sterilize the jars and lids you plan to use.

Add the sugar to the pot. Stirring steadily, boil rapidly for about 20 minutes or until marmalade forms a gel. To test for a gel, spoon a bit of marmalade onto a small plate and place in the freezer for a minute or two. If a skin forms over the puddle of marmalade, it is ready.

Remove from heat and ladle into warm, sterilized jars, leaving about ½” head space. Lid the jars and screw on the rings until just past fingertight. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.