Let’s get down to brass tacks…
My life has had many chapters, in which I waxed poetic about many a deep subject. But two particular subjects have always been close to my heart, and have woven their threads throughout every chapter: Food and, relatedly, plants. Start to finish, dirt to plate, food is my favorite subject and I can blather on about it for ages. Plants are my second favorite subject, and first favorite kingdom of life. I hope in my next life to be one.
As you may notice from my more personal writing, I find life as a human being quite challenging. I have a lot of tangles. Tending a garden, harvesting plants and cooking good food are very grounding for me, so relatively straightforward, and so intensely tactile. I never feel more meditative than when doing simple repetitive tasks in the kitchen or garden.
So here is a directory of posts on the wide subject of food, and to a lesser degree, plants and gardening. These are all posts with a more practical edge, those that you might reference.
Enjoy!
Practical Home Cooking
Kitchen Efficiency
Cooking Efficiency
Not Menu Planners — solace for the rest of us
If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen — summer cooking
Recipes
Bread
Bread Evangelizing — the perfect cherry-popper bread recipe
Bread Every Day, Part One: Ingredients
Sprouted Wheat Bread: an exploration
Breakfast
Bouquet of Choice: A Recipe for Swiss Chard Muffins
Homemade Grape-Nuts — they’re just caramelized bread crumbs!
Grrr-nola: Make Your Own Breakfast Cereal and Stick it to Kellog Corp (from the old blog)
34 Times Round and a Recipe for German Pancakes
If You Can’t Beet ‘Em — pink pancakes win major mama points
Dinner
Leftover Queen — savory vegetable pie
Stop Buying Salad Dressing NOW
It’s What’s Fer Dinner — favorite quick meals
Good News For Half Beer Lovers — meat and/or mushroom carbonade
Green Tomato and Turkey Enchiladas
Dinner Deconstructed: Ground Meat Patties, Brown Rice and Glazed Carrots — thorough instructions for beginner cooks
What to Feed Kids When You Really Need Them to Eat — at our house it’s macaroni and cheese’n’fish’n’peas
Sunday Dinner Any Day of the Week — pot roast your local grass fed carbon-neutral meat to melt-in-your-mouth perfection
Value Menu: Whole Chicken — get the most out of your $4/lb farmer’s market bird
Chicken an’ Bisket — my favorite roast chicken and what to do with the leftovers
Of Stock and Bullion (from the old blog)
Making Your Own “Canned” Soups (also the old blog)
Sweet Tooth
Holiday Baking Party — German Christmas bread and super easy truffles
Chocolate: Cures What Ails Ya — the easiest way to stretch $9+/lb fair trade chocolate chips
The Best F***ing Brownies Ever
HOT Hot Chocolate — turn your thermostat down 5 degrees and whip up a batch!
Food Recycling: Lickety Split Leftover Apple Pie — with the easiest ever pie crust
Flaky Whole Wheat Pie Crust — not the easiest, but so good
Backyard Homesteading
Gardening
Planning an Efficient Garden — it’s all about follow-through
Chickens
Just Wing It — build a half-assed coop and get by, if you need to
Preserving
Bringing Home the Basil — how to make, store and use pesto
Monastery Marmalade — scavenged fruit and citrus pectin
Marmalade Redooo — note to self: it is entirely possible to make too much marmalade
calamity jane 