Vintage Kitchen Vixen

Kitchen & Garden

How to Make Vinaigrette from Scratch

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Making salad dressing from scratch doesn’t need to be complicated. Learn the basic formula behind making great tasting vinaigrettes and never buy salad dressing from the store again!

making vinaigrettes from scratch

A SHORT LESSON IN READING LABELS

Do you remember the last time you studied the label of a commercial salad dressing?

One of my favourite salad dressings when I was a kid was a zesty Italian dressing made by a major player in the consumer packaged goods industry.

Do you want to take a look at some of the ingredients?

  • Soybean and canola oils (ask me another day why those aren't good for you)
  • Xanthan gum, a thickening agent which appears safe, but may lead to digestive problems if consumed in large quantities. It is pervasive in the food and cosmetics industries, and is also a common ingredient in paints, adhesives, and pesticides.
  • Potassium sorbate, which "maintains quality", but may also lead to allergies if consumed in large quantities
  • Calcium disodium EDTA to "maintain flavour". In other words, it's a food preservative. It's also used in prescription medications and in eye drops. How appetizing!
  • Monoglyceridesto prevent oil separation (an emulsifier). Do you know what monoglycerides are? Trans fats. You know, the kind of fats that increase your chances of stroke and heart disease.
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Buttery Shortcrust Pastry Recipe (Pâte Brisée)

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This buttery pie dough recipe calls for just four ingredients: flour, butter, salt, and water.  Embrace the butter and learn how to make this simple pie dough for your sweet and savoury pies!

fruit and custard tart

When I was in high school, I worked at a pizza shop after school taking orders, slinging pizzas, washing dishes, and greasing pizza pans with lard. After two years of smelling like lard after my shifts, I swore it off. But maybe that isn’t fair. Maybe quality lard is better than the stuff that came in those big white buckets at the pizza shop, but I need some convincing.

Do you know what else I won’t use?

Shortening.

The ingredients list will tell you the story of why I won’t use it. I know some folks swear by shortening for the world’s flakiest pie crust, and maybe that’s true, but I don’t want the flakiest pie crust. I want the best tasting pie crust.

I want flavour, purity, and simplicity. Bring on the butter!

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to purchase something after clicking on one of the links in this post, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Update: Quality lard is better than the stuff that came in those big white buckets at the pizza shop. Reading Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions changed my mind.

RELATED: Epic Maple Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

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10 Reference Books You Need For Your Kitchen

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Here are ten kitchen reference books everyone should have on their shelf. From cooking, baking and fermenting, to general culinary know-how, there’s a bit of something for everyone. How many of these are on your shelf? 

ten kitchen reference books

JUST THE FAVOURITES

I read a lot of culinary books. As a bibliophile and a lover of food, it’s perfectly natural that one of my reading interests include perusing kitchen reference books from cover to cover.

Over the years I have amassed quite the collection of cookbooks, so I thought it would be fun to cover some favourites. Some of these books were recommendations, others I checked out from the library before purchasing, and two of these were gifts.

In my humble opinion, books make the best gifts, especially cookbooks. They’re so practical and inspirational! Even if you know your way around ingredients and don’t need a recipe tying you down, there’s plenty to be learned from the titles I’m sharing with you today.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to purchase something after clicking on one of the links in this post, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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Easy One Jar Dilly Beans Recipe

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These one jar dilly beans are spicy, snappy and sour. Use them to take your cocktails up a notch, enliven your charcuterie boards, or  for a cheeky out-of-the-jar snack.

one jar dilly beans on the counter

MAKING ONE JAR DILLY BEANS

One jar dilly beans came about when I had a straggler harvest of beans in the garden and didn’t know what to do with them.

Green beans and yellow beans made an appearance at what seemed like every other meal that summer, but I never had enough to line my pantry with jars of dilly beans like I was hoping.

Staring at that bowlful of late harvest beans, the idea came to make a single jar that would go into my fridge straight away.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to purchase something after clicking on one of the links in this post, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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Easy Paprika Roast Chicken for Family Dinners

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When life is too busy to handle and you can’t remember the last time your kid spoke more than two words to you, it’s time to gather everyone around the table. Reconnect with your family with this  juicy and flavourful paprika roast chicken. It’s easier to make than you might think! 

admiring a paprika roast chicken

GATHERING AROUND THE TABLE

I get it. It’s hard to round up everyone in the family to sit down to a good, hearty meal. When I was a kid, my mom was running the show by herself as a self-employed hair salon owner. She tried her best to make sure we gathered around the table, but some nights I would make Kraft Dinner for my brothers and we’d watch trash on T.V.

Some families are busy running around to-and-fro to the next extra curricular activity. Others don’t even know how to talk to each other. Every so often, I’ll go out to eat and my heart twinges with sadness for the family that’s glued to mobile devices.

With this hyper-connected world that disconnects us, it’s more important than ever to carve out time to gather around the table. Today we’re going to do it with a roasted paprika chicken dinner.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to purchase something after clicking on one of the links in this post, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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The Best Brussels Sprouts Skillet (with bacon and parmesan)

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These pan fried and roasted brussels sprouts are cheesy, smoky and crispy. They also look great being pulled from the oven in a cast iron skillet. It’s the kind of side dish you want on your holiday table!

bacon parmesan brussels sprouts skillet

ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS: YOU EITHER LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM

Bacon parmesan brussels sprouts are a terrific side for roasted meats due to the strong flavour that people either love or hate. If you would have asked me when I was a kid whether or not I wanted a scoop of brussels sprouts on my plate, I would have shook my head to decline.

The thing is, when brussels sprouts are overcooked, they leave a bitter taste in your mouth and an unpleasant memory if you’re tasting them for the first time.

Brussels sprouts should be green, not gray, and they should be a vegetable everyone reaches for, including children.

Vegetarians aside, who would turn down a dish with bacon and parmesan? The Panko bread crumbs also make them crispy, giving them an intriguing crunch factor.

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