Recipes

Spiked Eggnog from Scratch (serve it hot or cold!)

November 29, 2019 by Sylvia Rose 1 Comment

Holiday eggnog, anyone? Unlike commercial eggnogs, which are full of sugar and unsightly additives, a glass of this won’t leave you feeling too guilty. Learn how to make spiked eggnog from scratch and get a bonus vintage recipe to boot!

HOMEMADE HOLIDAY EGGNOG

The first time I remember having eggnog, I was four or five years old. My mom coated the rims of her dinner glasses with green coloured sugar sprinkles and from that moment on, I was an eggnog fiend.

My mother only bought eggnog for Christmas, never before, never after.

A collector of ruby red Lumimarc glasses, she often served the family eggnog in her treasured collection. It was always beautiful and festive, and I couldn’t get enough of that sweet, creamy, and spicy nog. I still can’t.

If my mom had known just how much sugar and additives were lurking in those cartons of eggnog, she would have made her own from scratch.

SPIKED EGGNOG FROM SCRATCH VIDEO

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The Best Holiday Gingerbread Cookies (a stand mixer recipe)

November 22, 2019 by Sylvia Rose 8 Comments

Seriously the best gingerbread cookies ever. Bring out your stand mixer to make these bakery perfect holiday treats. Soft, spicy, and decorated with royal icing, everyone will be clamouring for them!

pink gingerbread christmas trees with sprinkles

Do you know those cookies you see packaged up in cellophane with gorgeous icing work?

The ones that can keep fresh for a month and still taste amazing?

Maybe yes, maybe no?

Well, this is one of those types of cookies, and we’re talking pure ingredients.

A month before the holidays hit, these bakeries are cranking thousands of cookies to prepare for the holiday season. Large batches of dough are made and are manually cut out. They’re baked, they’re iced, and they’re packaged, ready to sell to customers throughout the month of December.

You’ve struck gold, my friend.

These are the best gingerbread cookies ever, and you’re going to love them.

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Pork and Shrimp Burgers with a Spicy Asian Slaw

November 8, 2019 by Sylvia Rose 2 Comments

Cast-iron skillet pork and shrimp burgers bursting with rich Asian-inspired flavours.

COOKING WITH CAST IRON

Pork and shrimp burgers are one of those recipes that grills up beautifully on a barbecue, but when it’s raining or freezing outside, firing up the barbie quickly loses its appeal.

As for non-stick pans, well, there are all kinds of problems with those, which you can read about in my article on cast iron cooking.

The reason I love cooking up burgers in a cast iron skillet is that cast iron conducts heat really well and once seared, I can pop the pan in the oven and forget about it for twenty minutes while I do something else.

Have you tried cooking with cast iron yet? I swear, once you make the switch, there’s no going back. The toughest part is learning how to cook in cast iron and how to care for it.

PORK AND SHRIMP BURGERS RECIPE VIDEO

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How to Make Vinaigrette from Scratch

November 5, 2019 by Sylvia Rose 12 Comments

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!

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)

November 1, 2019 by Sylvia Rose 2 Comments

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!

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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Easy One Jar Dilly Beans Recipe

October 25, 2019 by Sylvia Rose 9 Comments

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.

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.