I don’t buy bottled salad dressing. Period. It is so easy to make your own. It takes seconds. It tastes infinitely better. It lacks the long list of questionable ingredients. It just tastes so much better. Did I mention it tastes better? It does. Much better.

I do lemon-olive oil vinaigrettes often for the simple salad of mixed baby greens that accompanies any meal where the vegetable component is an afterthought. I make a homemade caesar dressing for sturdy romaine. I love to make fruity raspberry, grapefruit or mango vinaigrettes for when I make a salad as a meal for lunch, or dinner on a hot summer day.

But my favourite by far? This homemade ranch dressing.

It is creamy. It is fresh. It is tangy. It is wildly addictive. It makes carrot sticks sing the hallelujah chorus. Don’t get me started on what it does for grilled cheese sandwiches… Continue Reading »

I successfully grew a lush, beautiful basil plant. I love it. I never forget to water it, and I say nice things to it while stroking it’s leaves. Now before you go calling me crazy, just look at it! The lovin’ obviously works.

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I make guacamole about once a week. I also bring it to most potlucks/picnics/parties – you name it. It’s always a hit, and it’s super easy to throw together at the last minute.

The only real hitch with making guacamole is having ripe avocados when you need them. Quite often, the ones at the grocery stores are rock hard and bright green. An avocado is ripe when soft (like a ripe peach, it gives but is not mushy) and the skin turns from green to black. You can make it ripen faster by putting it in a paper bag along with an apple (whose gases hasten the ripening process of other fruit – also works to ripen pears, peaches, apricots…). Continue Reading »

This post does not include a recipe, but instead a suggestion! If you, like me, start to hyperventilate at the sight of juicy, succulent, bright local berries, then you may, like me, get a bit overzealous in your purchases.

I had such a moment of dizzy overexcitement at the market this Sunday, which resulted in me coming home with enough BC raspberries and strawberries to give a lesser woman a stomach ache to be nursed in the fetal position. But to my dismay, and despite my very best efforts, I couldn’t eat them fast enough! (Must be something to do with my technique; too much breathing between swallows?)

This morning I woke up to admire my berry bounty when I discovered brown spots disgracing my beautiful strawberries. Noooo!

Once I recovered from the initial panic, I took several deep breaths, and asked myself: Jenn, what do you do do when life gives you blemished berries?

You make jam!

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