Do It Yourself

How to Broil + A Recipe for Garlic Lemon Tahini Sauce

Broiled broccoli and red onions with Garlic Lemon Tahini sauce.

Broiling is not a method I’ve used often, in my own kitchen, in cooking over the last 10 years. Probably because I’ve lived in rentals for that long and the broil setup on each unfortunately-electric-not-gas and usually-at-least-30-years-old oven I’ve encountered was different and unfamiliar and misunderstood and therefore overlooked. What does it mean to turn on the broiler? How come there is no preheating required? Where does the broiler heat source come from, the top or the bottom of the oven? Where do I put my oven rack for best broiling results?

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Legume Love + A Recipe for Black Beans from Scratch

black beans cooked from scratch in a white bowl with purple pickled onions on top

The humble black bean has been the most versatile staple food in our pantry these days. Tiny in size in its dried form, the little legume cooks up plump and perfectly creamy on the inside with a bit of chew to the skin on the outside. I cook my black beans low and slow in the oven (or on the stovetop) in the largest, heaviest pot I’ve got; my dutch oven. I have a big orange 6-quart’er which I’ve nicknamed The Pumpkin. Cheers for creativity and for naming cookware!

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Brown Rice Congee with Roasted Red Kuri Squash

Brown Rice Congee Roasted Red Kuri Squash

Hi friends! Happy Election Day. Hope ya’ll voted and stuff. It’s getting colder out around here, rainy and cold and dark. Nick lovingly describes this time of year as the time when we eat a lot of bright orange meals. I can’t help it, I love me some squash (and sweet potato and carrots and… you get the point). This Brown Rice Congee with Roasted Red Kuri Squash does not disappoint. If you’ve never had congee before, I highly recommend. It’s literally comfort in a bowl.

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Homemade Vegetable Broth from Kitchen Scraps

Homemade Vegetable Broth from Kitchen Scraps

Hi guys. So, if you’re a fan of free things, then you and I have something in common. It’s both easy and cost-effective to make your own vegetable broth at home. Not just cost-effective. This homemade vegetable broth is virtually free. AKA you are not buying any special ingredients for it. I mean you can if you want to, but you absolutely don’t have to. It will still come out amazing every time.

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Homemade Coconut Milk

Homemade coconut milk recipe that's rich and creamy, and as close to "straight from the source" as you can get without having to crack open a fresh coconut!

Homemade coconut milk is pure unadulterated coconut flavor. As close to “straight from the source” as you can get without having to crack open a fresh coconut multiple times per week to get your fill.

Hey, I’m a small girl, I just can’t handle cracking a coconut on a regular basis. Have you tried it? It’s TOUGH. (Oh, I do recommend it, though, because fresh coconut pulp is wondrous and the coconut water is even better.) If you ever see it on the menu at a Thai food restaurant –> order it.

Back to the topic at hand. It took me too long to discover this but I am on the homemade-coconut-milk-bandwagon 100% all the way! It’s by far the creamiest, most delicious, plant-based non-dairy milk ever. Woof, that’s a mouthful.

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