Daily Archives: September 23, 2010

Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

Cover of Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine

I don’t recall exactly when I bought this book, but I know that it was earlier this year.

I have been interested in canning for a long time, particularly since my friend Corrine taught me how to make jam in her kitchen. This was back in 2007, and we made some delicious jams (Fuzzy Navel jam was my favorite and our “Harvest Jam” apparently rocked a lot of other folks’ socks). We also made some killer apple butter from a recipe we got from my Grandma L.

Between that and my long-time (though waxing and waning, at times) interest in eating more locally, it was only natural that learning to preserve foods would pique my interest and canning all sorts of things would be a part of my life.… Continue reading →

[44] Classic Lasagne, Bolognese Style

How to Cook Everything, Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

This wasn’t at all the lasagne I had in mind when I decided I wanted to make some lasagne for dinner, with an eye toward freezing the leftovers for lunches. I had in mind the more common (at least in the States) noodle dish with ricotta and mozzarella and a thick tomato-based sauce. However, when I “asked Bittman” for a lasagne recipe (a.k.a. looked in the index), this was the first one that popped up. It was so intriguing and different that I just had to go for it, even if 1) it wasn’t my original vision and 2) he had a recipe for what was my original thought right there.

As the previous two posts indicate, it was kind of a lot of work, and this is the end all of that.… Continue reading →