Category Archives: Food

Tomato Soda

So, originally, I had this plan to use this space to talk about my garden and a new blog I’m reading. However, I had a seasonal & amazing drink yesterday, and I had to bump the scheduled post in favor of a slightly later but more “real time” post. Because, seriously? I just had to share this with you.

It started as a cocktail recipe from Imbibe Magazine last year. I was a little perplexed that their tomato cocktails were in the September/October issue, but whatever. I waited. I plotted. I dreamed. I schemed. I was going to have a tomato cocktail the following tomato season. Maybe many.

So, of course, tomato season hits and I can’t find the right magazine anywhere. Mostly, it turns out, because I am looking in the past three or four year’s worth of May/June and July/August issues.… Continue reading →

Now I’m pretty sure I never want a wall to be “pesto” green

It turns out that Bill’s mother has a far more impressive food processor than Bill and I do. Very big, decently liquid-tight, strong motor. I am sure of this, despite having never seen her food processor. How do I know?

Well, I made her pesto recipe Monday night. I made a half batch, because that’s all the more basil I had. Guess what a half batch of Rosa’s pesto in my food processor looks like?

Yup. And that’s just a half batch! I can clearly never make a full batch.

I did figure out how to clean all of that up, and then finish making the batch without further disaster on my walls. It involved considering growing a third arm & hand to hold the towel around the food processor, but I did it.… Continue reading →

The Most Expensive Tomato by Weight

This is the second summer Bill and I have tried to grow a little garden on our balcony. Our first little garden was sparse and probably only resulted in 10 or 12 tomatoes. Our basil bolted quickly, and the chives overgrew everything. It was a mess, but it was a pretty, fun, green mess.

This year, things have been a bit better. I still operate with a strict policy of benign neglect toward my plants, as I told a friend yesterday. They get watered every other day, most of the time, which is amazing. They get coffee grounds as psuedo-mulch about once a week. And, to be honest, my plants all seem very happy and green and not messy. Sorta. We’ll ignore that two of my tomato plants seem to have decided to use the third for support.… Continue reading →

Bacon has ends?

Oh, man. I’m a terrible food blogger. Terrible. I had this vague recollection that I’d made an “ingredients” category here on MetaCookbook, with the intent of getting into discussions about, well, ingredients. I didn’t recall how many posts I’d put in the category, or the topics. I’m terrible.

Why? Well, because there’s a whopping ONE post in that category right now. And? It’s on bacon ends. Which is what this post is about. However, that post doesn’t have photos, and this one does, so it’s better. Also, having that post means I can say a little bit less about the cost and such, and talk a little bit more about how I made them this time, and my continuing impressions.

Also, it’ll remind me to have some opinions on some other ingredient or two, sometime.… Continue reading →

Turkey Enchiladas

One of the things that prompted the start of this blog, back in 2010, was the fact that Bill and I bought a CSA share. Basically, we realized we’d occasionally get more food than we knew how to handle, as well as the occasional food item we couldn’t even identify.

What we didn’t know, that first year, was that our farmer had spent some time in our home state of New Mexico and so also had a taste for some of the foods we grew up on. So, we were delighted to see (and smell!) some Anaheim peppers in one of our boxes way back then.

The truth is that we’re always thrilled to see Anaheims in the box. Even now, into our third year with Tomato Mountain, the things that are so like New Mexico green chiles make us smile.… Continue reading →