Don't Preheat

For some things, like breads and pizza, you have to preheat the oven so it cooks the outside with a crispy crust, without baking the softer insides to. But for other stuff, you can put whatever you are cooking right away, and let the cooking begin. No need to preheat the oven.

When your dish is almost finished, turn the oven off and let the dish finish cooking using the heat of the oven. If you leave the door closed, the heat will remain inside for a surprisingly long time.

Pickled Eggs

I just enjoyed a homemade pickled egg. They are an acquired taste, so I am told, but if you love you some pickled eggs, mmm boy, try making them yourself.

First, peel a hard-boiled egg. Next, put it in a jar of pickle juice, after you've eaten all the pickles. It can be hot pickles, pickled peppers, mustard pickles... even pickled beet juice. Wait a day to a week, depending how pickly you like your eggs. Then eat. They are chewier than straight-up hard boiled eggs. And easier than pickling eggs from scratch.

Look, I've never gotten sick from this, and I've done it lots of time. This is a much-tested recipe. I haven't tried it with sauerkraut juice yet, but that's because I never have enough juice left, however, some friends gave us a can of sauerkraut juice, and I feel obliged and challenged to create something from it for our next get-together.

Cheap Greens

Maybe you've eaten sprouts before. “They're alright, I suppose” is what you thought. Well, it's what I thought, anyway, until I sprouted my own. Really. I've always had the store bought kind or the salad bar kind, and I am telling you, those are all slightly funky. The difference is huge.

When you sprout these yourself, not only do you control freshness and eliminate the need for any additives, you also get a much wider variety. Of course, you can sprout straight alfalfa, but for some excitement, you can add other things too. You can sprout broccoli (way more nutrients, apparently, than regular broccoli). You can sprout radish, for a hint of peppery goodness, without that overpowering radish harshness. Or onion sprouts. Or bigger bean sprouts. You can make a mix of sprouts for a new taste, oh the possibilities!

We got a mix from the local health food store, alfalfa, radish, clover (weird, eh?) and fenugreek. It's a 16 ounce bag for just under 5 bucks. There are two tablespoons in an ounce, so that is 16 things of sprouts. And each container of sprouts is 2 times bigger than the store type, because I am using one of those extra large plastic containers from the Thai restaurant (about 6 inches tall) so these work out to be about 15 cents a pack. It's almost done now and I am munching it, even though it is a day or two away from being done. Yum.

This was ridiculously easy to do. 2 tbs of seeds in a container with 4 tbs. of water. Soak overnight. Add water in the morning. Like magic, they sprout. Then rinse twice a day until they are far enough along to be yummy. Or a week, which is apparently the official amount of time. Then store in your refrigerator. Here are the step-by-step directions. Someplace on that site is a video, too.