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Sauces, Dressings + Spice Blends

Food, How-To, Sauces, Dressings + Spice Blends, Vegetarian

Homemade Ketchup

This recipe has taught me two things:

homemade ketchup tastes much better than store-bought, and
homemade ketchup offends a lot of people.

Ketchup is a very personal thing; who knew?

Within less than a week of making this good stuff, I stumbled upon not one, but TWO circulating articles listing “things that are better store-bought than homemade”. Lo and behold, ketchup was on both of these lists and I, stuck in my fit of excitement over my latest creation, was shocked.

This homemade ketchup is much less of a sugar bomb than store-bought. It’s savory and tart; the addition of pure honey gives it just the right amount of sweetness and a whirl of Worcestershire sauce deepens the flavor.

September 17, 2017 by Killing Thyme

Food, Homespun, Sauces, Dressings + Spice Blends, Vegetarian

Homemade Basil and Walnut Pesto

Friends, I’m on a homemade condiment kick.

I won’t lie — I buy jarred pesto from the grocer quite often. Though I love homemade pesto, it hasn’t quite turned me into a purist in the same way that homemade ketchup has. (Never buying ketchup again. That recipe is coming soon!)

But all summer long, my balcony has been taken over by my basil plants. This year was my first time planting an urban garden and despite my fright at first blush, I’m feeling pretty confident in my basil-growing abilities these days! /flex

I’d normally chalk pesto up as more of a summertime post, but now is the perfect time to turn your overabundance of herbs into tasty things you can pack up and freeze before those frosty mornings turn up.

So here we are.

Side note: if any of my pals need basil, I’m your gal!

September 11, 2017 by Killing Thyme

Food, Sauces, Dressings + Spice Blends, Vegetarian

Garlic Scape Pesto

I went to the Raleigh farmers’ market in hopes to find cucamelons (the hunt continues…), but instead, I brought home garlic scapes.

I’m not even mad.

Up until this point I’d never even *seen* scapes in real life. I’m telling you, moving to Raleigh has opened me up to a whole new world of what I like to call “unicorn produce” and it’s nothing short of amazing. These lovely scapes are from a family-owned farm from Selma, NC, Kidd Farm. They’re automatically a winner in my books because a) they practice sustainable agriculture and b) they specialize in elephant garlic. They’ve been growing the stuff for the last 15 years and are one of very few farms in the area that grow it. Truth be told, the ginormous bulbs of elephant garlic are what caught my attention at the stand in the first place and, as I approached, I noticed the scapes. I was so excited about the scapes that I forgot to buy elephant garlic. (Womp womp.) Until next time.

Given my lack of experience with garlic scapes, I had no plan for them until I was 3/4 of the way home and it hit me: PESTO.

June 18, 2017 by Killing Thyme

Food, Sauces, Dressings + Spice Blends, Vegetarian

Beet Green Pesto With Toasted Walnuts

I’ve never been a winter person. I’ve always been able to appreciate the darkness that crawls over summer’s end and drags us into the dead of the season, but winter itself can bugger off. Not that I can complain; I’m a Canadian-born gal living in the South. Sure, North Carolina gets “winter”, but nothing like the savage winters I experienced in Southern Ontario.

Albeit Southern Ontario hasn’t had much winter this year either. But, you know, global warming isn’t a thing. (Eye roll.)

Regardless of how mild of a winter it’s been, I am oh-so-ready to welcome Spring — and with that, March’s theme for the blog is a whole lot of green; vibrance and rejuvenation.

March 1, 2017 by Killing Thyme

Food, Sauces, Dressings + Spice Blends

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

I get really excited about making my own dressings and sauces. Come to think of it, I can’t even remember the last time I bought salad dressing.

This isn’t about food snobbery; it’s about control.

I’ve never cared much about control, but in the kitchen I tend to be a control freak. My husband has quickly learned that the only way he can help is by banning me from the kitchen and making me dinner himself. (I should mention that he made an ah-maaaazing pasta for me earlier this week. Thanks, babe.) Any time someone tries to help me in the kitchen, simple directions turn into Here, just let me do it.

Oops. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

But back to the good kind of control; flavor control.

When you can have control over the sweetness, tartness, consistency, etc. of a sauce, it is fan-freaking-tastic. And what’s even *more* exciting about it is that your end result is typically much healthier than anything you’ll find on the shelves. Take, for instance, my Healthy Homemade Vegetarian Caesar Dressing. This dressing is creamy and dreamy and has everything you want in a good caesar dressing all while having less than half the calories of a store-bought caesar dressing per tablespoon. WHUT. Yeah.

So make things at home.

But today isn’t about salad dressing — it’s about Teriyaki sauce.

January 12, 2017 by Killing Thyme

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