Tag: homemade

Sleigh The Holidays With Homemade Gifts

Even without the increasing frustrations of finding, buying, and giving the perfect gifts on a budget, the winter holidays are still the most expensive time of year. Shouldn’t the holiday season simply be about spending time with loved ones, making merry, and eating great food? I’ve never been one to partake in the shopping frenzy that fuels retail sales.

That said, I still love giving gifts.

Yes, it’s possible to hold both of these sentiments true. Store bought gifts, purchased for the sake of an obligatory exchange, bring me as much joy as the credit card bills to follow. Homemade gifts, thoughtfully crafted with the recipient’s wants and needs in mind, are a gift to the giver as well. Seeing someone’s face light up because of something you made is an indescribable and irreplaceable sort of joy. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive or complicated; the best presents simply start from scratch.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting gifts for the holidays.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to spoil the wonderful people in your life with something special. Everyone should be able to afford that basic human connection and the happiness it brings to both the giver and recipient.

Christmas cookies are in their own category; when it comes to homemade gifts, the options are endless. Sweet and savory, edible and not, there really is something for everyone on your list. There’s no need to stress over getting the hottest toys and blowing your budget when you start from scratch, too. Here are just a few of my favorite suggestions for giftable DIY goodies.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)6 Comments

Coal For Christmas

For as long as I’ve understood the rites of Christmas, I’ve wanted to give coal as a gift. Why? The fact that it goes against all common courtesy as a twisted, backwards way to show affection, it feels like an incredibly compelling suggestion to me.

Merry Christmas, I love you, and I think you’re ungovernable, too!

Good trouble is something I’ll always sign up for, so I feel for the equally rebellious people that inadvertently end up on the naughty list. Coal doesn’t have to be a bad omen or a punishment. There’s a whole lot it has going for it, especially when mixed up into a super simple body scrub.

What are the benefits of charcoal?

I’ve been known to include small amounts of food-grade charcoal as food coloring for various recipes, including pasta and pizza crust, but for daily use, it’s much more beneficial as a topical ingredient. Famously touted as a detoxifier, charcoal has a much more positive impact when applied directly to the skin. It’s especially helpful in…

  • Removing dirt and bacteria
  • Balancing oily skin
  • Reducing acne and preventing future breakouts

There’s a whole lot to love about this charcoal scrub!

  • It’s a homemade gift with no skills necessary. All you need to do is dump and stir, then package it up in a pretty little jar with a cute wooden brush for maximum effect.
  • All the ingredients are incredibly affordable, and in fact, prevent food waste! Spent coffee grounds all too often end up in the trash, but they still have a lot of life in them. Mixed into this energizing scrub, they serve as an effective exfoliant and smell like a brilliant, eye-opening cup of Joe.
  • For any last-minute gifting needs, you won’t find a faster present. Your guests could be walking in the door and you can still have thoughtful gifts for everyone before they can even sit down around the Christmas tree.

To all the rebels and renegades out there: Carry on. The threat of coal is no longer a punishment, but an encouraging promise.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)11 Comments

Jam Session

Tomatoes are the calling card of summer. Plump, red orbs growing heavier on their vines with every passing day, they tease in shades of green and yellow as they slowly ripen. Gradually darkening like rubies glistening in the sun, suddenly, they’re all ready for harvest at once. It’s now or never; grab them by the fistful or regret your mistake for another year. If you don’t take advantage, hungry critters stalking your garden surely will.

That’s how even a modest plot of land can drown a single person in tomatoes. Big or small, standard or heirloom, it’s sheer bliss for the first few days. Then, after a couple rounds of tomato salads, tomato soups, tomato sauces, and tomato juice, tomatoes may begin to lose their shine.

Don’t let it get to that stage. Take your tomatoes while they’re still new and fresh, concentrate them down to a rich, umami-packed tomato jam and you’ll never grow tired. Burning through two whole pounds right off the bat may feel like a sacrifice, but it’s a wise strategy in the long run. There’s going to be plenty more to come to enjoy every which way, without ever reaching your upper limit of enjoyment.

What Does Tomato Jam Taste Like?

A little bit sweet, a little bit savory, I do use sugar in my recipe but not nearly as much as with berry or other fruit jams. It should be just enough to balance and heighten the other inherent flavors. A touch of jalapeño adds a subtly spicy bite, which you could omit or double, depending on your heat-seeking sensibilities.

How To Make Tomato Jam Your Own

  • Use half or all tomatillos instead of tomatoes
  • Increase the garlic; there’s no such thing as too much
  • Instead of jalapeño, use sriracha, smoked paprika, gochujang, or harissa to spice things up
  • Swap the apple cider vinegar for balsamic or red wine vinegar

What Can I Use Tomato Jam On?

The only limiting factor is your creativity! A few of my favorite uses include:

  • Avocado toast
  • Sandwiches or wraps
  • Hot pasta or pasta salads
  • Swirled into creamy soups
  • On a cheeseboard
  • As a burger topping
  • Used for dipping alongside or on top of hummus

How Long Will Tomato Jam Keep?

While this jam isn’t properly canned and thus not shelf stable, you can preserve the harvest by storing it in your freezer for up to 6 months.

You don’t actually need to grow your own tomatoes to make tomato jam, by the way. Store-bought tomatoes taste just as sweet- And savory.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)7 Comments

Food for Fathers

Fathers, as a group of people, are not a monolith. Making a blanket statement about such an infinitely diverse and varied population would be incredibly shortsighted, to put it lightly. Fathers should absolutely be celebrated and appreciated, but not in the way that Hallmark cards seem to think.

To treat all fathers the same way is reductive, completely opposite to what we’re trying to convey in the first place. If it comes from a genuine place, Father’s Day is about recognizing the people that raised us for all their unique quirks, habits, and mannerisms. It’s a chance to reminisce about the lessons they taught us early on, our challenges and struggles together; all the things that make them who they are, and in turn, make us who we are.

That kind of depth defies stereotypical gift guides. You can’t put that in a cooler filled with ice or wrap it up in a tool set. I may not be able to speak as a Father myself, but I promise you, they don’t all want beefy burgers or “man caves” or golf sets. Once and for all, almost none of them want neckties.

I’m not going to offer you a recipe roundup of The Best Father’s Day Recipes for the simple reason that I don’t know your father or what they like. Instead, this is a roundup of things I think my father would like. Maybe you’ll find some overlap here for inspiration. Whatever you make, just make sure they know they’re loved. That’s the real point of this holiday.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)5 Comments

Fat of the Land

The original “liquid gold” was not a processed cheese food. The true gilded elixir is every bubbie’s secret ingredient, the indescribable element that always made her matzo balls better than the rest. A staple of Ashkenazi Jewish cooking, schmaltz is made from rendered chicken fat cooked with onions. Even in the height of the farm-to-table cooking craze when duck fat fries were all the rage, this humble grease never gained more attention. To this day, I have yet to see a single vegan alternative offered. In a world where we have plant-based ghee, browned butter, and niter kibbeh, I’m not asking, I’m demanding: WHY.

Vegan shmaltz is everything you want as a cooking catalyst and nothing you don’t. It’s free of cholesterol, completely kosher, full of flavor, and won’t leave your kitchen smelling like a barnyard for a week. As a nice side benefit, you’ll end up with a tidy pile of caramelized onions to lavish over meatless burgers, toast, scrambles, pasta, and anything else that could use a little umami assist.

Step up your matzo ball game by making this easy swap to replace the bland vegetable oil originally called for, but don’t stop there. Anywhere you might use melted butter, try using schmaltz instead. It will open up a whole new world of riches, bathed in a golden glow.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)4 Comments

Unsolved Mysteries

Making something out of nothing is my favorite kind of practical magic. Frugal to a fault, I’m not above trying unlikely combinations for the sake of avoiding another trip to the store. Sometimes this leads to lamentable meals, like the time I tried using breadcrumbs instead of oatmeal. However, more often than not, I’ll find new favorite worth replicating, even when I have a full arsenal of ingredients at my disposal.

This is very well aligned with the spirit of Depression-era cooking. No waste, no regrets. That’s why when I came across the legend of Mystery Pie, I was immediately charmed. It strikes me as a combination of chess pie or vinegar pie plus mock apple pie, being made with little more than sugar and miscellaneous filler that somehow transforms into a rave-worthy dessert. Better yet, this one doesn’t even need a separate pastry crust to hold everything together.

Whipped egg whites traditionally fill the gaps, but aquafaba does the trick for a plant-based fix. Add crushed crackers and crunchy nuts plus a splash of rich vanilla, and that’s it. It doesn’t seem like it will end well, yet it manages to exceed all expectations.

Perfect for unexpected guests when the pantry is running low, or simply trying to keep things uncomplicated when it comes to shopping or prep, this is a good mystery to solve.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)8 Comments