recipe

By John, 14 February, 2024

Two avocados
Some cumin
Some garlic powder
Some salt
A few cranks of the black pepper grinder
The juice of one lemon (you could also use a lime, IDK. I know a lime is traditional but the brightness of the lemon is great.)
Optional: plenty of good paprika. The vibrant red will dull the green and make it less appealing. So I put paprika in only when I’m spreading this in a sandwich.

Use one of those pastry butter things to mash the avocado. Faster and more consistent than the fork.

By John, 13 August, 2022

Get a chuck roast, cut it up in 1 inch chunks. The acid in the marinade works on the proteins in the chuck, tenderizing it wonderfully. This is a modification of a recipe I found online.

  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • garlic powder: lots
  • 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • ground pepper: some

Put marinade in ziplock bag with the meat, put bag in fridge overnight, 12-24 hours.

By John, 13 January, 2022

I deeply enjoyed this recipe for tuna melts. I halved it and it worked great.

The cooking of the tomato in the oven was such a good idea (although, I think it's important to get the slices on the thin side so they cook through).

The kids were not fans. My wife said "I think it's too complicated for me", but I loved it.

By John, 24 August, 2020

I made some emergency gravy earlier this week and posted about it on Twitter. That got me thinking of writing down my "theory of gravy" and how I make it. This is not going to be a traditional recipe, as much as it's going to be a series of guidelines on how I make gravy. Hope you enjoy it.

What equipment do you need to make gravy? You need a pan of some sort. And a whisk. 

Gravy is a combination of four things:

By John, 22 August, 2020

Maruchan discontinued their tomato flavored ramen in 2003. It was one of my favorite flavors, and every few years I think of it fondly. 

Last year I had an idea on how I could recreate the flavor. It involved tomato powder, but I had to buy a whole mess of tomato powder and I wasn't sure about doing that for a single test.

A few months ago, I got a dehydrator. So I dehydrated some tomatoes. I blended them, but the seeds didn't really powder, so I sifted the seeds out so I had some fine powder. The powder I made was very fresh and tomato-ey. 

By John, 14 April, 2013

This is an ancient Michigan Tech elixir for keeping warm when you have to spend all day outside. You can get everything you need at the local co-op.

1 quart of water
1 rounded tsp cloves
1 rounded tsp peppercorns
1/2 to 1 full stick cinnamon
A fair sized chunk of ginger (about thumb sized)
2 rounded tsp. peppermint
Milk
Maple syrup (REAL maple syrup!) or agave syrup

By John, 1 April, 2013

Batter and fry up 4-5 chicken livers. Set aside to cool a bit. Crumble livers onto a bed of greens. Liberally apply some freshly made Penzey's Italian salad dressing. Toss.

Serves one.

By John, 14 June, 2012

It's mulberry season (at least at my house) and before it's over I want to give you the results of a few experiments we tried recently with mulberries.

The first was fresh mulberry green tea. I took about a teaspoon of fresh mulberries, a teaspoon of green tea, muddled the mulberries in with the tea, and cold brewed it overnight in the fridge.