Creamy Potato Leek Soup

A simple and creamy (dairy-free) potato leek soup. A hearty, flavorful soup.

Manhattan Style Clam Chowder

A Manhattan-style clam chowder with potatoes, onions, celery, carrots, and topped with a bit of bacon.

Infused Vinegar

Punch up boring vinegar by infusing it with your choice of herbs, spices, or fruit! Add flavor to your food with these flavorful infused vinegars.

Pickled Carrots

Inspired by this recipe, I thought I could put the mixed pickling spices to use. I decided to go with carrots since I'd only heard about pickled carrots before. Plus, I had a five pound bag of carrots. :) Since I’ve never pickled anything before, I went ahead and sterilized the containers/lids, but I’m not sure how much impact it has since the containers/lids are exposed to a non-sterile atmosphere afterward. Maybe someone can educate me?

Do the lids/containers really need sterilization or is just cleaning them enough?

Pickled Carrots

by CJ Huang

Easy Refrigerator Bread and Butter-Style Pickled Carrots. Perfect on sandwiches, burgers, and even potato salad!

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
			6	carrots, sliced into quarters lengthwise and then thirds	or whatever shape you want your pickles to be
		2 cups		sugar
		2 cups		vinegar	I used a mixture of white and blueberry pomegranate red wine vinegar, but you could use different vinegars for different flavors.
		2 tablespoons		onion powder
		2 tablespoons		salt	Not sure what impact iodine has, but the original recipe calls for non-iodized salt and I used iodized.
		2 teaspoons		pickling spice	You could use your own combo of different spices depending on what kind of taste you want.
		2 teaspoons		dijon mustard
			2	bay leaves, crumpled

Methods:

1. (optional) Sterilize containers/lids. Be careful after sterilizing, both will be very hot.
2. Mix all materials except carrots in small pot, bring to a boil until salt/sugar are dissolved, and then simmer until ready to use.
3. Wash and cut carrots. I didn’t use pickling cucumbers this time, but I’d like to try them next time.
4. Put carrots into jars. I stuffed in as many as I could in one layer and then put some on top. They should be pretty tightly packed at this point, and they will shrink a bit as they pickle.
5. Pour pickling solution over the carrots, leaving at least a quarter inch headspace.
6. Seal the containers, and allow to cool before refrigerating. Shake the jars daily to redistribute spices and blend flavors. I tried a spear daily, and for the first week or so, and the pickling does noticeably increase, but it kinda levels off after that.