FROM SCRATCH CLUB

We make maple syrup by tapping neighborhood trees every year and boiling the sap down in our driveway on a make-shift cinder block fireplace.  This year our syruping partner Lin suggested that we try using the fire to cook while we sat around all day drinking rum and watching the sap boil; a kind of […]

I know.. I know.. I said I didn’t like fish.   What I wasn’t really clear on is that I didn’t like cooked fish.  I actually learned to enjoy lox while I worked at (the now closed) Bagel Bite.  And I do still enjoy lox once in a while but have never made it at home. […]

Recently, I came across a fellow food swapper who had milk kefir grains, and was in search of water kefir grains. I had water kefir grains, and was excited to try milk kefir. A happy swap was born! Like water kefir, milk kefir is fermented at room temperature, so it is easier to make than […]

AHHH…chocolate. If my best friend was a food this would be it.  So amazingly satisfying on many different levels with so many options in flavors and taste. Milk, dark, bitter, organic, fair trade; the spices and flavorings are endless.  Little does one realize though, chocolate is simple, easy, and quick to make yourself. You just […]

I’ve been doing some pretty interesting kitchen chemistry experiments as of late. Glass bottles full of mysterious liquids topped with paper towels and rubber bands populate my kitchen counter. Lucky house guests get to try my creations, and most seem to like them. It all began when I got water kefir grains from a friend. […]

Editor’s Note:  Ms. Lauren from Craft My Life Away is back with her final installment in her three-part Thanksgiving Tablescaping series. Her first installment ran on Friday and her 2nd piece, FILLED with patterns & instructions, ran yesterday- check it & craft on! -Christina I’m back with Part 3 of my 3 Part Installment obsessing over Thanksgiving Tablescaping. All of the […]

My friend Julie turned me on to homemade infusions years ago. She has a big shelf in her amazing kitchen/dining room filled with homemade bitters, digestifs, infusions, shrubs, and the like. It’s like walking into a delicious apothecary. Julie recently attended the FSC Schenectady Food Swap and brought with her a bunch of her homemade bitters […]

The FSC Book Club is rocking! We’ve got 92 members signed up on Goodreads and are diving into homemade cookery and pantry staples as an awesome virtual group. For this assignment, we looked at Chapter 3 (Canned Fruits, Vegetables & Beans) and Chapter 4 (Condiment, Spices & Spreads) of The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can […]

Halloween is right around the corner, why not get creative in the kitchen with your chocolate skills or your sugar skills! The FSC Time Machine starts us out with the Becky Show with all of her fabulous posts from last October from her D.I.Y. Halloween Candy Series, then we move into other sugary items that […]

Quince is an interesting fruit – too tart and hard to eat raw, the fruit turns from green to golden yellow fruit when ripe and grows on small thorned trees. Quince is part of the pear, apple, and rose family, and the ripe fruit smell floral and fragrant. I am lucky to have a neighbor […]

When I was in Brooklyn earlier this summer I had fresh silken tofu made by a Japanese restaurant.  It was creamy and delicious and I thought, “You can make tofu?”  It had never occurred to me.  I had to try it. I poked around on the web and found a couple of different recipes for […]

Editor’s Note: Our ‘community voices’ series rolls along with swapper, and now FSC Academy teacher, Leah A. who is back with another hot swap item, Homemade Magic Shell. Food Allergy friendly w/ only three pantry staples- you bet I’m making this asap!-Christina We eat a relatively healthy, no fast food, freshly-made, organic-when-possible diet and have […]

Editor’s Note: One month ago today, Gina M, a local blogger at ModSchooler and a guest contributor at Albany Kid, mentioned the idea of cooking dried beans in a crockpot in a comment. She mentioned it in response to Alexis’ wildly popular piece about White Bean Burgers. The moment I saw the comment I JUMPED.RIGHT.IN. […]

If you’ve raised baby chicks or you see some in your future, one of the questions you’ll ask is, “How can you tell the males from the females?” It is commonly thought that you have to wait until they grow bigger and the roosters start acting like they own the place (to put it nicely) to definitively […]

Now that the wheat we planted really looks like it might become food, I’m beginning to dread its harvest. I feel like the Little Red Hen’s friend, ready to hide until there’s dinner. Even though I’m the one who convinced my family we should plant our new lot – behind our house in the city […]