This is my favorite recipe for "Refrigerator Pickles", a sweet "bread and butter" pickle, and a family favorite. They're so simple to make and are delicious on a sandwich or enjoyed straight out of the jar.

I make this recipe when I have a surplus of cucumbers that I grow in my garden, but you can head to your farmers market and buy cucumbers, they're in season right now here in Wisconsin. 

Lisa's Bread and Butter Pickles
Makes 4 pint-size jars

3 pounds of pickling cucumbers, sliced 1/4 inch thick on a mandolin (or knife)
3 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 large sweet onion (red onion or vidalia), sliced paper thin on a mandolin
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups white vinegar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tsp. mustard seeds
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1/4 tsp. tumeric

Combine the cucumber slices and...

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This is not a water bath ("canning") recipe, this is a super simple, counter-top fermentation process. You'll need a one quart Mason jar (or Ball brand) and a Ball brand "Fermentation Lid and Spring". If you like fermented foods, you're going to get hooked on homemade Kimchi.

Ingredients:

2 large heads of Napa cabbage
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
1 large carrot, grated
1 bunch of scallions, whites and part of the greens, sliced
1 Tbsp. Korean chili pepper flakes (add more or less, to your taste)
1 tsp. sugar

Prepare:

Slice the cabbage into quarters, rinse well under cold water. Remove the core and slice into 2 inch ribbons. Place in a large bowl with 2 Tbsp. of Kosher salt. Massage the salt into the cabbage, squeezing to release the liquid. Pound with...

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"Good Food, Fast: Outstanding Recipes For Busy People, Pantry To Plate In A Half-Hour" is my latest passion project. This collection of recipes are my own creations, complied from 10+ years of making delicious meals, in a hurry.

This is the second cookbook I've written and will be the third book I publish.

If you'd like to pre-order a copy, shoot me a message. I anticipate it being in print by Holiday 2020.

Here's a sample recipe from the cookbook:

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I make this bread whenever I have over-ripe bananas. The bananas should be mushy, which is key to a moist bread that needs very little added sugar. You will not miss the gluten, I promise. This bread is not dry or crumbly like many gluten free breads and muffins are. This recipe is also dairy free, if that's your thing.

Ingredients:

• 2 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1:1 Baking Flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups mashed banana  (4-5 bananas)
• 3/4 cup honey  (substitute 1/2 cup coconut sugar OR 1 cup cane sugar)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup extra light olive oil  (substitute canola or any veggie oil)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Optional: add 1/2 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 cup chocolate...

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August means two things: tomatoes and sweet corn. I eat sliced tomatoes with just salt and the following corn recipe as an entire meal all the month of August.

My Famous Corn recipe is absolutely delicious. But, you do have to use fresh thyme and homegrown sweet corn. Canned or frozen corn will not do. No fresh corn? Skip it. Don't even bother with this recipe.

6 ears of bi-color sweet corn from your local farmers market
2 bunches green onion, sliced (just the white part, no greens)
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme
Kosher salt
Pepper
Gobs of butter

Boil the sweet corn, cool to touch, and then cut the kernels from the cob. Or run the cob of corn under the faucet to get it wet, wrap the cob in Saran wrap, and microwave it for 6 minutes. Easy peasy. Then simply toss the corn kernels with the butter,...

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I have tried to drink/eat turmeric and this is the first recipe that I've made I can say I actually like turmeric. I find it to be way too bitter and overwhelming, but I am intrigued by the anti-inflammatory health benefit kudos that turmeric offers.

I also like that this drink can be served with or without alcohol. It tastes like a fancy cocktail I'd order on a girls night out, even without the alcohol.

(I found this recipe surfing the web, it's from the Egg Shop in SoHo, NYC)

Egg Shop's Turmeric Tonic
Makes 8 cups

2 large knobs of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 cup honey
1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
6 cups hot water
1 Tbsp. turmeric (or 7 pieces fresh turmeric, peeled and chopped)
2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
Selzer water for serving
Optional: Gin

1. Combine ginger, honey, black pepper, and hot water in...

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Served up at basement card parties and corner bars for the last 100+ years, the Brandy Old-Fashioned Sweet is a Wisconsin classic with an intersting history. It's still the drink of choice of deer hunters and ice fishermen, before and after Packer games, and at supper clubs serving up another Wisconsin classic - the Friday night fish fry.

Growing up, my Polish/German parents and grandparents always had a 1.75L  bottle of Korbel brandy on hand. Family gatherings, holidays and celebrations like weddings, anniversary parties and multi-generational reunions always included the matriarchs mixing up big batches of the Brandy Old-Fashioned Sweet which they'd fondly refer to as "making soup" when us kids would ask what they were doing? No fancy muddling tool required, a tube of lipstick or a Bic lighter sufficed back in the day.

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This right here is the perfect Fall dessert! It's a delicious and simple cake that comes from my favorite cookbook author, The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. Her recipes never flop or dissappoint. This cake erved warm with vanilla ice cream, it's to die for. But is's also pretty spectacular served at room temperature a dollup of real whip cream.

Cranberry & Apple Cake

12 oz. fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over for stems
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 Tbsp. grated orange zest (2 oranges)
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ cup sour cream
1 cup...

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This year has been the best year I can remember in a very long time for tomatoes, and I have a bumper crop! I did water-bath can some of them as sauce last month, but honestly, it's an ordeal. So here's a super easy method for freezing diced tomatoes so that you have them all winter long to be used in soups, chili, stews, and sauces, any recipe that calls for a can of diced tomatoes. Roasting them first adds so much flavor!

Let's Freeze 'Em!

Preheat oven to 390 degrees.

No need to blanch and peel the tomaotes, they taste fine with skins on. This cuts your work into a fraction of the time it would otherwise take. Chop the tomatoes into 16th (that's in half, then half the halves and half again - got that?) You can add fresh basil if...

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