Photo: Rosenkaal/Wikimedia

 Abby Conway  (newly on board at PRK)

Falling in love with…
“I don’t care who you are and how much you think you don’t like brussels sprouts; if you tried these, you would fall in love.” By the looks of it, Sues from We Are Not Martha is right. Her recipe for brussel sprouts  with bacon, ponzu (a citrus flavored sauce), fried garlic and bonito flakes, which she got from Chef Lee over at FoodBuzz, looks like it could get even the pickiest eaters asking for more (although, as she points out, the bacon probably helps). Sues notes that you can alter the recipe anyway you’d like, depending on whether or not you can find all the ingredients. Either way, it looks worth a try. 

Homemade what?
If you like your fair share of homemade sweets (I do), you probably go through a lot of vanilla extract. Nayiri of 10thirty.blogspot.com ran into the same problem and decided to take a whack at making it herself . “Seriously, it seems utterly ridiculous to write a “recipe” for it…” She’s right, but we’re grateful. In just one simple step, no more, no less, you’ve got homemade vanilla extract. The hardest part just may be the waiting: it takes about 2 weeks before you can use it. Yep, patience is a virtue. 

Get Organized
Sick of getting home from the grocery store to find that you still had last week’s lettuce in the crisper AND you forgot to get orange juice? Tina at Trading Up Downtown has the supermarket game plan for you. She posted a seven step guide  to help you save time and money. Any shopper, from the super-organized to the budget conscious, can find great tips on how to minimize double purchases and never forget another item at the store.