My international Thanksgivings have been, I think, my favorites. In the US, where Thanksgiving day so easily turns into a day of obligations, stress and over-eating, the holiday has lost its novelty. It’s bundled into the whole “holiday season” where, as a nation, we worry about our waistlines and hurry to finish the Christmas shopping.

When you celebrate Thanksgiving overseas, it’s something else entirely. Rather than an obligation, it becomes a small moment outside of the daily grind – a special dinner shared among friends. Of course it’s primarily Americans, but over the years there’s been a mix of Germans, Danes, South Africans, Australians, and others who have turned out to help us all celebrate our national holiday.   It is less a day about America, and more a time to celebrate friendship and the lives we’ve carved out for ourselves here in Berlin.

I’ll never forget my first German Thanksgiving. It was only a few weeks after I moved to Berlin, and I’d been lucky enough to land amongst a group of people who quickly became close friends. We were an international group of young, broke, bohemian-artist types, most living far away from our families, and all eager for an excuse to celebrate. The three of us in our flat cooked up a storm (as well as we could manage in a tiny shared kitchen).

We were so low on space that we ended up thawing the bird on the hallway radiator. My friend Vanessa cooked green bean casserole, and when she couldn’t find deep-fried onion crisps in the store, she bravely made her own. Oddly enough, I don’t remember anymore what I cooked.  But the highlight for me was the dish our Danish friends brought – tiny fingerling potatoes boiled in sugar water until the outsides were slightly candied.  Strange, unique, and something I never would have experienced in the States.

This year, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving at my friend Nadahl’s place. He regularly throws dinner parties for our whole motley group of friends, and is a wonderful cook. It’s a running joke between us, though, that my pasta salad beats his every time. (I’m supposed to bring it to Thanksgiving dinner, in fact. And I probably will.) But I’m also bringing my own little surprise – Gingery Onion Chutney.

Several months ago, I somehow wound up with a jar of this in my possession, and since then I’ve been dying to try making more. This weekend I finally had the chance.
The trick with this recipe is to start with way more onions than you think you’ll need, and cook them way longer than you think you should. The result is a pot full of dark brown, carmelized onions with a deep, rich flavor. It tastes amazing with a big chunk of fresh bread and a strongly-flavored cheese.

Gingery Onion Chutney

Start with a pot nearly overflowing with raw onions. This will cook down more than you’d expect, and once you start chopping the onions you might as well keep going.

Ingredients:

5 lbs onions (or as much as will fit in your large cooking pot)
Two thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger, or even more if you like
1 Tbs butter
4 Tbs brown sugar
3-4 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tsp black pepper, or more to taste
2 tsp salt

1. Chop the onions finely
You can toss them into the pot as they are chopped – it isn’t essential that they go in at the same time, and your cutting board would probably overflow if you were to try it!

2. Grate the Ginger
You can use a fancy ceramic ginger grater if you have one. If not, pull out the trusty cheese grater and use the extra fine side.

3. Seasonings!
Drop the butter in the pot, then sprinkle in the brown sugar, pepper, vinegar, and salt.

4. Make it Marmalade
Cook over very low heat for two to three hours. Stir it more often at the beginning so everything cooks evenly, then every twenty minutes or so for the remainder of the cooking time. The onions will gradually begin to turn dark brown and carmelize. The chutney is finished when it is a rich brown and the onions are completely soft and spreadable.

When I read the words “Lentil and Rice Pilaf,” my taste buds pretty much turn off of their own accord. I can’t help it – in my mind I start tasting every bland batch of lentils and rice I cooked back in my vegan days in college. You know – lentils, rice, a bit of celery and a vegetarian boullion cube? Bland, boring, tastes like cardboard? That’s what I think of when I hear “pilaf.”

But this one is different. This one doesn’t taste like lentils. It tastes like an explosion of tangy lemon, garlic and chilis, tossed with sweet bell pepper, fresh parsley, and crunchy almonds. It tastes like… flavor. I love this.

The blend of seasonings that I use in this recipe was inspired by an incredible pasta salad that a friend of mine brought to a barbecue a few weeks ago. In her original version, which I hope to post soon as a full recipe, chewy potato gnocchi were tossed with a delectable pesto of roasted red bell peppers, almonds, lemon juice, and other spices. I’d actually planned to post that recipe this weekend, but when it came down to it I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand. So I started experimenting with what I did have available, and came up with this flavorful, spicy pilaf.

I would call this a “quick” recipe, as the actual prep work is fairly minimal. The cooking time is about 45 minutes for the rice and lentils, however, so you do need to get it on the stove well before you plan to eat. It would be great with chicken or tofu and maybe a side of green beans to round everything out. I was scooping it up with gluten-free flatbread all afternoon, and I’m still absolutely stuffed hours later.

Lemony, Spicy Lentil and Rice Pilaf
You could go hogwild with the veggies in this recipe – carrots, green onions, heaps more bell peppers – all of those would be delicious added in. Be sure to use brown or “French green” lentils. Don’t use the pink or red ones, as they will turn to mush when cooked.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown rice
1/2 cup brown or French green lentils
2-1/2 cups water
5 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 Tbs salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small, hot chili pod, chopped – or 1/4 tsp. chili flakes
1 Tbs tomato paste

1-2 bell peppers: red, orange or yellow, chopped
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 large handful almonds, chopped

1. Cooking the grains
Put the rice, lentils, and water in a pot over medium-high heat. Add the lemon juice, salt, garlic, tomato paste and chili. When the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Cook for about 45 minutes, until the water is fully absorbed, and remove from heat.

2. Mixing it all together
When the rice and lentils are cooked, let them cool slightly. Stir in the bell peppers, chopped tomato, parsley, and chopped almonds. Serve with chopped almonds as garnish.

Right. And when I sliced up an apple the other day and spread the slices with peanut butter, a small crowd gathered around my desk. “You just spread peanut butter on apple slices? Just like as if it were bread? Is it really good like that?”

One thing we can all (well, mostly all) agree on, though, is peanut butter and chocolate. Peanut butter is really sort of an exotic thing over here, and I’ve never seen a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in Germany. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen anything here that combines peanut butter and chocolate. But somehow my coworkers are inherently sensible enough to realize how brilliant this combination is.

Our accountant is pregnant and leaving work shortly, and I promised to make her peanut butter cookies before she goes. I’d seen a recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies that was making the rounds of some of the food blogs I read, and I was eager to try it.

The original recipe is very simple: 1 cup of peanut butter, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 egg. But I had to make things complicated, as usual. Somehow the simple three-ingredient recipe has evolved into the following Chocolate-Chocolate-Chip-Peanut-Butter-Swirl nuggets-of-joy. The result is a soft, almost crumbly peanut butter-chocolate cookie base with swirls of pure peanut butter and melted bits of choclate thrown in for good measure.

I would say I can’t stop eating them, but they’re almost pure peanut butter, so there actually is a very definite limit to how many I can nibble on. Make these small – they’ll hold together better, and you really don’t need a giant cookie to be satisfied with these. The only trick is to use ultra-fine baking sugar to make sure the sugar dissolves completely. My cookies crunched a bit with the normal sugar.

Oh, and I took them to the office… my boss says they look like “something else besides cookies” — but he also offered to pay for the ingredients if I’ll bring another batch soon. I’ll take that as a rave review.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Nuggets O’ Joy
If you can’t find chocolate spread (like Nutella, but pure chocolate) just use plain peanut butter and a bit more sugar if you like. These cookies are very sweet – you may not need any more.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups unsweetened peanut butter, 1/2 cup set aside
3 Tbs cocoa powder
2 cups ultra-fine sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup chocolate spread
1 dark chocolate bar, chopped in small bits

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Mixing the Dough
Dump the peanut butter into a large mixing bowl. Add the cocoa powder, sugar and eggs and mix with a large wooden spoon until it’s smooth. (Your blender won’t like this job, I don’t think.)

2. Adding the Goodies
Once the basic dough is smooth, add the chocolate spread, the reserved half-cup of peanut butter, and the chopped chocolate. Chop this into the dough so that it remains marbled and uneven. This will give the finished cookies swirles of peanut butter and chocolate throughout.

3. Shaping the Cookies
Scoop the dough by scant tablespoons. Flatten them between your palms and place them on the cookie sheet. They won’t spread much during cooking.

Bake approximately 10 minutes. They will be very soft when you take them out, but will firm up as they cool.

The problem is, I haven’t yet had “German” potato salad in Germany. Anything Germans term “salad” tends to suspiciously resemble a tub of mayonaise with bits of meat, egg, or potato thrown in for flavoring. Even my German friends agree with me on this one.

So, when a friend offered to show me her grandmother’s “secret potato salad recipe” the other day, it should have been no surprise that Grandma’s secret recipe consisted of two tubs of “Meat Salad” (think chopped balogne in mayonaise sauce) mixed with a few kilograms of boiled potatoes. I have to admit, it was tasty, but it left me wishing for a real, “traditional” German potato salad.

Next time I was in the kitchen, I dug up the German potato salad recipe from Joy of Cooking. I wanted the vinaigrette, but I’d had my fill of potatoes for a while. I did, however, have a bunch of spinach in the fridge that needed to get used up. And a couple of hard boiled eggs. I started thinking about a wilted spinach salad, without all the usual bacon grease…

This salad is light, tangy, and quick to prepare – in addition to being chock full of protein and vitamins. I used regular spinach, but you could use baby spinach as well for a lighter flavor. Feel free to experiment with various herbs in the vinaigrette, or try adding a bit of minced garlic for a real kick!

Tangy Wilted Spinach Salad
This recipe would also be delicious with a light dusting of crumbled bacon or turkey bacon in addition to the egg and walnuts. It can be served warm or cold.

Ingredients:
Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup beef, chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. sweet paprika
1/2 tsp. prepared hot mustard (optional)

Salad:
1 bunch well-washed spinach
1 hard boiled egg per serving
Walnuts to garnish

Prepare the vinaigrette:
In a small saucepan, combine the vinaigrette ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Prepare the salad:
While the vinaigrette is heating, tear the spinach leaves into small pieces and put them in a large mixing bowl. Slice or chop the eggs, whatever you find more appealing, and set them aside.

Wilt the spinach:
When the vinaigrette has reached a boil, turn the heat off and let it sit for a few moments. Drizzle about half of the hot vinaigrette over the torn spinach leaves. Toss the spinach quickly to mix, then add the remained of the vinaigrette. Continue tossing until the spinach is completely wilted.

Plate the salad:
Scoop the salad onto individual plates and top with the egg and walnut bits. This makes 2-3 very generous servings.

I did some poking around online for her, and found a few fat-free cookie recipes that looked pretty tasty. (Fat Free Vegan has some pumpkin cookies that look killer!) But I was determined to come up with a recipe of my own. I’m sure if I could come up with a fat free, sugar free cookie that tasted unhealthy, I’d have the entire dieting world groveling at my feet. I’m sorry to say that I haven’t achieved it yet – but there’s always next week, right?

At any rate, I’ve been on something of a high-fat, complex-carbohydrates kick lately myself – lots of nuts and veggies and meat and tofu, with not as much grains, rice, and breads as usual. I won’t call it low-carb, because that isn’t the point. It’s just that for some reason I’ve been extremely sensitive to anything with sugar lately – even fruit, sometimes. So I thought I could come up with a cookie that would have minimal carbohydrates, with lots of protein and fiber to keep my blood sugar stable.

In my searches through the realms of Google, I ran across Elena’s Pantry, a wonderful food blog dedicated to gluten-free, low-glycemic recipes. She uses coconut flour as a high-protein, high-fiber ingredient that will help balance out whatever sweeteners you do use in the recipe.

I was intrigued, especially since she recommends using virgin coconut oil as a healthy cooking fat. I had just purchased a jar of virgin coconut oil for cooking, and I’d been looking for an excuse to use it in baking. Combining coconut oil with coconut flour just seemed to make sense – and it tastes delicious!

If you opt to use coconut oil in the recipe, be sure to buy virgin coconut oil (the unrefined first pressing of a coconut). It is a completely different creature than the less-expensive, highly-processed variety. It is, admitedly, high in saturated fat, but it’s made up a different kind of saturated fat than you find in animal fats. Because of this, it has reported health benefits and is also great for your skin.

This isn’t by any means a low-calorie cookie. It’s not low-fat, either. But the calories you’re getting are largely from protein and fiber, and not empty sugar calories. With a light sweetness from the agave syrup, it tastes like a real cookie – but your body won’t react as if you just dove head first into a mound of cotton candy!

Chocolate Coconut Cookies
This recipe makes 10-12 cookies – perfect if you don’t want a bunch of left overs lying around tempting you. You could easily double the ingredients if you want to.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut flour (e.g. Bob’s Red Mill)
2.5 Tbs cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tstp salt

3 Tbs agave nectar
2 large eggs
1-2 Tbs milk
2 Tbs virgin coconut oil (or butter), melted

Preheat the oven to 350°

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs and add the other wet ingredients. When everything is well combined, pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix for about a minute or so. You will see the coconut flour thicken dramatically. If necessary, add a bit more milk – you want this to be about the thickness of thick cake batter, but thinner than normal cookie dough.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet if you have it. If all else fails, butter the pan well and hope for the best. (I haven’t tried it without baking paper, but these seem like they would probably stick.) Drop the batter onto the baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes.

I figured the carrot would sort of balance things out – like when I was a kid and my parents would force me to eat a bite of “good food” between every couple of french fries. It worked, too. I only ate the one piece of chocolate, instead of the whole bar. But to my surprise, I also found that the bitterness of dark chocolate is a perfect complement to the slight sweentess of a carrot.

That got the wheels turning. Chocolate and carrot. Carrot and chocolate. Chocolate cake is delicious… and carrot cake is delicious… hmmm. I started looking around for an excuse to bake.

I finally found a couple of recipes to start with. David Lebovitz has a brilliant recipe for Devil’s Food Cake, which I used as a starting point. From there, I scoured the internet for the perfect carrot cake recipe. I found one that sounded delicious here, at Allrecipes.com. After a little gluten-free tweaking, I found myself with a damn good cupcake recipe. It’s as chocolatey as you would hope for, but stays incredibly moist thanks to the addition of the shredded carrots.

Gluten Free Chocolate Carrot Cake:
This cake is really chocolatey, so if you want more of the carrot cake flavor to come through you may want to reduce the cocoa powder by a couple of tablespoons and replace it with flour. If you wanted to get really extravagant, you could substitute a cup of shredded coconut for one cup of the carrots.

3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup potato or corn starch
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

3 cups shredded carrots

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare your muffin tins

1. Shred the carrots:
The first time I did this I shredded them a bit too finely in the food processor. I think it actually tastes better if you leave some larger bits in there – you get that nice carroty crunch that reminds you it isn’t just chocolate cake.

2. Mix the dry ingredients:
Combine the rice flour, millet flour, tapioca starch and potato starch. Add cinnamon, salt, and baking soda and stir until everything is thoroughly mixed.

3. Mix the wet ingredients:
Mix the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.

4. Finishing the batter:
Add the dry ingredients bit by bit, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Then add the shredded carrot (or carrot and coconut if you so choose!) and continue mixing.

5. Cupcakes!
Drop the batter into your muffin tins, about two tablespoons per muffin. (This will make a small cupcake. They’re very dense, and I found that a two-or-three-bite sized muffin was enough for me. If you want them a bit larger, use more batter and bake a bit longer.)

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Serve as is, with a dusting of powdered sugar, or with your favorite cream cheese frosting. (I would give you a recipe, but as I recently discovered the powdered sugar and cream cheese are kind of different over here, so what works for me probably won’t work for you!)

I’ve always been a fan of oatmeal – the more textured and less mushy, the better. Minute oats are not my friend, and when I discovered steel-cut oats I dove into the delightful chewy bowlfuls spoon-first. And then I stopped eating gluten.

There are no gluten-free oats to be found in Germany, as far as I can tell. They’re expensive in the States, but I’ve never seen them here at all. So when I first stopped eating gluten, I didn’t touch oats for almost 8 months. I tried buckwheat flakes, and millet flakes… and even rice flakes. But it just wasn’t the same.

I started realizing, though, that I’m OK with trace amounts of gluten. It doesn’t seem to give me any allergy problems. So, since oats don’t actually contain gluten in their own right, and it’s just an issue of cross-contamination, I gave oatmeal a second chance. I was overjoyed to find that my incredibly cheap and versatile breakfast standby is back on the menu!

Since then I can’t get enough of the stuff. I often don’t even cook it these days. For the most part I just eat it muesli style, uncooked with milk poured over the top. Sometimes with some chopped apple or raisins; usually just plain. But I think I’ve found a new favorite – something perfect for a hot bowl of oatmeal on a cold autumn morning. Plain old oatmeal is magically transformed into a gourmet treat with a dusting of spicy, fragrant cardamom and a sprinkling of homemade dried orange peel.

This flavor combination was inspired, interestingly enough, by one of the ice creams available at the Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco. I haven’t been there yet, but with flavors like orange cardamom, balsamic strawberry, and salted caramel on the menu, it’s definitely on my schedule when I visit in November.

I really can’t say enough good things about cardamom. When I first discovered it years ago as an ingredient for chai tea, I didn’t realize how many other uses it had in the kitchen. My neighbor here once lived in Egypt for a number of years, and he introduced me to the wonderful combination of coffee brewed with cardamom. It’s also used extensively in Scandinavian baking, and is an ingredient in some savory Indian and North African dishes. In short, I suggest you go buy yourself some and start experimenting!

As a note, I should add that ground cardamom loses it’s flavor rather quickly. It’s best to buy the whole pods and grind them down as needed. They do have more flavor that way. But, to be honest, those seed pods can be a royal pain when you’re in a hurry. I find myself wishing for a little packet of pre-ground cardamom almost every time I use it – especially when I’m trying to get out the door for work. So really, just buy a small amount of ground cardamom, and keep it as tightly sealed as you can. The flavor might not be quite as spectacular, but you’ll sure use and enjoy it a lot more often.

Quick-and-Easy Orange Cardamom Oatmeal
I’m usually not a fan of microwaved food, but let’s face it, when you’re in a rush sometimes it’s a lot more convenient. If you have time, make this with steal cut oats and the full cooking time, but I’m quite happy with my quick n’ dirty version.

Ingredients:

1/2 C. Oatmeal (certified gluten free, if need be!)
1/8 – 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp finely chopped orange peel
Milk/water to cover

Put your oatmeal in a good-sized, microwave-safe bowl. Sprinkle in the cardamom and orange peel, then add milk and/or water until it just covers the oats. I use about half milk and half water for mine. Stir briefly, then pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes. If you use minute-oats, they will be fully cooked and soft. I make this with regular oats, and after two minutes it comes out with a delicious chewiness that will get rid of any preconceptions you might have about mushy oatmeal!

I’ve always been one to experiment with colors. I think they improve everything. Growing up with white walls in our house, I pleaded for yellow. Born with brown hair, I’ve dyed it every color under the rainbow. And I’ve been known to experiment with the color of my food on more than one occasion.

When I was a kid, I loved the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham. Not just liked, but loved. Obsessively, perhaps. I know I convinced my dad, more than a few times, to dye my scrambled eggs green, and I remember being disappointed that there was no was to pull it off with poached eggs.

There’s another instance that comes to mind, as well. When I was 8 or 9 years old, my mom had the flu, and my dad and I cooked dinner for her. I don’t remember the whole menu, but I know for sure mashed potatoes and gravy were part of the feast.

You might be asking yourself right now, why I still remember this particular instance of mashed-potato making. Well, that would be because, once again, I decided to play with colors. I wanted to make the potatoes more festive, to cheer my mom up and help her feel better.

If you were sick in bed with the flu, wouldn’t you want a heaping serving of turquoise mashed potatoes with purple gravy? (Sorry, Mom!)

At any rate, given my long history with oddly colored foods, you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled onto my latest and greatest discovery at the Turkish market. Purple potatoes!

I actually didn’t realize quite what I’d gotten into when I bought them. I thought they just had deep purple skins. It wasn’t until I boiled them up one night for dinner that I realized what a gem I had found. Digging in with my fork, I expected the sharp contrast of purple skin with white potato flesh – but there, instead, was this bright violet, the color of springtime flowers!

I never knew such a potato existed. They’re exquisitely colored, creamy tasting, and mildly sweet. And I’ve read that they contain a higher level of anti-oxidants, as well. Great flavor with extra nutrition, to boot!

I ate them with a sprinkling of garlic and salt, but if I’d known beforehand what I was getting into, I would have tried a sprinkling of walnuts and maybe a dash of cardamom.

These would make a spectacular potato salad as well, with or without regular potatoes. Rather than the usual heavy mayonnaise dressing, I’d like to try a salad with some walnuts, shallots, rice vinegar, and parsley for starters. Let this sweet and unusual potatoes shine through, complemented by the seasonings – but don’t drown them like you would an ordinary white potato.

I don’t know how easy or difficult these might be to find in the States, but I’d have to imagine someplace like Whole Foods would likely carry them. If you do stumble across them, let me know, because I’ll be back visiting for Thanksgiving and I’d love to have some at dinner!

The trick is, you never know what the surplus will be until you get there. Some weeks I come home with two pounds of red bell peppers for a Euro. Sometimes it’s a whole crate of ruccola. Last week, it was 6 ears of corn.

I didn’t feel like eating 6 ears of corn on the cob by myself, so I decided salad was the way to go. Slicing the kernels from the cobs, I fried them quickly with a dab of butter and a splash of lime juice. Mixed with some chopped tomato and an enormous bunch of cilantro, I found myself with a fresh, tangy bowlful of Mexican-inspired goodness.

I swear, I don’t think I will ever grow tired of the taste of cilantro and lime. Now, if only I could track down some Cheddar cheese in this country…

Roasted Corn Salad
This salad is great on it’s own, or makes a nice side for refried beans and a chunk of cornbread.

Ingredients:

6 ears fresh corn, kernels removed (or 2 cups frozen kernels)
1 Tbs butter or oil
2 limes, juiced (or about 1/4 c. juice)
1 bunch cilantro
1 tomato
1 red bell pepper
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
Cayenne pepper to taste

1. Roast the Corn
Heat the butter in the pan until it’s sizzling hot, and add the corn. Cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the corn starts to char in places. Continue stirring and cooking until most of the kernels have dark brown marks on them. Dump the corn into a large bowl and let it refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2. Prepping the Veggies
Chop the cilantro finely. Chop the tomato and bell pepper into pieces roughly the size of the corn kernels. If you haven’t already, juice your limes.

3. Assembling your Salad
Pull the corn out of your fridge, add the chopped veggies, lime juice, salt and pepper. Make it as spicy or mild as you like with cayenne. It tastes best after marinating for a few hours, but it’s damn good straight away as well.

Last week, as I was buying the ingredients for my rye bread, I saw a little packet of dried organic orange peel for sale. I think it cost around 2.50 Euro, which isn’t all that bad. A little orange peel goes a long way, right?

Then I started thinking about it. How long has that orange peel been sitting in it’s little packet? And why would I spend 2.50 for dried peel, when I can buy a whole organic orange for fifty cents?

I bought my orange, headed home, and devoured it. Then I chopped up a little corner of the peel to use in the recipe. And I stood there looking at the rest of the peel sitting on the counter. I’m already chopping, I thought, why not just keep going and dry it myself?

It really is as easy as it sounds. Actual working time was less than 5 minutes, and now I have a little jar on my counter with enough dried orange peel to last me for months.

To make your own:

Take an organic orange – you don’t want all the pesticides and wax from a normal one, trust me – and cut the peel off carefully with a sharp knife. You want to cut close to the surface of the peel, leaving as much white pith behind as you can. (You can see in the photos that I just peeled mine normally, but I really shouldn’t have. The pith is more bitter than the orange part of the skin.)

Chop the peel finely, spread it on a baking sheet, and let it dry in a 200° Farenheit oven until it is dry but still a bit flexible. It should take around 20 minutes, depending on how finely you chopped it.