Refrigerator pickled onions are a super easy way to not only preserve onions if you end up with a bumper crop, but they make for a delicious condiment too.

Pickled onions can turn the most boring salad or sandwich into a taste explosion and are so simple to make. Actually, pickled vegetables of all kinds are simple to whip up and make for quite an impressive addition to most savory dishes and snacks. Add pickled onions to a hummus-topped bagel, a boring grain-bowl, a bowl of chili, veggie tacos, baked chicken, roasted tofu, rice pilaf, and more!

Just a note of clarification: the process of pickling can refer to preserving foods through the addition of vinegar or through lacto-fermentation with salt. Both are easy, delicious, and nutritious, but for the purposes of this recipe we will be making pickled onions by adding vinegar. There are also two distinctions when using vinegar to preserve food–making quick refrigerator pickles that are meant to be stored for a few weeks at most in the fridge, or the process of canning which preserves food for longer periods of time–this recipe does the former.

Easy Pickled Onions

Ingredients

• Red onion – 1 large or 2 small
• ½ cup of apple cider vinegar – I like Bragg’s
• 1 cup of filtered water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 bay leaf
• Red pepper flakes to taste

Directions

1. Thinly slice the red onion into half moons.
2. Pour the water into a small saucepan and heat up.
3. Whisk in the sugar and sea salt. Heat up just enough to allow the sugar and salt to dissolve. Mix well and allow to cool. Add the vinegar.
4. Add onion slices to quart-sized mason jar.
5. Pour vinegar and water mixture over red onion slices.
6. Add coriander seed, celery seed, the bay leaf, and red pepper flakes to the jar.
7. Put on a lid and shake to distribute the spices.

The onions can be eaten right away, but are much better if you wait at least 24 hours before eating. The liquid will begin to take on a pink hue as the color leaches out of the onions. This is totally normal and is just a sign that the onions are going to be tasty and delicious. The pickled onions will last for several weeks stored in the refrigerator–if they last that long.

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Pickled Onion Image via Shutterstock

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Freeze, dry and can: food preservation ideas to ensure you have the taste of summer all year long. 

As the warm days wane, it’s easy to start mourning the loss of summer food. While the thought of root vegetable dishes might feel cozy now, you know that there’s going to be a time of complete and utter food boredom when all you want is to stuff yourself with blackberries. Fortunately, we live in the modern era of freezers and ovens, and storing some of summer’s bounty is easier than you might think.

If you have an overflowing CSA box, or went on a berry picking extravaganza and are in need of some ideas for food preservation that will have you eating summer all year long, look no further.

1. Freeze fruit

One of the best tips for freezing fruit, particularly berries, is something I have watched my mother do for years. Cover a baking sheet with whatever you want to freeze – blueberries, apricots, blackberries, etc. – and place in the freezer. This allows the fruit to individually freeze, which means you avoid a mashed together frozen clump later. After it has frozen, remove from the freezer and put all the fruit into an airtight container.

2. Make sundried tomatoes

If there’s one item of summer bounty that I dream of in winter, it’s tomatoes. While they’re called “sun-dried,” you can of course do them in the oven.

3. Make jam

What better way to taste a bit of summer in the height of winter than a bright and colorful jam you made yourself?

4. Make compote or fruit butter and freeze it

Some people are intimidated by making jam. If canning isn’t up your alley, consider making compotes or fruit butter instead and just freezing them. It’s as easy as cooking down fruit, adding a little sweetener (if you want to) and then putting in a sealable container for storage in the freezer. I find it’s easy to store in smaller quantities, that way you don’t have to defrost a 2-gallon container of compote when you want to eat it.

5. Dehydrate fruit

If you have a dehydrator at home, drying fruit is easy, but it can even be done in your oven. Drying time in the oven will range from about 6-12 hours depending on which fruits you are doing.

6. Pickle things

What better way to use summer beans than pickling them? Or what about pickled red pepper? Pickling is of course one of the oldest forms of food preservation, and as long as you have a few mason jars and some storage space, there’s nothing stopping you.

7. Infuse vodka with fruit

If summer cocktails are your thing, then you definitely should make a few batches of infused vodka. Pick your summer fruits, infuse for 3 to 5 days, then strain the fruit out and you have a fruit base for cocktails that will last through the cold months; depending on how many cocktails you make of course.

8. Make a puree to freeze

Cook and puree eggplant and you have the base for a baba ghanoush later in the winter. If you want you can puree vegetables and then freeze them in an ice cube tray, which makes for easy small portions that later can be added to soups and beyond.

9. Make fruit leather

Pretend you’re 8 again and make fruit leather. Yes, you can roll it up and put it in your lunchbox.

10. Dry peppers 

Peppers are easy to dry and then can be used to spice up your winter dishes; a chili perhaps?

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DIY at Home: How to Make Jam

10 Things to Turn Into Ice Cubes

Image: Klearchos Kapoutsis

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Your hands are capable of creating more than just tweets and emails. Here are 7 ways to use them.

Shake hands with a craftsman, sculptor or chef and chances are you’ll feel something distinct in their grasp. Defined calluses, miniscule cuts, dexterous fingers, a firm yet gentle grip – these are all proud badges of individuals who spend a lot of time using their hands.

Regardless of whether you make a living sewing dresses or designing websites that sell them, few things are more satisfying than an honest day’s work. However, in our digitized world, the products of a lot of people’s “work” are increasingly intangible.

It’s not that a lot of labor and effort doesn’t go into digital endeavors; building a website can be just as frustrating as building a house. However, if you dig a ditch, you can stand in it to gauge its depth. If you catch a fish, you can weigh it before filleting it for dinner. Close your laptop after a day of Google searches and sending emails and what do you have? There is seemingly a different level of satisfaction, albeit a more exhausting one, when you come home from a day’s work and can hold, taste, see, or smell the proverbial fruits of your labor.

The technology that so many people rely on to do their jobs has undoubtedly made us more efficient and, for that reason, it’s likely not going anywhere. That means many people will never have jobs that require using their hands for much more than typing and clicking. But that doesn’t change the fact that human beings were designed to create more than just tweets and word documents.

There’s no shortage of lifestyle blogs and Pinterest or Tumblr accounts to showcase creativity online, many of which served as inspiration for the ideas below. However, following, posting and linking shouldn’t be our only creative outlets. Closing the screen, putting down the phone and making something can’t be re-blogged is good for us, even if we don’t do it for a living.

Here are seven things to make, mould, prepare, craft, and create with your hands.

• Printmaking– Printmaking is an age-old practice which dates back to ancient Mesopotamia. But thanks in part to the popularity of sites like Etsy, which displays thousands of quirky and creative prints to purchase, this ancient art form is having a bit of a renaissance. Eager first-timers can get started by seeing if a there is a community printmaking studio in their area that teaches the basics of monoprinting, intaglio, collography, or screenprinting methods. Printmaking can also be done easily at home with at simple materials such as cardboard, rolling pins, mesh, and sponges. We love this so-easy-a-kindergartner-could-do-it method.

• Herb Garden– Who wouldn’t love to have the time to maintain a bountiful and delicious vegetable garden? But in the real world, climates, apartment buildings, and work schedules don’t always allow for such endeavors. A herb garden, which can be maintained indoors or out, is a manageable alternative that can be started in an afternoon. All you need is a place that will get about five hours of daylight each day. We love this Mason jar version, just make sure you place it near a window with southern or western light exposure.

• Jewelry making– Remember those friendship bracelets you made hundreds of as a kid? Try making a grown-up version using one of these crafty techniques – we bet it will make you feel like you’re at summer camp again. You can also head to the hardware store for some industrial grade jewelry making supplies. Nuts, bolts, washers, and copper wire paired with more delicate materials like twine or ribbon can look seriously chic.

• Food Preservation– Food preservation, depending on the method, is not as daunting as it sounds. If you already buy seasonal and locally sourced goods from the farmer’s market, why not double up and preserve some for the colder part of the year. Making your own sun-dried tomatoes can actually be as easy as putting tomatoes in the hot sun or in the oven, and then sealing them in plastic bags or jars of olive oil. Another method that doesn’t require any special equipment is blanching and freezing vegetables, fruit or prepared sauces like pesto (made with basil from your fresh herb garden, of course) for later use. A little handiwork and preparation now can mean a more delicious diet all year round.

• Volunteering– Getting one’s hands dirty feels good, and doing it for the benefit of someone who needs a little help will feel even better. Habitat for Humanity, which works to provide a decent place for people all over the world to live, has a searchable database to help you find affiliate projects in your area. Or, if you feel like getting really local, offer to help a neighbor with home improvement projects or handiwork.

• Bread-making– We love bread. But honestly, who doesn’t? Real estate agents claim that a house is more likely to sell if there is fresh bread baking in the oven when prospective buyers arrive – it’s easy to understand why. With just three humble ingredients – water, yeast, and flour – it’s a wonder that more of us don’t make this age-old food staple more regularly. There are few recipes that are more tactile or rewarding to master. So don’t be intimidated and dig in with this recipe.

• Analog Photography– Photography has become a high-tech hobby, with Photoshop and megapixels now synonymous with the craft. But way before Instagram made vintage photos a matter of pressing a few buttons, photographers had to master the precise photo-developing process. To master the craft yourself, search your area for darkrooms (high schools and local colleges often have them) or photography studios that might offer classes. Taking away the instant gratification of digital photography will only require you to use your hands a bit more, but also restore the nearly forgotten magic of this analog craft.

Image: BradleyPJohnson

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