This will be a ridiculously short post.

So you have bought the “most awesome” organic, dill pickles. You ate them all in one night. Oh la-la. Ok, the juice is still a viable pickling agent though. Don’t throw it out. Make your way to the vegetable market and buy some short, pickling cucumbers. Slice them up however you like. Enough to fit into the jar. Secure the top and let it work its magic for 2-4 weeks.

Mmm. You will have some nice pickles for burgers, steaks or what have you.

Waste not, want not.

I make a super saturated bottle of sugar water every couple of months. It is a nice, natural shortcut for desserts, BBQ sauces, anything really. The concept here is to go natural, but go natural fast. I take about a cup of “raw” natural sugar and gradually add hot water to it until it completely dissolves.

Disclaimer: sure , you could add just the sugar to ingredients but sometimes you need to spruce up cold ingredients, stir-frys, drinks, or dressings. It is much easier to add a raw, natural sugar solution to those recipes than course dry sugar. For measurements, one teaspoon of sugar equals about one teaspoon and a quarter of sugar water.

• 1 cup raw natural sugar
• Filtered water as needed

Like I say above, add filtered hot water to the sugar mixture slowly. Keep adding and then mixing to see how much you can get dissolved. Don’t over add water or your recipes will be off. Keep adding until you reach that magic point where the sugar finally all dissolves. Stop. You now have some “most excellent” sugar water. Chemistry 101 will tell you that.

Note: Stay away from high fructose, sucrose, refined white sugar or sugars you can’t tell where they come from.

As delicious as they sound. makes about 16 small Vietnamese herb meat balls.

1 pound ground chicken or turkey
3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
3 small shallots, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1teaspoon minced ginger root
1 stalk of fresh lemon grass, tender white inner bulb only, minced
3 heaping tablespoons chopped cilantro, plus 1/3 cup leaves for serving
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint, plus 1/3 cup leaves for serving
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup granulated sugar (optional–I leave out this step)
1 head Boston or red leaf lettuce, leaves separated
1 small seedless cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1 small red onion, halved and sliced or use radishes
Asian chili sauce, for serving

directions

Preheat the oven to 400??. Position a rack in the top third of the oven. In a food processor, pulse the chicken until coarsely ground; transfer to a bowl. Add the fish sauce, shallots, garlic, lemon grass, chopped cilantro and mint, cornstarch, salt and pepper and mix with your hands. I advise making a small test meatball, cooked in a skillet or microwave, to adjust seasonings, if you like.

Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the sugar on a plate. Using slightly moistened hands, roll the chicken mixture into 1 1/2-inch balls. Roll the meatballs in the sugar until they are evenly coated. Transfer the meatballs to the prepared baking sheet and bake them for 15 minutes, until they are lightly browned and cooked through.

Meanwhile, arrange the lettuce, cilantro and mint leaves, cucumber and onion on a platter. Transfer the meatballs to the platter and serve with chili sauce.