Yanno what I love about cooking? Well, there’s always the fact that I get to eat what I’m cooking – but cooking also means I get to taste & tweak and adjust and make things just how I want them. Case in point: Sweet Tart Bread & Butter Pickles.

Garden Chili Sauce
In honor of the upcoming New Year’s (and to use up a bag of black eyed peas and a couple of ham hocks languishing in my freezer) I decided to make Black Eyed Peas. And there is no better accompaniment to Black Eyed Peas than a my home-made Chili Sauce.

Home-made Pickling Spice
Most pickling spice recipes share a number of standard ingredients with just a few variances in amounts and proportions, and many have an extra special touch or two that makes them stand out. Here’s a recipe that will work well in almost any recipe that calls for “pickling spice.”