when i tell people that i am a cook, they naturally assume that i'm eating like a king. and when people come over to our house for dinner and we make them a decadent meal, i often receive comments of disbelief that we eat that way every night. 

well guess what? i surely do not eat like a king every day and daily dinner's at my house look a lot more like a combo of left over food made for others and reheated trader joe's meals. 

even the cook has a busy life and has a hard time getting in tasty, satisfying meals. 

so i try to do the little extra things when i have some down time that will make my meal prepping easier when i'm really in a pinch. 

one of my go to items to have in the house is caramelized onions. they can be added to pasta, burgers, sandwiches, eggs and you get the point. caramelized onions are versatile. they are easy to make ahead and will keep through out the week in the fridge for quick and easy use. 

many people will give you different trips and tricks on how to best caramelize onions, but here is what i think is the easiest way to get the most flavor and bang for your buck. the major key in my mind is the type of onion you select. yellow or brown onions are often lower in price then their white or red friends and they have a higher sugar content so you don't need to add sugar to them to get them to caramelize. 

caramelized onion
serves: about .5 cup caramelized onion
prep time: 1 minute
cook time: 30 minutes
total time: 31 minutes
ingredients: 1 yellow (some stores will call them brown) or spanish onion. 2 tbs olive oil. .5 tsp salt. .25 tsp fresh pepper. 

start by slicing your onion in half, and then cutting it into .25 inch strips. 

add all your ingredients together in a large pan. toss well till the onions are lightly coated with olive oil, salt and pepper. 

now here is the key... patience. 

cook your onions, stirring every few minutes till they are caramelized. this will take 20-30 minutes. 

first they will become translucent. 

then they will start to brown. 

and before you know it, they will be nice and caramelized.

enjoy however you like, but i highly recommend this grilled cheese as a good place to start. 

xo, a

caramelized onion
serves: about .5 cup caramelized onion
prep time: 1 minute
cook time: 30 minutes
total time: 31 minutes
ingredients: 1 yellow (some stores will call them brown) or spanish onion. 2 tbs olive oil. .5 tsp salt. .25 tsp fresh pepper.
start by slicing your onion in half, and then cutting it into .25 inch strips.
add all your ingredients together in a large pan. toss well till the onions are lightly coated with olive oil, salt and pepper.
now here is the key... patience.
cook your onions, stirring every few minutes till they are caramelized. this will take 20-30 minutes.
first they will become translucent.
then they will start to brown.
and before you know it, they will be nice and caramelized.
enjoy however you like, but i highly recommend this grilled cheese as a good place to start. 

let me start by bursting your bubble. while i am about to give you my tips on how to seed a pomegranate efficiently and with out making a huge mess, it is still not easy. it is not hard, just takes a few minutes. however, it is very much worth it. one pomegranate yields about 2 cups of beautiful, versatile seeds. pomegranates are great on salads, on top of baked goods or in a tasty cocktail. 

now, i've watched all kinds of videos of all the quick and easy tricks for removing the seeds. however, i have found that most of them are a bunch of bologna. i find that the most important thing is the way you cut the pomegranate. cutting it into smaller pieces enables you to easily break it apart with your hands. 

you will need 1 pomegranate, your favorite knife, a glass bowl and some water. 

start by slicing your pomegranate in half. 

then into fourths. 

and finally into eighths. 

you will find that there is a thin membrane covering most of the seeds. you can gently peal this back to expose the seeds. 

once the membrane is removed, use your hands to flatten out the wedge of pomegranate. 

working over you bowl, gently use your fingers to break the seeds loose from walls of the pomegranate. it should take you about 5 minutes for the whole pom. 

the membrane can be a sticky little bugger so even after you have removed all the seeds, there is usually some still floating around. fill your bowl of seeds with water and run your fingers through the seeds to release them from any remaining membrane. let the seeds settle and the remaining membrane will float to the top. 

use a spoon to remove the floating membrane from the water. once it is all removed, strain your seeds and you are ready to use them. 

enjoy your delicious rubies of flavor and if you have tips and tricks of your own, please send them my way!
xo, a