Stop Crying Over Onions

I use onions in almost every dish I make, and I even make onion-centric dishes like French Onion Soup, or caramelized onions for pizzas.  I love onions but sometimes they are so strong I can hardly stand it!

I have tried out many suggestions for avoiding the tears:

Put a toothpick in your mouth while you cut up onions.

Use onion goggles.

Cut your onions under running water.  Wait, what?

 

I can't explain why some onions seem to be okay--hardly produce a tear--while others seem to be tear producers the minute the knife touches them.

Finely chopped onions don't always make me cry.

I picked up a big bag of onions, and discovered once i started cutting that these were the most tearful onions I had encountered in a long while.  So now what?

Innocent looking onions.

I had a LOT of onions, not just one or two to get through, and I didn't want to spend all that extra time wiping my eyes, blowing my nose and washing my hands, only to repeat it many, many times!

The hero of the day!

And then I remembered the food processor.  I still had to cut the onions in half because my food processor feed is small, but I could slice up the whole bag of onions in minutes!  Although I wasn't tear free, I did manage to limit the exposure.

I thought that I might as well cut up every onion in the house as long as I was at it!

I would be prepared to cook onions without dealing with tears!


I put onions into freezer containers, labeled them and got them out of the kitchen!  May they be comfortable in the freezer and ready when I need them.

Yes, I am ready for anything with onions!



Now I just pull them out of the freezer and add them directly to the pan:

Put frozen onions right into the pan.

Look Ma, no tears!  And I have enough onions for at least a week! hehe.

Tips for Making Dressings at Home

Buying dressing at the store is a real convenience, but do you know how easy it is to make your own at home?  And when you make your own dressings, you can flavor it any way you want, avoid excess salts and unhealthy fats, and it will save you money and room in the refrigerator!

Vinaigrette's can be made with a variety of oils: peanut oil, grape seed oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, extra virgin olive oil, sesame oil, or a hot chili oil.

A simple vinaigrette:  One part acid (fresh squeezed lemon juice), a clove or two of garlic, a tsp. of Dijon mustard, and some oil.  Here it's being emulsified in a mini food processor.

An Herb vinaigrette is almost like a pesto.  Taste test it using a leaf of spinach or lettuce.

A vinaigrette can be made following a simple ratio:  1 part acid to 3 parts oil.  You can start with 1 tsp. lemon juice, and 1 tbsp. olive oil for one serving.  Add a pinch of both salt and pepper.  If you don't have a food processor or blender (or don't want the clean up) put it in a small jar with a tight fitting lid, and shake it up!  Be sure to taste before you dress your salad or grains.

Now you can experiment with other flavors:  try horseradish, hot sauce, flavored vinegars, fresh herbs, orange juice, etc.  It is always best to make the vinaigrette fresh daily. 

Making Salad Dressing: Vinaigrettes

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This is considered one of the “mother sauces” of French cooking, and there really isn’t anything secret or mysterious to making this.  Vinaigrettes can be used as marinades and salad dressings, and when you make your own, you can control or eliminate salt, sugar, transfats, and other things that are best avoided.  Also, learning to make your own can save a bundle on all those bottles of dressings and marinades crowding the fridge.  

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Fresh Herbs are great for vinaigrettes. Edible flowers can be added to your presentation.