Want the taste of Chinese food in your very own kitchen? This beef and broccoli dish really tastes like Chinese food! And there’s no MSG. And you can make it with brown rice and not charge $1 extra. I just wish I had a wok, because that would make cooking this dish extra fun. Try it even if you don’t have one. Cast iron works wonders. So do dutch ovens. Continue reading
When Stephanie sent me this recipe to try, I giggled. And then I knew I had to make it. Pea puree! I decided to make this on my next day off. It’s a perfect Thursday night dinner, in my opinion, and since I already had all the ingredients, except for the salmon, wouldn’t take much thinking (Yes, you should always have peas in your freezer). Also, good thing I live pretty close to a fish store. If I didn’t, who knows if this would have ended up on the menu. We loved this. The broth was lemony and fresh, and really added a nice flavor to the salmon. The pea puree was just delicious, and oh-so-easy. I love peas. They are delicious in a puree. The salmon was great dipped in the puree. Just a good combination altogether.
So you invited people over for barbecue only to realize you have no hamburger buns in the freezer. Fine, you’ll just run to the store down the block to get some. Uh oh, they’re out, too! Well, now you’re in luck. While usually burger buns and other breads are something you’d think about making in advance, this recipe takes 40 minute. That’s right, in under an hour you can have fresh homemade burger buns. With or without sesame seeds. Without HFCS.
Everybody loves the Chef at Home (aka Magen David) cookbook. It has bright colors, pretty pictures, and no capitals in the titles! Okay, that’s not why they like it. They like the easy to follow recipes and everyday dishes. I’ve made quite a few recipes from there, but haven’t blogged about them (sorry!). So I decided to make something awesome from there on my day off and share it with you. Now I know we’ve posted quite a few veggie burger recipes lately (fine, two. But that’s a lot!), but I like to make healthy dishes that I can freeze and just heat up when I need a quick lunch, dinner or even snack. And I’m trying to stay away from processed foods, so Morningstar items only a last resort. Continue reading
By Melinda Strauss of kitchen-tested.com
Countless blog posts and Food Network episodes are dedicated to answering the seasonal question of how to re-purpose Thanksgiving leftovers. But I want to know what to do with all the extra groceries I bought when I over-shopped for the holiday. Why did I buy 10 cans of pureed pumpkin when I only needed 2? I’ll admit that I always over-shop at the grocery store, and especially for Thanksgiving. I am always freezing raw turkey and whole cranberries, and storing cans in my pantry. On the bright side, I can cook Thanksgiving food throughout the year on a whim or a craving without needing to run to the grocery store! It’s pretty impressive…or at least I think so. For my first post-Thanksgiving-use-my-extra-groceries dish this year, I decided on a Pumpkin Dump Cake with Homemade Non-Dairy Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. Now don’t be afraid of the name “Dump Cake!” It describes the baking process. Everything gets dumped into the pan and then bakes to sweet perfection! The pumpkin filling is creamy and savory while the cake topping is sweet and crunchy. Such a great balance of flavors and textures! Pumpkin dump cake is topped with homemade tart cranberry ice cream that makes my mouth water. Continue reading
I love granola bars. They are a great snack at my desk (boo, desk job) at work. They are a great oh-my-god-I-don’t-have-time-to-eat-breakfast quick breakfast. They are also useful for when I actually DID eat breakfast, but am still hungry. I just grab one and eat it on my way to the subway station. The problem with granola bars is that they usually have a few ingredients that I don’t really want to eat in them. Or the are covered in chocolate (a few chocolate chips? Not the same). Or they are just very expensive, and there are only 5 in a box. Continue reading
I have been wanting to make this cake ever since I bought this cookbook, and that was a while ago. But first I didn’t find kosher mascarpone cheese, then I didn’t have an occasion to bake it for, and then I had a baby who didn’t really allow me to do much multi-step cake baking. Well I baked it. It took a while. I juiced lemons one day, made curd another, worked on the frosting the next morning, and that afternoon finally baked the cakes. So it took a while, but it was done, decorated, and waiting in the fridge to eat. I wanted to skip lunch and just eat cake. Continue reading
Or Chicken as the Farmer’s Wife Would Make – or – Polla al la Contadina
I love Mario Batali. Yes, he wears Crocs and high socks and talks so quickly it’s hard to understand him, but his use of simple ingredients and fresh flavors to make the most amazing meals is truly a talent. Plus he went to Rutgers (just like Stephanie!) and used to work at Stuff Yer Face in New Brunswick. Best yet is that he didn’t forget about his roots! Oh, and he sports a red beard. Continue reading
I love butternut squash soup! I love any butternut squash, actually. But the best way to eat it is definitely in soup.
Last year, we posted a recipe from Jamie Oliver. And while that sage-infused oil soup was amazing, and definitely a go-to recipe for me, I definitely have to change it up a little bit. Eating as much butternut squash soup as I do makes me need to experiment with different flavors and interesting ingredients. This is actually the first butternut squash soup recipe I have ever made, and it was years ago when I was still in high school. Continue reading
That’s right, I’m still grilling. Okay, fine, so I made this on my cast iron grill pan. But it still turned out awesome. It required more cooking time than the outdoor grill and set off my smoke detector more than once. I used all the ingredients from the original recipe but changed the quantities a lot. It’s also the type of recipe that you really don’t have to measure. Just wing it. Continue reading