adventures in a {not-so-tiny, thank you} kitchen
Oh my word, THESE POPOVERS.
These are heaven. They are light, puffy, buttery, cinnamony-sweet heaven. And they’re so fast and easy!
I halved the recipe, since I was only cooking for me (yes, it still made 7 popovers, DON’T JUDGE ME). It’s so insanely fast, you just blend up the ingredients in your blender (or with a whisk) while the oven heats up, and like 20 minutes later you have piping hot popovers. It’s impressive, really. [Read more…]
I have a confession to make. I love all potatoes. Except mashed potatoes.
I know, I know—blasphemy. It’s not that I don’t like mashed potatoes, it’s just that they don’t excite me at all. These have changed all that.
This may also come as a shock to you, but I’d NEVER made mashed potatoes before this. It seemed like so much work, to get something that I’m only kind of lukewarm on. But when my mom and I decided to make Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon a couple weeks ago, I knew it needed an equally-impressive base carb. I’d found this recipe with another kind of French stew, and they sounded like a perfect match.
What I discovered was that this dish really deserved its own showcase, not to play sidekick to a much more flavorful star. I love garlic, could eat it in everything, and my diet has been a little light on it lately. These potatoes had the most delightful, mellow garlic flavor too, the result of simmering the whole garlic cloves in the heavy cream before adding both to the boiled potatoes. Where just adding garlic cloves to potatoes and blending them would give a much more intense, almost spicy taste that would overpower everything else, this allowed everything to be at just the perfect level.
What also surprised me is how good these were as leftovers. Potatoes in general (but particularly mashed potatoes and fries) are typically terrible as leftovers, but these warmed up quite nicely and creamily. I’m lobbying for us to make these for Thanksgiving, on account of how amazing they are. I recommend you do too. Let’s show boring old mashed potatoes who’s boss. [Read more…]
I think it’s safe to say that I LOVE avocado. I stockpile avocado recipes. I add them to recipes that don’t even call for them. Mostly I just eat them straight out of their shells with salt and pepper (I mean, it’s a food that already comes in a bowl!).
But I had never thought of using them to make dessert.
Never, that is, until sammysamgurl at Mouthwatering Motivation commented on my chicken & avocado enchiladas post and asked if I’d ever tried chocolate avocado pudding. It sounded weird and awesome, and I knew I had to give it a try. Even better? It’s gluten-free, paleo, low carb, and full of protein, fiber, and good fat. It basically should have its dessert card revoked. Except it’s also totally unique and delicious. [Read more…]
Here’s the thing anyone who knows me well (particularly my co-workers) can tell you: I love soup, but I refuse to acknowledge it as a real, standalone meal. Soup is delicious, but it is a PRELUDE to a meal. A pre-meal.
So what happens is that I see all these amazing soup recipes on Pinterest and pin the heck out of them, then they just sit there because I don’t want to go through the trouble of making both a soup and a real entree. And a dessert, because let’s face it, dessert is an important part of any home-cooked meal.
This soup, however, was surprisingly hearty and stayed with me for quite a while. I think I had other food with it initially, but I ate the leftovers by themselves and they made several great meals. The cheese added a great flavor (and saltiness, because sometimes vegetable soups can be very bland), but the cauliflower itself was the star. [Read more…]
Guys, I was REEEEEEALLY skeptical about this one.
Unlike many people, crockpots actually scare me. I’m on board with soups and chili, but pretty much everything else I’ve ever made in a crock pot has turned out burned, dry, soggy, or otherwise not very good. It’s like I’m incapable of mastering it. But I needed a make-ahead breakfast option for my “breakfast day” at work, so the crockpot was really my only option. And guess what? It turned out surprisingly great!
The final result wasn’t *pretty*, mind you, but it was very flavorful, not dry at all, and got a thumbs-up from my co-workers. Plus, the assembly the night before was quick and painless—cooking the bacon was the most involved piece, everything else was just layering. [Read more…]
Sometimes I forget how awesome and easy frittatas are. Sure, they take slightly longer than scrambled eggs or an omelette, but the end result is also so much better. Plus there are leftovers. Do you have leftovers from scrambled eggs? (If so, ew.)
This frittata was even better than I’d imagined—the salty tanginess of the goat cheese, the sweet firmness of the sweet potatoes, the flash of green onion and the fragrant pop of the rosemary just all combined for an amazing flavor.
Most frittatas only take about 20 minutes. This one took slightly longer because the sweet potatoes need a little longer to cook than other things I’ve used (shallots, zucchini, etc.), but it also made an even more delightful crust.
[Read more…]
My last night at home for Thanksgiving, it was just me and my mom since my dad had to head out of town for work. It had been cold and windy all day, typical Kansas November, and we’d been out running errands most of the day. When we got home, all we wanted was something warm and hearty, a glass of wine, and maybe some White Collar on Netflix.
My mom had picked up some truffle cheese, knowing how much I love truffles. So I decided to make another loaf of the amazing rosemary and olive oil bread I’d tried a couple days earlier and make grilled cheese sandwiches. Of course, we needed some kind of soup to go with it. So I did some searching and found this delicious, slightly-sweet and hearty soup as the perfect flavor pairing.
One thing I loved about this soup recipe was that it didn’t call for heavy cream, so it was a little healthier than many similar recipes. I also loved that you could make this in a normal amount of time instead of cooking it in a crockpot for several hours—I can’t always think ahead that much!
This looks like a perfect winter evening. [Read more…]
finding time for cooking 