I’m not actually a huge fan of popcorn. But I am a huge fan of peanut butter. Such a huge fan, in fact, that peanut butter can make me crave popcorn. This recipe, specifically. I have been making this since I was a kid, when I found the recipe in Klutz Press’s Kids Cookbook (which I still own and use, by the way). It is easy and it is tasty, and if you’re looking for a good movie watching snack, this one is perfect.
Continue reading Peanut Butter Popcorn
I know you’re all amped up for Thanksgiving and turkey and mashed potatoes (especially the mashed potatoes) but that doesn’t mean you don’t still have to cook a few non-feast meals this week. And if you have a lot of family and friends in town for the holiday, you probably want something easy and cheap. That’s where this cornbread chili bake comes in. This dish is something we used to eat a lot when I was growing up, and I can’t believe I haven’t shared it here before. It’s wonderfully warming and super simple, and can easily feed six people. Mix up a little salad on the side and you’re good to go.
Continue reading Cornbread and Chili Bake
I’m sure most of you have your Thanksgiving menus set and grocery shopping done, but if you’re still looking for a few good sides to sit alongside the turkey this Thursday, might I offer a few suggestions?
Continue reading Thanksgiving Sides
Lately I’ve had quite a thing for meals I can portion out and freeze in little individual servings. This Turkey Manicotti is exactly that. I thought it was just as delicious defrosted and carried to work in a little plastic container as it was when I first made it. In fact, I thought maybe it was even better. Maybe the flavors had more time to develop and become one, though I’m not entirely sure that can actually happen in a freezer. Either way, this is an excellent meal to make on a weekend and freeze for those evenings when you just don’t want to cook or those mornings when you can’t find anything else in the cupboard to bring for lunch.
Continue reading Cheesy Turkey Manicotti
Crazy, but true: I have been writing this here blog for three years today. A lot has happened in three years, and not just in the kitchen. I know I’ve said it many times before, but it’s true: When I first started writing here, I really didn’t know much about cooking at all. I’d always enjoyed doing it, but my technique left much to be desired. My favorite meal was rice and beans from a box, and I was so freaked out about raw shrimp I didn’t look closely enough to see that they weren’t de-veined before cooking them. I thought baking bread from scratch was Little House on the Prairie stuff, and I didn’t have the first clue that broccoli has a season.
In celebration of three years of cooking and writing and taking pictures of food, and learning my way around an oven, I decided to splurge this week and bake this lovely Greek Celebration Bread, from Reinhardt’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, as my weekly breakfast loaf. And it does feel like a splurge from my usual plain, whole wheat loaf. This bread is fragrant and tender and rich and really freaking fabulous.
Continue reading Greek Celebration Bread
As I near the three year anniversary of this here bloggity blog, I’ve been reading back over old posts. And I’m kind of embarrassed to admit how frequently I wrote things like, “This recipe wasn’t perfect, but I will definitely try to improve on it and let you know how that goes.” I’m embarrassed because I almost never actually tried to improve those recipes. When I first started learning how to cook, I had a real aversion to repeating recipes, and if something wasn’t memorably awesome the first time around, the chances of it getting another go were pretty slim.
Well, now that I know a little more in the ways of the kitchen, I’m starting to get more curious about those initially not-so-exciting recipes, and I think I’m finally ready to try to improve on them. I’ve decided that it’s finally time to start making good on all those promises, and I’ve started with this: Pierogi with Browned Onion, Tomatoes, and Dill.
Continue reading Update! Pierogi with Tomato Dill Sauce
For someone who bakes her own bread pretty regularly, I haven’t experimented too much with different types of bread. I usually only eat bread once a day, for breakfast, with peanut butter, so I tended to think that my options were limited to plain sourdough or wheat. But I recently read a book by Joyce Carol Oates in which the main character begins learning how to bake bread. And she bakes all kinds of different loaves, full of fruits and nuts and flavors, and I was smitten. I decided it was time to branch out, to move away from sourdough and try something new. And I just happened to open one of my bread cookbooks to a recipe for Rustic Walnut Bread, and my decision was made.
Continue reading Rustic Walnut Bread
Yes, my friends, it is soup season again. I adore soup season, as you can probably tell from a quick glance through the archives of this site. Soup recipes abound. Soup is one of the easiest things to cook, and to experiment with—you can make delicious soup of of nearly anything. Most of the soup I make is vegetarian, if not vegan, so this particular soup is a bit different for me. I originally flagged it in the October 2007 issue of Bon Appetit, but just got around to make it a few weeks ago, on a chilly October day, when Mr. X was visiting. I figured he would appreciate a hearty, flavorful soup made with chorizo. And he did.
Continue reading Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup