It is usually easier for me to bake bread from scratch than to buy it. I am often ridiculed when I say that. But with this statement, I obviously do not mean that handing a cashier a loaf of bread and a credit card is really difficult, and kneading bread and waiting for it rise and bake take less time than swiping a credit card. What … [Read more...]
"Sunday Surprise is pretty much the best thing ever..." - AGA "Ohh my goodness, I LOVE that you're blogging about this!!" - JGL I have many things for which to thank my college roommate, JGL. Let's just breeze right by all of the non-blog-appropriate items ... scrolling ... scrolling ... scrolling ... and land on this. Land IN this? Don't … [Read more...]
I may not be Southern, but I know a delectable Southern dessert when I taste one. And that's what we have here. I was introduced to this deliciousness shortly after college, during a visit to E(H)A in Atlanta. At that time, I liked baking but had not at all yet hit my stride. E had kitchen skills that I attributed to her Southern DNA. It … [Read more...]
Breakfast Pizza. Let's go there. I was a little too excited to realize this is technically an "in-stock" recipe. I usually have all of the things needed to make this recipe in my apartment. Yessss.... For this particular photographed pizza, I used pizza dough from a little gourmet market, Centrolina Mercato. But fresh homemade pizza dough … [Read more...]
I love looking at Flatbread offerings at restaurants. Far from traditional pizza combinations like pepperoni or spinach, it seems that any three ingredients + a spread = a delicious $14 appetizer. Sometimes the ingredients obviously complement each other - caramelized onions and mushrooms with goat cheese; other combinations, like a recent … [Read more...]
Sometimes it's easier to make bread than to buy it. You may not agree with that statement. But fresh, hot bread out of your oven in about 40 minutes? With NO rise time? If you're not with me on that, I don't know if we can be friends. And you haven't tried Cheesy Beer Bread. I happened upon this recipe out of … [Read more...]
Avocado toast. It's all the rage. You have probably heard of it, and you might be wondering - what is this fancy dish that everyone is talking about? You like avocado, and you like toast. But surely, there must be more to this game? Nah. You pretty much have the hang of it already. You can add some lemon juice to the avocado for a little tang … [Read more...]
There are some recipes I make that I can't wait to post. This is one of them. This Smoked Salmon & Herbed Cream Cheese Focaccia is dynamite. The mechanics that go in to a blog post are that I have to: 1) decide on a dish or recipe, 2) gather the ingredients, 3) cook it, 4) photograph it (in natural daylight), 5) edit the pictures, and 6) … [Read more...]
This week, we had a celebration at work in honor of a significant milestone for my supervisor: 25 years of federal service. 25 years! Oh no. I just realized I'm only a few months shy of half-way to 25 years. WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED. Ack. Composure regained. Any-way, I organized a brunch at work on Monday for this event. And want to know what's … [Read more...]
People often ask me how to get their kids started in the kitchen. In my opinion, baking is fun for kids because the whole is so different - and so much more delicious - than the sum of its parts. Think of baking as an arts and crafts project, made with items you have in your pantry, that you get to EAT, rather than figure out how to display for a … [Read more...]
