I’ve had quite a scornful relationship with scones. In my childhood, my family would always by them at the State Fair, cost a small fortune, and usually consisted of generic jam stuffed into big hunk of dry bread like substance. Everybody praised them as being awesome while I would mistakenly give them a try (again) and finding myself hacking up crumbs that got stuck in my throat. Yuck. But then I got to thinking. I like tea. Scones are supposed to go great with tea. Maybe I was eating the wrong scones at the wrong time. Maaaaybe, if I added
Tag: cooking
Chocolate Pound Cake
from Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan This ain’t your grandmother’s pound cake. Or maybe it is if she’s French and uses chocolate. And if it IS your grandma’s recipe? You are one lucky grandchild. This pound cake isn’t so much a cake as it is some really good bread that happens to taste like chocolate. It’s not make-you-sick sweet, and it barely registers as dessert… but it satisfies my sweet tooth. I particularly like slicing into this while enjoying a cup of black tea! The two go perfectly together. Will I make this again? Absolutely! As a matter of fact,
Vegetable Stock
I bought myself a Breville pressure cooker which has officially become my pride and joy. It doubles as a slow cooker as well, and mind you, I was able to cook up the soup that’s going to get me through the winter. Period. You can mock me for posting this. It’s something that I’m sure is basic and everybody can do it, BUT words cannot explain how excited I was that I was able to make my own vegetable stock using a recipe from those cook booklets that come with gadget you just ordered. Yes. You read that correctly. I
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
THIS IS MY FAVORITE DISH EVER. Okay, maybe not ever, but it’s CURRENTLY my favorite dish ever. When I first saw this recipe I gave it so much side-eye, I’d thought I’d go blind. Butternut squash and a “healthier” version of Mac and cheese? Who even made this recipe? And why are you putting vegetables in my bowl of carbs and fat anyway?! BUT, I sighed, and got to cooking because trying new things means also allowing some questionable things into my cooking. Which, if you haven’t caught on yet, I have ZERO regrets mixing my cheese with some squash.
Punitions
from Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan Punitions, or “Punishments” in English, is a butter cookie which lends itself well to different topping. According to Dorie Greenspan and her research, this cookie gained i’s name through grandmothers wheedling children by telling them to take their punishment and giving them a cookie. Cute, eh? That was SO not my childhood. And like any sane person on hearing the title of the cookie, my boyfriend said, “Are you sure you want to make those? They sound… ominous.” But I went THERE. I made them. And you know what? They tasted like hella good
Ground Bison Taco Salad
My man has a heritage straight out of Mexico. So anytime I make a recipe that is strongly influenced by flavors from south of the border, he gets pretty hyped. So you kinda know that when I said I was making ground bison taco salad, that he got pumped. And the recipe used brought the FLAVOR with cumin, paprika, chili powder, and some good old fashioned salt and pepper. It also was great to switch things up and use bison, which proved to be fun to try but really, you could make this with ground beef and be golden. But
Almond Orange Panna Cotta
I felt so elegant whipping up this Panna Cotta. That is until I screwed up one of the steps and then hastily tried to readjust the amount of gelatin that ended up in the pot, but whatevs. It sounds posh. I made Panna Cotta. AND it was an almond orange flavor. So there. This was quite the delicate little treat. You got the undercurrents of orange and almond, rather than having it be in your face. The texture was a wee bit thicker than pudding. I felt like someone with too much money and not enough good sense to get
Roast Beef with Shallots
I am not allowed to forget this recipe. Ever. The boyfriend LOVES it. If I ask if he wants me to make a special meal for him, it often includes this. But the first time I made it? He was full of suspicion saying things like, “Are you rubbing mustard on that roast beef? I mean, I don’t know about that…” He also warned me that he didn’t like horseradish cream and would have a taste of the shallots as a courtesy. I told him it was okay. We were trying something new and I’d probably throw it out after
Maple Cinnamon Oatmeal
from the Vegan Cookbook for Beginners When I was a wee one, I quite enjoyed a spot of oatmeal. Never healthy oatmeal since I doused it in brown sugar and added a pat of butter to help it go down. Regardless though, it was a former favorite of min I recently rediscovered this “old love”. Honestly, I’m no longer as psyched about oatmeal as my younger self but I also no longer add a hunk of butter. Sacrifices will kill a dish if you let them. However, I was perusing a cookbook, Vegan Cookbook for Beginners, and quite liked the
Blueberry and Mint Smoothie
Blueberry and Mint Smoothie from The Vegan Cookbook for Beginners Since joining Barre class I figured I should be eating healthier but that is so much easier said than done. Of course I’m going to eat donuts and slather everything with butter then eat a piece of broccoli covered in Ranch and congratulate myself on my healthy eating choice. Which is why I decided to buy a vegan cookbook. I have zero intentions of actually becoming a vegan. I just figure if I make the recipes in this book, they’ll be devoid of bacon and ice cream, two things which are