Potatoes are amazing; have you ever met a more versatile vegetable?
I made these as a breakfast potato along with some scrambled eggs and french toast. By the time they were cooked, everyone was stuffed, but that didn’t stop them from eating all of the potatoes. The moral of the story? these take a long time to cook, like potatoes do, but they’re absolutely delicious once they’re cooked!
Out of hundreds of wineries in the Napa Valley, there are only two kosher ones. We had the pleasure of visiting one, HaGafen Cellars, on our recent trip to California. There were two groups there besides us (people who didn’t even know what kosher wine meant) all getting tastings of their delicious wine.
I had too many pears this week, and I just couldn’t figure out what to do with them. Then I remembered that I had some pie crust in the freezer and decided to make Ina Garten’s apple tart. I made a few changes, the most noticeable one the fruit I used, but I also realized that the recipe for tart dough was not hers, but the one from The Art and Soul of Baking. It was kind of crumbly (maybe because it was pareve), but still tasted great. Next time I’ll try Ina’s. Continue reading
Jessica bought a pasta roller attachment for her KitchenAid! So obviously we both wanted to use it right away. It was great to have two people to feed the dough into the machine and catch it as it came out (and take pictures of the process!) but you can do it alone, too! The machine is doing most of the work.
We used Tyler Florence’s recipe for pasta dough. He uses it to make ravioli, but works just as well for spaghetti and fettuccine. The recipe makes a pound of pasta, so if you want less, half it. Or learn how to dry and preserve it by making a nest. I’m still working on that skill.
When Ricky gave me a package of phyllo dough that he had defrosted and forgot to use, I brought it over to my sister’s house so we could make baklava together.
Garlic knots, the delicious pizza store treats, are really easy to make at home. You can either make your own pizza dough or use store-bought. Either way, if you know how to make a knot, you can whip these up in no time. If you’re having dinner guests, this is a good way to impress them. Everyone likes dinner rolls, especially if they’re brushed with garlic and oil. Continue reading
I had to use up the leftover cauliflower from the Italian Style Cauliflower last week, but I wanted a recipe that was completely different. Too much of that white vegetable is boring! The first step? Make it in the oven instead of the stove. Oh, and I just got a steamer basket, so I wanted to use that too. If you like creamy foods, you’ll love this! It’s pretty much mac and cheese with cauliflower instead of pasta. It would probably be delicious with an assortment of vegetables, or with purple cauliflower and pasta together (again, too much white bores me).
Every year we make the same hamentaschen recipe. Not because it’s the only one we know, but because it’s really the best. I can’t say I know where this recipe came from, all I know is that it has been photocopied many times, and the instructions are cut off on the side of the page. We’ve been able to figure out what to do. Oh, and the original recipe calls for margarine – yuck! We use butter instead. Continue reading
I have never cooked cauliflower before. I didn’t even know if I liked it when it wasn’t breaded and fried. Turns out I do.
When I got the Williams-Sonoma Bride and Groom Cookbook and flipped through the pages, I knew I had to try their recipe for cauliflower. It seemed really easy and I already had most of the ingredients in my kitchen. I picked up a head of cauliflower on my way home from work and in a half hour, this dish was ready. Continue reading
If you grew up in the Blanco household and it was a Monday night, you would know what you were having for dinner: spaghetti & meatballs, of course! Now, I don’t actually remember the last time all six of us actually sat down on a Monday night and ate spaghetti & meatballs, but I know we all remember that’s what we’re supposed to eat.
Well, mom’s recipe for meatballs is exactly what a meatball sounds like; ground beef shaped into balls. I wanted to make mine a bit more sophisticated, so I took the advice of my Food Network friends (okay, maybe they don’t know who I am, but I feel like I know them so well!) and used two kinds of meat and some seasonings before cooking them slowly and for a looong time in garlic-y and wine-y tomato sauce.
