- Used cod
- Substituted apple cider vinegar for the distilled white vinegar
- Had cabbage from another dish and red apples so used those
- Made fries in our Instant Pot air fryer
A personal cooking journal without any sort of lengthy, flowery descriptions
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Recipe: Crispy Oven-Baked-Fish Wraps
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Recipe: Mushroom-Poblano Frittata
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Recipe: Marinated Tofu with Brussels Sprouts and Farro
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Recipe: Sausage and Cheese Manicotti
- Added a garlic clove
- Used mild bulk sausage (instead of links) and added fennel
- Regarding the Italian tomatoes with basil -- a guy in the grocery store said that Cento brand often has basil in its canned tomatoes even if it's not noted, and sure enough, basil is listed on their ingredients list on the can I bought
- Cooked the sausage in the red sauce instead of mixing with the ricotta
- Used a piping bag to pipe the filling into the manicotti
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Recipe: Instant Pot Chipotle Chile Corn Chowder
I was looking for a recipe to make in my new Instant Pot, but we ended up making this in our Dutch oven (pot) on the stove. Really easy to make -- with great flavor. Can't go wrong with potato, cheese, cilantro, green onions and bacon if those are ingredients you like. It was similar to a loaded potato but in soup form. I loved the texture of it and understand why they call this a chowder because of the texture from the corn.
Ingredients: bacon, sweet onion, garlic, corn kernels, russet potato, chipotle chiles in adobo, cilantro, sharp cheddar cheese, green onions, whole milk, chicken broth, Kosher salt, black pepper
Tips:
- Used frozen corn
- Could use 2x the amount of potatoes next time for a thicker chowder
Sunday, February 14, 2021
Recipe: Crispy Cauliflower Tinga Tacos with Honey Lime Avocado Crema
- The corn tortillas wouldn't fold over very well and turned out a bit chewy; use crispy taco shells instead next time
- Cut the cauliflower into small pieces
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Recipe: Spiced Crumbled-Tofu Bowl
- Make sure to add enough salt (we used Maldon sea salt to taste at the table)
- Used lettuce instead of cabbage
- For the photo, I forgot to add the queso fresco
Sunday, February 7, 2021
Recipe: One Pot Spicy Alla Vodka Pizza Pasta
- Used 1/4 cup vodka and 1/4 cup broth
- Used spicy Italian sausage (not chicken sausage that it called for)
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
Recipe: One Skillet Cheesy Cuban Chicken Rice Bake
- Turn on the oven when the chicken goes in the skillet.
- Mix in the black beans about 4 min before the rice is done.
- Add ham to the dish!!!
- Add more dill pickles on top when serving.
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Slow-baked Salmon with Lemon and Thyme
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Chive Pesto
- Made 1/6 of the pesto recipe since we were limited on the amount of chives on hand
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Recipe: Steak and French Fry Salad with Blue Cheese Butter + Poached Eggs
- Really no need to make the blue cheese butter for the steak -- just use blue cheese crumbles in the salad
- As mentioned above, I liked the hot chili oil and ginger dressing but blog contributor the grandcruman wasn't a fan and said he would just use balsamic dressing next time
- Didn't add the poached egg but would be a nice touch
- If making the compound butter, make 1/8 of it
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Recipe: Brown Butter Corn and Feta Orzo with Crispy Prosciutto
- Bake the prosciutto so it's super crispy
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Recipe: Smoked Gouda Enchiladas
- Doubled the recipe which made about 14 enchiladas (10 flour, 4 corn -- used large and small Pyrex dish).
- Used sauteed diced chicken.
- The recipe doesn't say when to add the chili powder so added it with the cumin.
- We always top our enchiladas with a "salad" -- lettuce, tomato, cilantro, avocado and sometimes radish.
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Recipe: Healthier Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Vegetable Soup
- Recommend using cream instead of milk.
- Blog contributor the grandcruman thought that the fresh-bought tortellini got too gummy so watch that or we may try different tortellini next time.
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Recipe: Crispy Skillet Latke with Kale
- Used the food processor grater instead of a box grater
- Added another egg since we had a bit more potato than what was called for
- Used sour cream instead of creme fraiche since we had sour cream on hand
Sunday, January 3, 2021
Recipe: Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
- I like the hint of coconut from the oil but wonder how butter would work instead
- Didn't use the almond extract which is optional but will next time
- Leave out the toasted sliced almonds to make it lower calorie
- Half a batch made 11 cookies
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Drink Recipe: Paris Between the Wars
Recipe: Quinoa Grain Bowl with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Chile-Marinated Tofu, Kale and Lemony Tahini-Miso
- Sauteed the kale a little bit
- Left out the sunflower seeds and celery leaves
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Recipe: Pizzettes
- For our oven, we baked these for approx. 11 minutes (5 min + 6 min)
- Because the cookies were on the softer side, we didn't dip them into the glaze but instead, poured the glaze on top
Recipe: Cauliflower and Cheese with Spicy Breadcrumbs
We had this wonderful side dish with steak and the Charred Focaccia and Steak Salad (without the steak in the salad). The flavors were so unique -- I'd not had a dish like this with flavors of smoked paprika, chipotle chili, gouda, cheddar, thyme, oregano and prosciutto. We loved it and will definitely be making it again. It's not a hard dish to make at all...and is relatively quick!
Ingredients: cauliflower, ciabatta or sourdough bread, prosciutto, smoked paprika, oregano, red pepper flakes, salted butter, flour, whole milk, cheddar cheese, gouda cheese, thyme, chipotle chili powder, onion powder, extra virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, pepper
Tips:
- The cauliflower head was more than 3 cups -- maybe 5 cups. I made 1.5x the amount of cheese sauce which actually wasn't needed in the end.
- Used panko breadcrumbs and toasted it on the side in a pan with the extra virgin olive oil, oregano and salt
- The prosciutto didn't crumble (didn't want to overcook/bake it) so chopped it up
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Recipe: Pretzel and Potato Chip Moon Pies
Ingredients: pretzels, potato chips, marshmallows, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coconut oil, flour, sugar, unsalted butter, Kosher salt, Pretzel salt or flaky sea salt
Tips
- Don't wait for the cookies to turn golden brown (which means they're overdone)
- Don't use organic marshmallows as I don't think they melted as well. May make my own marshmallows!
- Instead of coconut oil, make a ganache or glaze with oil so the the chocolate actually hardens.
Recipe: Tofu with Rice and Miso-Maple Dressing
- Make about 60% of the marinade. There was a lot of extra marinade that became a little bit gelatinous.
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Recipe: 30 Minutes Coq Au Vin Chicken Meatballs
- Because I was craving polenta, we made polenta instead of mashed potatoes; we'll do mashed potatoes next time.
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Recipe: Smoky Potato and Kale Soup
Recipe: Pork-and-Brisket Chili
- Cut the boneless pork shoulder into 3/4" pieces instead 1.5" inches
- Used 2 yellow onions instead of 3
- Used 5 garlic gloves instead of 10
- Add crushed red pepper if the green Hatch chiles are mild
- When making the beans, cook for 1.5 hours instead of 1 hour
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Recipe: Pesto Chicken Caesar Salad with Tomatoes and Burrata
This salad was good, not amazing compared to some others we've made. However, it's pretty fast to make and uses up pesto (which we usually have on hand) and has burrata as the cheese (one of our favorites!). The dressing tastes almost like a Caeser dressing but without the umami that comes from anchovies.
Salad Ingredients: chicken breasts, basil pesto, ciabatta bread, romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, burrata cheese, garlic, red pepper flakes, extra virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, black pepper, fresh herbs like chives, thyme and basil
Parmesan Tahini Dressing: tahini, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, grated Parmesan, lemon, extra virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, pepper
Recipe: Picadillo
- Used less salt -- instead of 1 Tbsp, use about 5/8 of a Tbsp.
- Broiled the poblanos so we could easily remove the skin.
- Added jalapenos!
- Need to add red pepper next time for a little heat.
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Recipe: Alsatian Potato Pie
- Instead of pouring the cream mixture into the pie vents into the funnel, next time we're going to layer the cream on top before the final layer of puff pastry.
- Really nice with a Chardonnay.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Recipe: Tater Tot Egg Bake with Bitter Greens Salad
Sunday, December 6, 2020
Recipe: Chipotle Shrimp Cobb Salad with Jalapeno Corn Vinaigrette
- Forgot to add peaches but don't think it needs that added ingredient.
- Replaced the shrimp with corn.
- Made farro and basically built the salad on top of the farro to make it a hearty one-dish meal.
- I prefer soft boiled or over-easy eggs so made an over-easy egg instead of hard-boiled.
- Didn't blend the dressing.
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Recipe: Molten Chocolate Crackle Pie
- We used Frangelico for our liquor.
- Definitely make the Hazelnut Whipped Cream! It's a nice balance to the richness of the pie.
- Make sure to let the pie cool; otherwise, it'll be a molten mess when you serve it, and you won't get the texture of the chocolate chunks.
- Half Baked Harvest's recipe didn't have instructions on how to best braid the pie crust so I got the help of blog contributor the grandcruman who has watched many a British Baking Show episodes who was able to help me.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Recipe: Butternut Squash & Fettuccine Alfredo
- Made fresh pasta
- Added some red pepper
- Used a combination of butternut squash spirals and butternut squash cubes -- will use just the spirals next time and will double the amount
- Will add a clove of garlic next time
30 Minute Spicy Sesame Noodles with Ginger Chicken
- Double the amount of kale
- Used marcona almonds instead of peanuts
- Used Rotisserie chicken instead of ground chicken
- Used 1/2 shiitake and 1/2 baby bella mushrooms
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Recipe: Steve's Layered Cornbread
- Used vegetable oil instead of corn oil
- Used fine white cornmeal instead of fine yellow cornmeal
- Used Rotisserie shredded chicken
- Used sharp cheddar cheese
- The cilantro didn't impart much flavor in the cornbread but it's nice to include for color
- The pickled jalapenos added a spicy, flavor (a wow!) to the dish. Only used 1/4 c (or less!) and chopped them up
- Didn't think it needed salsa served on the side
Sunday, November 8, 2020
Recipe: Tomato and Roasted Garlic Pie
- This used quite a bit of thyme, more than I thought would be needed
- It took a full 60 min to bake
- We didn't let it cool ~ so the cheese was really gooey; curious to see how leftovers will be
- Don't think the extra butter brushed on top of the tomatoes was necessary
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Recipe: Vegetarian Enchiladas Suizas
- Make double the recipe so you have leftovers which are so good
- Broiled the poblano
- Added cumin and chili powder to give more flavor
- Used Central Market's Hatch Green Salsa
- Used a mix of corn and flour tortillas
- Added black beans on the top
- Rolled enchiladas instead of layering the tortillas and vegetables
Sunday, November 1, 2020
Recipe: Barbecue Chicken Pizzas
- We made 2 pizzas using Tyler Florence's pizza dough recipe (that we've made many times)
- Sauteed chicken to put on top vs. using it as the base of the pizza
- Used smoked cheddar and mozzarella - YUM!
- Didn't put pickles on top
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Recipe: Enfrijoladas
- Need to use less than 1/2 of the liquid (chicken broth) -- the beans were a little too liquidy
- Add cumin and chipotle chile for some oomph a
- Add shredded lettuce on top
- Could also add radish next time
- The tortillas were hard to cut while eating, and they took a bit of time to crisp. Could use tostadas or chips next time so the dish is like nachos!
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Recipe: Hobo Pack Bibimbap
- Cook the spinach separately. It wilted much too much.
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Recipe: Summer Vegetable and Burrata Salad
- Make sure to let the corn cool so it doesn't wilt the greens