Fried Heirloom Tomato Salad

More fun with heirloom tomatoes! Hearty enough to fry into a tasty topper for a bed of arugula. Drizzled with a creamy balsamic dressing, this made for a salad so good that my boyfriend (who’s preference is pretty much an all-carb diet) chose it over gnocchi. Guessipe 1/4 cup parmesan 1/8 cup cornmeal 1/8 cup…

Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks

My cheese benefactor came through again – this time with a giant block of low-moisture mozzarella. And I mean giant. As in, so big that there was no way I was going to get through it before it went bad. So I had to come up with something, because I don’t let food go to…

Apple Olive Oil Bundt Cake

My friend who gave me the bundt pan started asking when he’d be getting another bundt cake. I’ve had an itch in my brain about olive oil cake ever since I had an amazing one at Osteria Mozza, and that was years ago! It was finally time to try my hand at making one. I…

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownie Cake

I wanted to make a cake for my boyfriend’s birthday, but as you might know I’m on Team Pie, so I wasn’t excited to make a typical birthday cake. What I came up with is actually a giant brownie pretending to be a cake… shhh, don’t tell my boyfriend because he loved it! It’s rich…

Fried Mac N Cheese Bites

When I home-make mac n cheese, it’s always a big pot that makes for lots of yummy leftovers. Inspired by my success with using leftover risotto to make arancini, I decided a similar thing could be done to make fried mac n cheese bites. I had made such a big pot of mac n cheese…

Mini Amaretto Cakes with Blood Orange Topping

After my Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Blood Orange Topping was such a hit, I found myself constantly thinking about how the amaretto made that topping shine. And it occurred to me that I could really showcase the amaretto flavor by using the blood orange topping on amaretto cake. I’d also been trying to come up…

Lemon Buttermilk Bundt Cake

My friend gifted me a bundt pan on the condition that he would get some bundt cake desserts at future dinner parties. I think he made that stipulation because he knows I’m on Team Pie. But I’m always excited to use a new kitchen thingamabob, so I set out to figure out bundt cakes. This…

Arancini

I made the Sausage Risotto with Balsamic-Roasted Shallots from the Back Pocket Pasta cookbook. First, let me say that it is INSANELY good. But it makes a pretty large portion, so I had quite a bit leftover even though my boyfriend went to town on it. So I made Arancini (Italian rice balls). I wouldn’t…

Lavender Lemon Cookies

So far my adventures in cooking with lavender have been successful, so I’m gonna keep going. I recently had some lemon cookies at a party, and as I was eating them couldn’t help thinking a lavender lemon cookie could be a treat. It is! Guessipe 1 stick butter 1 cup lavender sugar 1 TBSP lemon…

Lavender Madeleines

Now that I have lavender sugar, my first experiment in using it was these Lavender Madeleines, which I have to say turned out great. I have had this worm in the back of my mind about making madeleines ever since I watched the movie The Transporter (yes, Jason Statham is one of my guilty pleasures…

Apple-Cinnamon Cereal Snickerdoodles

Cookbook Club – Holiday Cookie Swap As a bonus Cookbook Club event, we did a holiday cookie swap where each person chose a recipe from either BraveTart, The Cookie Collection, or Dorie’s Cookies. Then we all got together and swapped cookies, so you went with one batch of cookies and came home with a variety…

Quince Custard

A friend of mine gave me some quince, which are in the pear and apple family but aren’t eaten raw. I baked them into a custard which my boyfriend liked so much he said it was the best dessert I’ve ever made (though I should make the disclaimer that he has a really short memory…