food recipes
October 28, 2009

Banana Cupcakes

One of the challenges I face in baking is following familiar recipes and having my youngest son, Reed, be unable to share them. He has a slew of food allergies- including wheat, eggs, and soy. He recently turned 2 and so I took to trying to find either a vegan recipe that I could adapt to being gluten-free (since vegan means no egg) or find a recipe that used all the allergens and adapting. I wound up going the latter route, mostly because the vegan recipes called for a lot of ingredients that he hadn’t tried before- whereas a substitution…

food
September 16, 2009

Sometimes, things just go wrong.

I will not pretend to be perfect in the kitchen. I have burnt bread, made rubbery shrimp, and have a tendency to get powdered sugar all over the kitchen. I made a cheesecake just last week and when turning on my mixer, wound up splashing the filling all over my kitchen table and onto my husband’s jacket which I thought might be out of the splash zone. But yesterday, takes the cake. Without even thinking about the oven, I turned it on so that I could make white chocolate chip cookies. I quickly whipped up the cookie dough and started…

food recipes
September 15, 2009

The Easiest Sauce You’ve Never Made

I am a fan of quick and easy meals from scratch. I think it’s genetic. My mom, the queen of Chopped style cuisine (“What can I make for dinner using a can of tomatoes, a can of black beans and some pasta?”), is as well. Okay, it probably isn’t genetic- but I know that since we were/are both stay at home moms, you run into situations where it’s suddenly lunchtime, you’re starving and don’t have the time to make something elaborate. But it doesn’t mean you have to skimp on flavor. I’ve mastered the quick tomato sauce, which has a…

food recipes
September 9, 2009

Recipe: Homemade potato chips!

One of my favorite ingredients to use is the potato. I’ll have them mashed, french fried, turned into potato chips. They’re just wonderfully versatile, and typically quick to prepare! Now, I’ve come to realize that people are divided into two types of snackers. Those who crave sweet foods and those who crave salty foods. I fall squarely into the latter category, and will eat just about anything that’s been fried. Recently I’ve started frying things on my own. For a family party last month I made onion rings, and had said that potato chips were next on my list. I…

personal
August 28, 2009

Trip Report: Las Vegas Days 2-4

Morning. Las Vegas at 7:30 in the morning is a strange thing. I woke when there was enough light to illuminate our room- even though we’re facing the west. It’s one of those unfortunate quirks, that reminds me that even though I proclaim I’m not: I am more of a morning person than a night person. Ronnie sleeps in the giant sized bed. It is large enough that even with my tossing and turning and his tossing and turning, neither of us woke the other. So I find myself, just as I did yesterday after our nap, looking out the…

personal
August 22, 2009

Trip Report: Vegas, Day One

Roadtrips are wonderful, especially road trips to Las Vegas. The first time we (Ronnie and I) went, it was just a couple weeks shy of my 21st birthday. (I’d been to Las Vegas a couple times with my family, but you have to admit, Las Vegas as a kid is an entirely different experience) At the time, we were working at Disneyland and going to school. January was (and still is) the slowest month at the Park. After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, everyone stays home. Consequently, there aren’t many shifts during the week. January was still part…

food main course recipes
August 13, 2009

Oven Fried Chicken

Years ago, my husband and I had made the conscious decision to get DSL rather than pay for cable service. So we sat, for hours on end, adjusting our antenna to make sure that the broadcast stations came through loud and clear. Then, years later, we realized we were doing well enough to afford cable (and a precious DVR). Finally, I would have what I’d been longing for. The Food Network. (To imagine my excitement, you have to hear a heavenly choir of angels singing every time you say it- The Food Network) In the years that have followed, it’s…

food recipes
August 11, 2009

Pan-fried Crostini w/ Bruschetta

Recipe time! After seeing the movie- I prepared the first meal that we see Julie Powell make (pre-Project, for those wondering). Bruschetta with a pan-fried bread. It’s quite a simple recipe (I made it in practically no time at all- even after I accidentally burnt the first batch of bread) Bruschetta ala Julie and Julia from The Hungry Novelist Ingredients For the crostini: French bread (the wider loaf, not a thin baguette- though if you’re doing a party, those are great, too) Olive oil One clove of garlic For the bruschetta: Tomatoes (good quality) Fresh Basil Olive oil Salt &…

food recipes reviews
August 11, 2009

Review: Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia, Nora Ephron’s latest movie, is actually the story of three separate books. Combining Julia Child’s memoir “My Life in Paris” with Julie Powell’s memoir “Julie & Julia,” the story cuts back and forth between the two women’s lives. Critics have said that the film lacked a uniting thread, since the two women never meet. But it’s right there, in all it’s glory- Julia Child (and Simone Beck)’s own opus, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Even before Julia becomes involved in creating it, the book is there. We know that she’ll write it, and we know that…

desserts food recipes
August 10, 2009

Recipe: Lucy's Lemon Squares

Source: Peanuts Cookbook I looked forward to summer for these. I never quite believed my mom that these were easy to make- simply because they tasted so darn good! My family has always loved lemon (my Grandmother has a “famous” lemon meringue recipe that we’ve all tried, and failed, to duplicate).  So it was extremely lucky that my husband loves lemons are well.  I was trying to decide what to bake one day, and his request was “something with lemons.”  Knowing how tricky meringue can be to pull off in the middle of a hot summer, I turned to these…