Early this morning, I came across a recipe for pancakes that had just three ingredients: banana, oats, and eggs. Whaaaaaaaaatttt you can do that?! Make pancakes with just bananas, oats, and eggs?! Noooo wayyy!!
Yes way. I know. Mind. BLOWN.
I have always loved quiches, and I don’t know what took me so long to make one. I guess I frequently see my pie and tart pans as vehicles for dessert, so quiches didn’t really come to mind until more recently, when we had a lovely brunch with the girls. One of the ladies brought a quiche, and I was enamored. After that, it still took me a while to re-remember that I wanted to make a quiche, but a frozen bag of kale from Trader Joe’s did the trick. Isn’t kale supposed to be a superfood? I had never cooked with it, but I had a kale salad once at Whole Foods that I wasn’t too crazy about. Well, nothing can taste too bad if it’s buried under a pile of cheese, cream, bacon, and eggs, right? Then again, there’s probably no food healthy enough to make up for all that junk too… but hey, this is no health blog. It’s goodeats. Consume at your own risk!
Look at that skin. Just look at it.
It is as crackly-salty-tasty as it looks. And the vegetables…oh, the vegetables. As juicy and tender as the chicken comes out, sometimes I find myself looking forward to the veggies even more than the meat! There is nothing better on a winter night than this juicy, whole-roasted chicken with salty, crackly skin on a bed of root vegetables sopping with chicken juice.
Gateau Au Chocolat Fondant de Nathalie Recipe
It was 4:55 and I was expecting my family over at 5:30 for my mom’s birthday dinner. Thirty-five minutes. I bit my lip and skimmed the recipe again. It looked totally doable, but my own “mommy-brain” had also been causing me to make a number of mishaps in the kitchen lately, and I couldn’t afford that with just 35 minutes on the clock. I deliberated for about ten more seconds, then remembered how much we always enjoyed chocolate cakes for Mom’s birthday in years past. Today needed that little bit of birthday special, and I would bring it. So I set to action, taking every shortcut I could think to take (on an already-simple recipe) and hoped for the best.
The Best Lemon Bars Ever. At least, that’s what a lot of people tell me when they eat this lemon bar. If there’s any one recipe I get asked for the most, it’s this one. It’s hard to resist the crumbly, buttery crust layer against the tartness of the lemon.
The Secret to Cooking Crispy Bacon
How fitting, that my first savory post should be about the most savory of them all: bacon. Even the word should get your mouth watering in a way that no dessert ever could. I have been in pursuit of the ultimate bacon-crisping technique for years now. I have pan-fried my bacon. I have baked my bacon, aluminum foil rack and all (which is useful if you’re feeding a crowd). I have even microwaved my bacon, which is okay if you’re in a hurry. However, none of these techniques have yielded the crispy, crunchy, intensely salty bite that I crave.
Until now.
Fruit tarts seem to be the one dessert that everyone can agree on– even self-proclaimed “not a dessert person”-people, so it’s always a safe bet. The beautiful fruit patterns also make a bright splash on the dining table, so I like to think it adds to the festivity and decor of the celebration as well.
There are a gazillion recipes for fruit tart out there, which basically consist of a crust, filling, fruit, and glaze. My main gripe with most fruit tart recipes has always been the bother of chilling, then rolling out a crust. I have finally found a crust that skips those finicky steps and gets right to business. Below is my version of this much-loved dessert!
Two Christmases ago, my mother in law gave us a huge tin of Starbucks Hot Cocoa Mix. I’m picky about my hot cocoa, and get especially snobby when people think hot chocolate mix and hot cocoa are the same thing. They. Are. Not. The packets you find near the hot water dispenser at summer camp are way too sweet, and they can be mixed into water. They serve their purpose in warming you up a degree or two during chilly campfire sharings that go late into the night, but… that’s about it. My cup of hot cocoa is one that is mixed into hot milk, offering a warm-you-to-your-toes balance of creamy dark chocolate goodness and just a hint of sweet.
One of the highlights of attending UC Berkeley was the easy access to inexpensive good eats. One such place was Raleighs, on Telegraph. The first time I ate there, a friend ordered a huge hunk of mud pie. While it looked tantalizing (ice cream and Oreos– what’s not to like?), my first thought was, I could make that for a fraction of the cost! So… I did. The next day, I pieced together four simple ingredients and wowed my friends. It was just as easy as I had hoped, and it was one of the first recipes I created and shared (on Xanga, if you’re old enough to know what that is!). A crowd-pleaser with just four ingredients and a practically no-fail guarantee– what more could you ask for?
So you’ve already got the spatula, the whisk, and a few mixing bowls. What’s next? Ready to up your game? Here are the next 10 items I think would be most useful to add to your baking collection!