Reconnecting with Old Friends: Raisin, Cheerio, Peanut Butter Delight

The other night I was flopping around the kitchen complaining that there was nothing to eat.
"Why is there nothing to eaaattttt?" I bellowed, looking at Kristin accusingly.
"I have to do the dishes. And clean the kitchen. And take out the trash. I do the best I can!" she whined right back at me.
"Do you? DO YOU?" I screamed. Then I relaxed and decided to eat peanut butter crackers.
"We don't have any crackers."
"What!? God dammit. Fine, peanut butter oyster crackers."
She looked at me with disgust. "Oyster crackers? That's weird. What about cheerios?"
"Peanut butter cheerios? That's weirder." But then memories started trickling back. It wasn't weird, it was perfect.

I took off a semester in college and spent a lot of time at Kristin's in Atlanta. For weeks at a time, I holed up in her haunted room watching Passions, reading and eating copious amounts of my special concoction of peanut butter, cheerios and raisins. I was too poor to afford anything else and I never got tired of it. I know the concoction followed me to my dorm in Tampa, but can't recall it making its way over the bridge with me to St. Pete. Somewhere along the way this great joy that was once in my life got lost.

And now it's back. I've eaten four bowls of it since last night. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I'll eat at least two more! Happiness here I come!

- Megan Leigh

Good Food: Outrageous Brownies

This time I tried the recipe for Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies.

Now some of you may know that recently I had my yearly physical, and I got a high blood sugar reading. I learned this in a letter from my doctor. A letter that appeared to have been written by a fourth grader whose favorite subject was not English. Pretty much all it said was to cut all sweets out of my diet for the next year. So I have been trying to eat less sugar until I figure out what is going on! Megan spent all day bullying me, though. Telling me to think about my public. Telling me I had to make something sweet so we would have something to blog about today. Finally she wore me down! So the new theme of this blog may be watching a diabetic slowly die from eating brownies. We shall see!

Anyway, the recipe turned out very well. I halved the recipe so it would fit in a standard cake pan. I also left out the instant coffee powder, because of my picky audience. The brownies turned out very rich and fudgy. Yum! Two thumbs up.

-Kristin

Good Food: Ravioli from Scratch

 We finally tried out our new pasta machine! We used the pasta recipe from the Williams Sonoma pasta cookbook, and the creamed ricotta, herb, and pinenut ravioli filling from Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef Takes Off. Ben was the one who actually made the ravioli. I thought it would take hours of toiling, but it really didn't take all that long! I was skeptical of the filling. I chose it because everybody could eat it (no meat), but how many bland cheese ravioli have you had in your life? I have had plenty. I thought they turned out spectacular though. Ben topped them with olive oil, parmesan, and toasted pinenuts... and this delicate topping really allowed the filling to shine. Delicious!

-Kristin

Christmas Eve Dinner: Pierogies

Everyone was posting on Facebook about their Christmas plans. My friend Caitlin posted she was having her usual Polish Christmas with pierogies and Polish sausage. I wrinkled my nose at the sausage but gave a big smile and nod to the pierogies. What a great Christmas tradition to start!

- Megan Leigh

We found a large variety of pierogies at Fairway, so we tried a few different kinds: Potato, Potato and Cheese, Potato and Spinach. Then we had to figure out toppings. Sour cream, of course. But Christmas Eve seemed like it required a little bit more. Ben thought pesto sounded good, so we added that to the list. Then I looked for ideas on the internet. My favorite idea there was fluffer nutter pierogies, but I didn't think that I could get everybody on board with that one. Somebody suggested bacon and sauteed onions, and that one did sound like a crowd pleaser. So that's what we had as toppings: pesto, sour cream, and bacon and onions. It was delicious, but very heavy! After we ate, everybody sat around groaning. I'm curious about how other people eat pierogies. Any special topping suggestions?

-Kristin

I made my own topping of sour cream and tomato sauce, heated and mixed on the stovetop so it makes a creamy sauce. I learned this, and about pierogies in general, from this great restaurant that existed in St. Pete when I first went down: Ovo. It's no longer there but it's legacy lives on in the Harper household!

- Megan Leigh

Christmas Eve: Holly Treats

Long ago, when I was maybe a third grader at Avery Elementary, I went to the Fall Festival. At the bake sale, somebody's mom had made these things that were sort of like rice krispie treats, but they looked like holly--little green leaves and red hot berries. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I've never really forgotten those treats, but it never occurred to me that--with Google--I could figure out how to make them myself!

Well, Christmas Eve was the perfect time to figure it out. We Googled some recipes, and then Megan (the marshmallow treat expert), cooked us up some holly treats. Now you can make these in the shape of leaf clusters, like so. But we were not feeling ambitious, so we just threw ours in a pan. I was still 100% happy with the result.

- Kristin

I on the other hand, was not super happy with these Krispy treats. I thought they were too sweet! They differed from the S'More Krispys in that they used a lot less cereal so there was a lot more sugar coating to go around on these ones. If you used more cereal they wouldn't have been coated green all the way. Here is the recipe:

1 package large marshmallows
1 stick of butter
6 cups of cornflakes
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 tsp green food coloring
some Christmas M&Ms

1) Melt butter and marshmallows on low heat
2) Mix in vanilla and food coloring 
3) Stir in the cornflakes
4) Pour in some M&Ms (as many as you want!)

This time I was supposed to wait to put in the M&Ms so they didn't melt and make the treats look... non appetizing. But I just couldn't wait for things to cool down. I started pouring in the M&Ms as Kristin yelled, "Not yet! Not yet! You said you would wait this time!" You can imagine how I laughed and laughed as I stirred the marshmallows into the hot cornflake mixture. But.... the M&Ms didn't melt. I got to have a good laugh and Kristin got her non-brown treats.

- Megan Leigh

Good Food: Triple Chocolate Cookies

Another attempt at super-chocolatey cookies! This time I tried to recreate one of my all time favorites: Grand Central Bakery's Triple-Chocolate Cookies. In The Grand Central Baking Book, there is a recipe for these cookies, but it really requires a stand mixer. Not all of us have a stand mixer, though! I have a feeling that if you have a stand mixer and follow the recipe exactly, the cookies will turn out just like at the bakery. However, I've made this recipe us poor/space-challenged folks can use with a handheld mixer. I thought it turned out very well. Yummy, and the taste was right on... I suspect the only difference is that these cookies didn't puff up quite as much as at Grand Central.

4 oz. (4 sq.) unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped into chunks
10 oz. (1 bag) Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
1 and 3/4 c. sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp coffee
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 c. chopped walnut pieces (optional)


1. Melt the unsweetened baking chocolate and dark chocolate chips in a metal bowl over a pan of boiling water. Make sure it doesn't burn!
2. Whip the eggs, sugar, and butter together in a big bowl. The mixture should be fluffy! Add the coffee and vanilla, and mix a little more.
3. Combine the dry ingredients, then dump them in the big bowl with the wet ingredients. Mix just long enough until the flour gets incorporated.
4. Add the melted chocolate mixture and mix just until the color of the batter is uniformly brown.
5. Stir in the semisweet chocolate chips. And the nuts if you like them.
6. Let the batter sit for 45 minutes. It will set up and become the consistency of normal cookie dough. You have got to believe!
7. Preheat the oven to 350 and bake on parchment paper-lined pans for about eight minutes. Drop the dough on the pan in heaping spoonfuls. The cookies will not look entirely done at eight minutes, but leave them on the pan for a few minutes and they will continue to cook. Then transfer them to a cooling rack until they aren't warm anymore. Our oven runs hot, so maybe they will take a little longer in yours. But don't let them burn whatever you do!

-Kristin

I didn't like these cookies so much. I ate them, but that's only because they contained chocolate and I was desperate. Whereas Kristin thought the taste was right on, I thought it was right off. I can't pinpoint what was so funny tasting, but they were. Time to continue the cookie search, I say.

- Megan Leigh

Rich. I didn't think they were terrible. It was just a lot of chocolate in a sweet little cookie. Something between this cookie and the last kind of cookie would be best--not a fluff ball, not a condensed chocolate substance.

- Ben

Good Food: Double Chocolate Cookies

So, working at Elliot's book fair last week I had a lot of time to browse through random books. I happened across one called "The Cake Mix Doctor." At first, I thought the premise was really lame. This lady writes a whole book of recipes that rely on spiffing up cake mixes so that you end up with a delicious cake. If you read this blog, you'll know that I have been struggling to bake good cakes from scratch. So this idea of starting with a cake mix seemed hideous to me. I mean, is it really so hard to just mix together some flour and baking powder and sugar? Why involve a cake mix in all this?

But then I thought more about it. My from-scratch cakes have all turned out terribly. Maybe I *should* be starting out with a cake mix, I thought, at least for now, because my cakes from mixes actually turn out much better than my cakes from scratch. Maybe I can learn some tricks and some day work up to making a cake from scratch. And the book was 50% off, so I bought it. Why not give it a try?

As it turns out, there is also a section in the back for cookie recipes. I LOVE double chocolate cookies. But I have never tried to make them myself before. I don't know why. They just seem magical, I guess. Well today I felt bold and decided to give my first double chocolate cookie recipe a try. This recipe is a variation on one I found in The Cake Mix Doctor Returns. I thought it was decent!

The key is to under bake the cookies. I found they were best when baked for eight minutes, although the recipe called for 10-12. I also think these cookies need additions to be good. I added chocolate chips and walnuts. I think the cookies would be very bland without them--they are sort of light and taste like a cake mix, so they need the richness of the chocolate chips and nuts.


1 package (18.25 oz) chocolate cake mix
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 stick butter, melted
about half a cup of chocolate chips (i used a mix of Nestle semi-sweet and Ghirardelli dark chocolate)
about half a cup of walnut pieces


1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Combine the cake mix, cream cheese, egg, vanilla, and butter in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, mix on low until the ingredients are just combined. Then mix on medium until the dough is thick and smooth. Note: This dough is really thick, so you probably really will want an electric mixer. I tried to do it by hand because I was too lazy to get out the mixer at first, but I gave up.
3. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts by hand.
4. Drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets (I cover mine in parchment paper).  Bake on the middle rack for about eight minutes for nice soft cookies. Note: You can cook a little longer for chewier cookies. Be careful and make sure they don't burn, though! Since the dough is so dark, it's a little difficult to tell when they are starting to become too done, and I burnt my first batch.

-Kristin

It was quite a nice surprise to come home to an empty house with bags and bags of these new chocolate cookies. No competition. I slowly ate away, enjoying every bite. I ate a lot of cookies tonight. They weren't the normal, doughy cookie we usually make. As Kristin said, much more cake like, but still very good (coming from one who hates cake).

I'm thinking next maybe we should attempt the delicious S'mores cookies we get from Westside Market?

- Megan Leigh

Good Food: Bogie Brownies

So these brownies are supposed to be Humphrey Bogart's favorites, and the recipe can be found on the Brownie Power website, which has great step-by-step instructions. These brownies are super easy to make, and my favorite thing about them is you can make them using only one pan--no extra bowls or anything! Compared to the last brownie recipe we tried, these brownies have lots and lots more butter, sugar, and eggs... all the rich stuff. And they are very bare-bones. Nothing extra! I think there may have been a typo in the instructions. It said to bake the brownies for 20-30 minutes at 300 F, which seemed very low... usually things are done way too early in our oven, but after 30 minutes the brownies weren't even close to done. Maybe they meant 375? Anyway, the brownies turned out pretty dry, but it may have been because they baked for a very long time at a weird temperature. They were also very cakey, rather than fudgy--they puffed up big time. If I made these again, I would bake them at a higher temperature. But I'm not sure I will, since there are so many good brownie recipes out there! Why fiddle around with one that isn't amazing?

Megan took this picture of the brownie. It's pretty awful. It might be the worst picture of food so far on this blog. We need to work on our photography skills!

-Kristin

There was certainly no fear of me yelling at the others in the house, "Quit Bogarting the brownies!"

- Megan Leigh

Good Food: Chocolate Chip Muffins

As you can see from the picture these muffins aren't huge and gorgeous or anything. But they are easy to whip up, tasty, and not sickeningly sweet. You know, like those Otis Spunkmeyer muffins that a certain mother buys a certain sister when she goes home... Yes, I know what goes on in St Louis when I am not around. Anyway, these muffins are understated.

6 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1 c. chocolate chips (or whatever seems right)

1. Preheat oven to 400 and grease a muffin tin.
2. Mix together the butter and sugar, until it is all creamy, in a big bowl.
3. Mix the salt, baking powder, and flour in a smaller bowl.
4. And then in a liquid measuring cup, beat the eggs with the milk.
5. Pour 1/3 of the the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, then add a little of the milk/eggs. Keep repeating until everything is mixed together. If it looks too thick, add a little more milk.
6. Mix in the chocolate chips.
7. Divide the batter between 12 muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes, until they are nice and golden!

-Kristin

Good Food: Hot Chocolate

This is my attempt at recreating the hot chocolate from Wafels and Dinges. It's surprisingly easy to make your own--almost as easy as using a mix--and I think the result is really nice. Deep and rich without being sickeningly sweet!

*Milk
*Good chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli dark chocolate)
*Cinnamon

Heat up as much milk as you want in a saucepan over low heat. Then drop in as many chocolate chips as you want, whisking them around until they melt. For four cups of milk, I use about four handfuls of chocolate, but you can taste as you go and stop when it tastes right. After the chips melt sprinkle in some cinnamon, then keep heating it up and whisking now and then (without letting the milk boil), until the hot chocolate is a uniform color, all the graininess has gone away, and it is nice and hot. Simple, right?

Do you like the cup? It was a gift from Madison. Thanks Maddie!

-Kristin

Good Food: Red, Gold, Black and Green Chili

I adapted this from a recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. Elliot requested that I add meat, so I did, and then we had to do some last minute adjustments when we were cooking. I think this is a pretty good chili! And it is really easy and pretty quick to make. Here is our recipe:

1/2 c. rice (the original recipe calls for bulghur, which is also good, but if you don't have it on hand rice is fine)
1/2 c. hot water
3 c. undrained canned tomatoes (28 oz can)

3 tbsp olive oil
3 c. chopped onions
1 lb ground turkey
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne

2 green bell peppers, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 cups frozen corn
1 14 oz. can black beans
1 14 oz. can red beans
salt

grated cheddar cheese
sour cream
chopped fresh cilantro

Place the rice, hot water, and a cup of juice from the canned tomatoes in a small saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil on high heat, then lower the heat and simmer gently. (Note: if you want to save a pan, Ben thinks that you can just throw the rice and tomato juice in with the tomatoes and simmer the chili for longer.)

While the rice cooks, sauté the onions, turkey, cumin, chili powder, and cayenne in the olive oil. Once the onions are soft, stir in the bell peppers and garlic and sauté for a few more minutes. Chop the tomatoes in the can and add them (juice and all) to the pan. Stir in the corn and beans and heat everything thoroughly at low heat. Add the rice when it is a little undercooked, then cover and simmer until the rice is done and the flavors meld. Add salt to taste.

Serve with garnish of cheddar cheese, sour cream, and cilantro.

I tried a cornbread recipe from How To Cook Everything, but it was not a hit.

-Kristin

I really liked this chili. Of course, I would have NOT added the meat!

- Megan Leigh

Good Food: Brownie Madness

Today Elliot had his first sleepover at the new place. So I decided it would be nice to make some brownies... and since I was making brownies, I thought why not try a new recipe? I found this site called Brownie Power that has tons of brownie recipes. Krispie Kreme Brownies, Beer Brownies, Pumpkin Brownies, Thin Mint Brownies... some exciting stuff. To start with, though, I just tried their basic brownie recipe. I figured I could get more exotic from there.

It was good! Usually when I make brownies I stick with Betty Crocker or, if I'm feeling really ambitious, I use Mark Bittman's brownie recipe. This recipe was less sweet than either of those, and a bit less rich (much less butter than the Bittman recipe). However, all the chocolate chips gave it a nice, deep flavor too. Pretty yummy. The recipe was also really easy. Whenever I make brownies from scratch, I'm surprised at just how quick and simple it is to do. It really doesn't take much longer than using a mix!

OK, I know one pan of brownies looks pretty much the same as any other brownie, but a blog without pictures is pretty horrible, right? So I'm putting one up.

-Kristin

I really liked these brownies. They were rich, but not overwhelmingly so like the Bittman ones can be. Next I want Kristin to have a go at the thin mint ones!

- Megan

Good Food: French Toast

What to do with the dumb organic bread that you just bought from the store, even though it cost way too much money, only to find that it was stale once you tried to make yourself a sandwich? French Toast!

This time I tried a recipe from the Best Recipe Cookbook. I did not have especially high hopes for this recipe, because nothing from this cookbook tends to turn out well for me. But it was delicious! Just right. Highly recommended! I like it better than Mark Bittman's. Also better than my own. For years I had been using a recipe I had in my head that involved about one egg per piece of bread and a little milk and vanilla. That made a very hearty, eggy french toast. This french toast is lighter and probably tastier, more like what you'd find in a restaurant.

-Kristin

Good Food: Eggplant Mykonos

I am putting this one under the good food category defiantly, since Megan didn't like this recipe. But I did, a lot!

It is from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook. It is full of eggplant, tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, and dill, and it's topped with yummy feta cheese. What's not to like? I would recommend it to anyone. It is easy to make and delicious! It is vegetarian, and it could be vegan if you left off the cheese. But I don't recommend that.

Megan maintains that the eggplant tasted weird (it was some special kind called "neon" eggplant that is light purple and very pretty) and that dill is gross. But then she wanted me to make some kind of dill dip in a rye bread bowl. And everybody knows that rye bread is gross...

-Kristin

Eggplant is my favorite vegetable. I could eat it everyday! I tell you these things because I want you to know that I know my eggplant and this was no good. HAD the eggplant been normal and HAD there been no dill I could get on board with this recipe. However, things happened as they did and I could only say BLARGH.

- Megan Leigh

Good Food: Popovers Take 3

Finally, success! This time I used the recipe that Michelle posted on this blog earlier (it's her mom's). A big thank you to Michelle and her mom. This recipe was so easy, and it worked so well! The popovers popped BIG TIME. After taking them out of the oven, they fell a bit, but they were still light, airy and delicious. Kind of custardy, or dutch baby-ish. The other popovers we had made were very dense. These ones were more or less hollow inside (perfect for filling up with butter, Elliot said, and then declared that we should call them buttercups). I'm including a picture inside the oven, to show just how much they popped, and then one after they had been taken out. Yum!


Ben cooked up a "rustic applesauce" to eat with our popovers, and that was a pretty great pairing.

Mrs. Ferris's Popovers
4 large eggs (room temperature)
3/4 cup milk (room temperature)
2 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup unsifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease muffin/popover cups- this should make about 8/6 popovers depending on size of tins.

Beat eggs til frothy.

Beat in milk and butter.

Add flour and salt to egg mixture- beat at low speed til smooth.

Divide into prepared cups.

Bake 35- 40 minutes or until puffed and firm on top.

-Kristin

Good Food: Tried and True Oatmeal Cookies

One of the only things that I can bake and feel truly confident about are cookies. Two kinds, chocolate chip and oatmeal. Tonight I had to bake oatmeal cookies for my son's soccer team (I know this makes me sound like a sad soccer mom), so I thought I'd share the recipe I use. It used to be on the bottom of the lid on Quaker Oatmeal containers, but the current recipe gracing the lid is not nearly as good... I think they tried to reduce the fat and sugar content, and you can tell. So here is my tried and true version!

My one biggest tip is to use margarine. I know, margarine is gross. But cookies are the one area in which I think margarine earns a place. If you want a soft, chewy cookie, margarine works so much better... If you want a hard, dry cookie, butter is a better choice. But who wants a hard, dry oatmeal cookie? Also, I think Fleischmann's in the tub is the best kind to use. I used Country Crock out of desperation tonight, but the cookies aren't quite as good.

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Circa 1998)
1 c. butter
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
3 c Old Fashioned Quaker Oats
1 c. raisins
1 c. chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat together the margarine and sugar until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.

Stir in oats, raisins, and chocolate chips (if you're using them).

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until gold brown. Cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet, then remove to a wire rack.

Makes about 4 dozen.

-Kristin

Good Food: Ants on Trees with Shredded Carrot Salad

I love ants on trees (the little pieces of pork are the ants, and the noodles are the trees), and we've made this a couple times for friends. Tonight we made this for Rachel and Mark. Here we are eating it--if you look closely, you can see the food on our plates. I didn't think ahead and take a close-up photo of the food! Ben made up this recipe for a carrot salad to accompany it, and I love it too.

Ants on Trees (Serves 5-6)
1 lb ground pork
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp roasted red chili paste
2 tsp corn starch
16 oz cellophane noodles
4 tbsp peanut oil
4 scallions, the white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
4 jalapenos, minced
1 c. chicken stock
2 tbsp soy sauce
cilantro, chopped

In a medium bowl, combine the 4 tbsp soy sauce, sugar, red chili paste, and cornstarch. Add pork to the marinade and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Place the noodles in a large bowl and pour boiling water over them to cover. Soak 5 minutes, stirring occasionally (this part is important), then drain in a colander.

Heat oil in a skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the scallions and jalapeno and cook 30 seconds, stirring frequently. Add the pork and stir-fry until no longer pink, breaking up any chunks, about 3 minutes.

Add the noodles, chicken stock, and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Cook, tossing the noodles with two wooden spoons, until the sauce is absorbed and the pork is well distributed throughout the noodles. Serve immediately and garnish with cilantro.


Carrot Salad (Serves 6)
1 lb of carrots, grated and drained
1 heaping tbsp of ginger, finely minced
1/2 c. cilantro, finely minced
1/2 c. of peanut oil
 2 tsp of sesame oil
1/2 c. of rice vinegar
1 tsp of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
crushed cashews to garnish

Combine all the ingredients but the carrots in a bowl and whisk. Toss in with the carrots (which should be grated and drained first), and cover and put in the fridge to sit at least 2 hours (or as many as 24 hours). Garnish with crushed cashews and serve!

Megan notes that if you don't grate your finger, you're not doing it properly.

- Kristin

Good Food: The Best Pancakes

The last time I made pancakes, I used the recipe from How to Cook Everything. They did not turn out well. I had been dreaming of fluffy pancakes with a little crispness. What I got was thin and rubbery frisbees, a big disappointment! Now, I am not blaming Mark Bittman--I think there is a good chance that the problem had something to do with yours truly. But ever since then, I have been wondering how you make good pancakes from scratch. I mean, pancakes are supposed to be easy, right?

Well, I did a little research and found a wonderful pancake recipe. These pancakes were SO good. I adapted a recipe I found on the msnbc website, in an article on making perfect pancakes. It is worth a read if you long to make restaurant-style pancakes at home! I think one of the big revelations for me was that it's better to brush the skillet with vegetable oil, rather than throw in some butter before you cook each pancake. Anyway, here is the recipe:

--Crack 2 large eggs into a large bowl and whisk them until they foam up, and you see lots of bubbles.
--Whisk in 1 1/2 c. buttermilk, 3 T melted butter, and 1/2 t vanilla.
--Stir together 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, 3 T sugar, 2 t baking powder, 1/2 t salt, and 1/2 t baking soda in a separate medium-sized bowl.
--Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, whisking them together briefly after each addition. Mix until just smooth--don't overmix!
--Heat up your skillet--medium heat works for me. If it is the perfect temperature, when you flick a little water into the pan, small droplets will bead up and bounce around. If the water evaporates immediately, that means the pan is too hot.
--When the pan is ready, brush it with vegetable or canola oil. Do this before every new pancake!
--Pour 1/3 cup of the pancake mix onto the griddle.
--Turn the pancake when the edges look dry and there are a few dry-edged bubbles visible on top. The underside should be honey-colored.
--After your first pancake, correct the mixture so that the consistency is just right. Is it too thick to spread out in the pan? I had to add about 1/4 cup of milk to mine.
--I garnished ours with powdered sugar (an excuse to use my new sugar shaker) and sliced strawberries.

Enjoy!

-Kristin

PS I realize I need to work on my food photography. Maybe another goal should be to learn how to take a good picture!

Recipe in Progress: Spaghetti and Meatballs

I actually already love my recipe for spaghetti and meatballs. The problem is, I would like to figure out how to make my meatballs without veal... and still have them taste good.

For the sauce, I use a secret family recipe. For the meatballs, I use the recipe from a Rocco Dispirito cookbook. Remember him? He had this short-lived reality show about opening a restaurant. I don't know why, but I watched a couple of episodes, and they were always raving about the meatballs at the restaurant. So I tried his recipe, and it really is good! The meatballs are crusty on the outside, light and soft on the inside, delicious! Unfortunately, my family criticizes me mercilessly for cooking with veal (the recipe calls for 1/3 beef, 1/3 pork, and 1/3 veal), and Megan refuses to eat them at all. I know that everyone is right and that it is wrong to cook with veal. But it tastes so good!

Does anybody have suggestions for how to kind of simulate the taste and texture of veal? My mom suggested asking the meat counter to double-grind beef...

-Kristin

Recipe in Progress: Peanut Soup, Senegalese Style

We got this recipe out of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook. It was decent! There is another peanut-y stew with greens that I love from The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook, so I think I was secretly hoping this soup would be a lot like that one, but even better. My expectations may have been a little unfair. I would have liked this soup to be a little richer and more peanut-y, like that one is. So next time, I think I will add more peanut butter and also some coconut milk. I like the addition of tomatoes and yams in this recipe though! All in all, it was quite good. The soup ended up both tasty and hearty, nice for a Fall night.

I garnished with a scoop of rice, crushed peanuts, and lime wedges. Yum.

-Kristin