Spanish tortilla

I had my first spanish tortilla last summer in Barcelona and I didn't know what to expect- a flour tortilla? Nope- it's basically a giant potato and onion omelet and it is delicious. This recipe is really basic, you can make small tweaks here and there to make it your own.


I stuck closely to the recipe because I was very skeptical. Almost every time I've tried to pan fry potatoes, they've stuck to the pan or never fully cooked through, so I was expecting a disaster. Par-cooking them in water helps and so does the copious amount of oil. If you have a mandolin (jealous!) then this would be a good recipe to use it with. If you don't, just work slowly and try to get even slices.


I even flipped the tortilla onto a plate and then back into the pan to cook the other side. I must've been lucky that day because it didnt fall apart. This was good warm from the pan and room-temperature the next with a salad. This made a LOT and was enough for 5 meals.

Chicken Parmesan

I stumbled onto the Pioneer Women Cook's blog and found this great recipe for Chicken Parmesan. Her website is MASSIVE. It's not just recipes, there are also homeschooling tips and a self-written romance novel about how she met her husband, Marlboro Man. She was a former city girl and now she's a pioneer woman. She even has her own cookbook!


She posts TONS of pictures- probably one for every step, so it's really helpful for ingredients or techniques that you're not familiar with. I identify with the group of people who are terrified of raw chicken and all it's potentially hazardous bacteria so pounding it in a plastic bag was a great idea. I served mine over a bed of fettuccine. And even though you're making everything from scratch- it comes together very quickly.

Soft Pretzels

One of my favorite Food Network shows is Good Eats, starring Alton Brown. He shows the science behind food through cute visual effects. This is so far, the best recipe for pretzels I've tried (I've tried 3). Boiling the pretzel in the baking soda + water mixture helps the dough brown a lot better than just an egg wash. I don't know why (haven't seen that episode yet).


These turned out exactly like the pretzels you would get from Auntie Anne's- doughy, chewy goodness. I used sea salt instead of pretzel salt and I sprinkled some cheese on a few of them. Be careful storing them, condensation will make the salt dissolve.

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

This is one of my favorite soups and I was craving it recently with all the cold weather, luckily I found a copycat of the recipe online here. I had no idea it was KALE in there- who knew I liked kale? I've seen recipes for kale chips, but I'm not sure I love kale that much...

It was a fast and easy recipe, brown the sausage and the onions. Then add cream, broth and the kale last, and then you have zuppa toscana. I served mine with some garlic bread (toasted slices of an old baguette and rubbed with a clove of garlic).