Caramelized Onion Tart

Umm oops, I haven't been on here for awhile. I moved to a new apartment and had to quickly assemble kitchen equipment (finally got a frying pan!) so there was very little cooking. And the cooking I did do was basic one-pan things like pasta or omelettes- not worthy of a blog post. This caramelized onion tart is from a month ago I think. It's really really good- I bought puff pastry because I didn't have time to make it.

The inspiration behind this pizza was an amazing pizza I had at Z Pizza in the Houston airport during a hellish layover/flight back from Cozumel. We almost didn't make it back and suddenly were able to get on the standby line! We got a quick bite to eat here- I had the Tuscan pizza, which was different types of mushrooms, feta and caramelized onions. It was very smelly- so much so that I didn't want to open it on the plane. It was so good though, so smelly and so good. I even liked the feta and I hate feta! (I guess I can downgrade the hate to a "sometimes I like")

This was easy, but not fast. It's also best the day you make it, unless you like soggy puff pastry.

Pepitas Brittle and another Pizza!

This is a failed attempt at pepitas brittle. I had to use leftover pepitas, so I thought I'd make brittle. I love peanut brittle! I'm not 100% sure what went wrong- I heated the sugar to the right temperature... there must've been some sugar on the side of the pan that didn't melt and it made the rest of the mixture crystallize. ): It tasted good though. I went overboard in protecting myself from hot bubbling sugar- I had oven mitts, aprons and towels on the side, ready just in case.

This is another version of the no-knead pizza dough. Sorry, no photos! I tried it and for some reason this one turned out better than the last version. No idea why or how, but I'm going to stick with this one for no-knead. Next up is to try a pizza dough recipe with cake flour, which is supposed to be the best stand in for 00 flour, which is what is traditionally used for pizza/pasta in Italy.

Baked Mac N Cheese and Roasted Potato Leek Soup

I really liked mac and cheese, but I'm really picky about what kind I like. I like the mac and cheese from Napa Valley Grill and even the Kraft blue box... I'm kinda on the fence about Trader Joe's boxed mac and cheese. This is a good make-ahead recipe for baked mac and cheese for when you have guests coming over- assemble the day before and bake when ready. It's from the great Barefoot Contessa.



This roasted potato and leek soup is so good. I really like roasting vegetables- you don't have to stand there watching it and the veggies come out with a completely different flavor! This also had a bunch of arugula blended in so it had a peppery kick to it.

I definitely burned the crispy shallots, but for what I paid for them I used them anyways. They are a really really good addition to the soup and would be great in sandwiches, salads etc.

Whole Wheat Brownies and Apple Pie Ice Cream

In an attempt to be more healthy I bought white whole wheat flour. I've been using it in regular APF recipes- usually substituting 1/4 of the APF with whole wheat. This recipe is all whole wheat and somehow it's still good- usually you can still feel the difference (like whole wheat pasta vs regular pasta). Also since a brownie doesn't have to be fluffy or tender it's a good place to start with whole wheat flour. I couldn't tell the difference between this brownie and any other brownie even though I ate it right after baking (the recipe has you wait overnight for the wheat germ to soften).


I had apple pie ice cream at Scoops and it started an apple pie obsession. I don't even LIKE pie- the filling is too sweet and goopy. I ate some form of apple pie every couple of days for 3 weeks- including the tasty apple pie from the Apple Pan. Finally my wallet was bled dry and I set out to make my own apple pie ice cream via this recipe. The only thing it's missing is the crust and it doesn't make that much- it was enough for 4 servings.