Sourdough Bread

I am a potato and bread fiend. I especially love sourdough bread, but was always intimidated by the recipes I found online. You have to make your own little colony of happy bacteria that will make your bread all nice and sour (and also help it rise). I was really turned off by most of the recipes I saw which involved specific proportions of pineapple juice and water. But I found this recipe and I figured I would give it a try. It only takes water and flour and it has specific steps for each day.


I was still sort of scared I might kill someone with my funky bread, but the comments on the daily pages helped sort out what a "bad" starter looked like. It takes a few days, but you can make your own starter too! I made 3 batches of bread, but only the 3rd one really tasted like sourdough. The holes weren't quite there yet and then..... I killed my starter. I killed it so bad I couldn't bring it back to life (which you can usually do quite easily- another reason to make your own starter). It grew mold. It got funky. I threw it away.


I'll have to save this for another time when I have time to bake bread more than once a month and can feed a starter more often. Poor thing, it only lived for a few weeks!

Shrimp Quesadillas and Mango Salsa

(please excuse the bite marks, I was hungry)

Ok I'm addicted to shrimp and making tortillas. It's an addiction and I can't stop. This variation is easy I'm sure you've had it before. It's easy peasy corn tortillas + shrimp and a really great mango jalapeno salsa. The salsa is sweet, salty, smoky and spicy. It was a pain to slice the mango - am I doing it wrong? But I gotta say I'm getting better at making tortillas without a press- instead of using my hands and/or a rolling pin I've been using a pot.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ok... sorry again I'm not done with the peanut butter - I had to use almost a whole jar. This might be my new favorite cookie. They're chewy and slightly crunchy and I loovveeee oats. (They look weird in my photo because I flattened them out right when they came out of the oven.)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies

Sorry peanut allergists, I really love peanut butter. I was tasked with getting rid of the "gross" peanut butter, which isn't even "gross" it's just the natural type where the oil separates from the rest of the peanut butter. So I had to make these brownies and I'm really glad I did. It takes the brownie to another level. There's only a slight peanut-ness to them. Delicious and not too sweet.

Spinach Stuffed Shells

This was so easy I'm embarrassed to post it. And yes it's just another variation on lasagna, but it looks cool. It's a stuffed pasta shell! I see them on menus, but I never order it - I don't know why. I want to say this is healthier than a lasagna since there is way more spinach per serving, but don't quote me on that. If you're sick of making plain pasta or lasagna, make this instead.

Ad Hoc Brownies

My sister got me 3 Thomas Keller cookbooks for my birthday, I spent a week (and actually I still do this) reading them before I go to bed. There are a lot of background stories and helpful tips about techniques and equipment. I also found the recipe for the Ad Hoc Brownies online. I've never actually been to Ad Hoc, but it is on my list of places to go.

The brownies were so chocolate-y. I think one slice was enough for most people- it was just so. much. cocoa! (one whole cup!) whew, make sure you share- you will not be able to finish it yourself.

Molten Chocolate Cake

This is a really quick and delicious recipe for molten chocolate cake. You don't need to break out the mixer for this, just stir a few ingredients together and pop it on the oven. Take it out of the oven, let it REST (I was too eager with the first cake and ended up with half a cake on the plate, half in the ramekin).

I made a cinnamon whipped cream while the cake was in the oven- also very easy. Make this the next time you're craving a rich chocolate cake.