Recent batch of chocolate chip cookies. Photo courtesy of Miss Lo Vanity.

In preparation for the potentially catastrophic impending Hurricane Irene, I made zucchini bread. The recipe is courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. It gives you the option of using raisins and nuts. I used both. I also sprinkled some walnuts on top. Enjoy!

It was very cheesy. Here’s the recipe (courtesy of Cook’s Illustrated) and some snazzy photos. Next time we are going to use nutmeg. And maybe a little more cayenne? We also made a salad. That recipe is coming soon.

Ingredients:
Bread Crumb Topping:
6 slices white sandwich bread, torn into rough pieces
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces (cold)

Pasta and Cheese:
1 box macaroni (We used whole wheat! You know. For health.)
1 tbsp salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter
6 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp powdered mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
5 cups milk (Any kind! We used 1%.)
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1. Bread crumbs: The recipe says to pulse bread and butter in a food processor. I don’t have a food processor, so we just sort of cut the pieces smaller and mixed them up with our hands. They were clean, I promise.

2. Pasta and cheese: Heat broiler (Or, in our case, oven to 550 degrees. I’m afraid my broiler is dirty from the last tenant, who was dirty.). Boil water and cook macaroni until just past al dente. Drain and set aside.

3. In pasta pot, heat butter over medium-high heat until foaming. Add flour, mustard, and cayenne and whisk well to combine. Continue whisking until it deepens in color slightly and smells fragrant (not very long).

4. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring mixture to a boil, then let simmer until mixture is the texture of heavy cream. Stir constantly.

5. Take off heat and whisk in cheeses and 1 tsp salt until cheeses are fully melted.

6. Add pasta and put back over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is steaming and heated through – about 6 minutes.

7. Transfer to 9 x 13 baking dish and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Broil until breadcrumbs are golden brown. This takes between 3 and 5 minutes. You may need to rotate the pan for even browning. Cool, then serve.

The other night I made a delicious sandwich for a special someone. It was pretty great, if I do say so myself. Here’s what I did:

1. I took some really good wheat bread from a bakery and sliced it into medium thick slices. I buttered one side of each.

2. I sauteed some garlic, red peppers, zucchini, and portobello mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil with some salt, pepper and basil.

3. I put two slices of the bread into a buttered pan – butter side down – and added the veggies and some delicious goat cheese (and the second piece of bread to each, of course). Then I cooked it grilled cheese-style! Just flipped it once after about a minute and then stuck it on the plate when the bottom was golden brown.

4. I had some extra vegetables, so I made a little salad with some lettuce and tomato as well. The dressing was really simple – just olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper whisked together.

5. There is no five. Just put it on a plate and serve! I served it with some really great cider. It was J.K. Scrumpy’s Hard Cider. Yum.

Ingredient list:

Good bread
Red pepper (1)
Zucchini (1/2 of 1)
Portobello mushrooms (2 large)
Basil
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Lemon (2)
Garlic
Goat cheese – I got a cheap kind with herbs at the store and it was great.
Lettuce
Cherry tomatoes

But pecan pie is my favorite.

That said, I have never made a pecan pie that I have been happy with. For whatever reason – last year I blame the orange zest – it hasn’t worked out the way I want.

No longer. The Pioneer Woman has ended my disappointment. Her recipe, with extremely helpful step-by-step photos, is simple and elegant. I used a the pie crust recipe I usually do, but this time used vodka in place of half of the water. It worked incredibly well – my pie making got that much easier. I definitely recommend that part.

Happy pie making!

For the past year, I’ve been wanting to recreate this soup. But, being blender-less, I had no way of doing so. All that changed last weekend, when my mom came to visit…blender in tow.

Tonight, I made my first attempt at cauliflower soup. And let me just say – it went very well. It’s still not the same as that bowl of soup at the Oval Room, but it was a great starting point. The recipe came from Smitten Kitchen. I added a dash of nutmeg as well, which wasn’t in the recipe.

Next time I’m going to try adding a little cumin.

I took my two canvas bags to the counter, paid and filled them, and moved on to the Safeway. And then the Giant. I went to 5 grocery stores, only to find that all were out of matzo meal. As it turns out, DC grocery stores need to work on stocking up pre-passover.

After settling for matzo ball mix, I set up in my miniature kitchen to make my soup.

The recipe comes from my Gourmet (RIP) cookbook, which is quickly becoming a new favorite. I’m skipping the matzo ball part because, well, I was forced to cheat. Suffice it to say that I did, indeed, add finely chopped parsley to my matzo balls.

Chicken Stock
1 small chicken, cut into pieces
4 quarts cold water
2 onions, left unpeeled, halved
2 whole cloves
4 garlic gloves, left unpeeled
1 celery rib, halved
2 carrots, halved
salt
6 long fresh parsley sprigs
8 black peppercorns (which I did not have, and thus used pepper)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
1 Turkish bay leaf of 1/2 California bay leaf (I’m honestly not sure which I used)
[I also added some nutmeg. This is not in Ruth Reichl's recipe, but I liked it]

Put chicken pieces (including neck and giblets) in an 8-quart stockpot, add cold water, and bring to a boil, skimming froth. Add remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, skimming froth occasionally, for 3 hours.

Pour stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl; discard solids. If using stock right away (which I was), skim off and discard fat. If not, cool completely, uncovered, then refrigerate, covered, until cold; scrape congealed fat from chilled stock. Stock can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 3 months.

Back to the Soup
10 cups chicken stock
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
1 cup finely chopped parsnip (about 1 medium)
1 cup finely chopped carrots (about 2 medium)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Make your matzo balls (however you chose to do so). While they are in the boiling water, start to make the soup.

Bring stock to a simmer and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add parsnip and carrots and cook, uncovered, until just tender, about 6 minutes [Next time I plan to use celery as well].

With a slotted spoon, transfer matzo balls to broth and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped fresh dill.

But instead of actually being chocolate, it’s coffee. Check out the New York Times Magazine summary.

KA-POW!

Turns out that this is not true of homemade pop tarts – these “toaster pastries,” as I have decided to call them, were neither stale, nor lacking in flavor. When I saw them on Smitten Kitchen, I was just thrilled. I could not believe that something Deb called a Pop Tart looked so good (I’ve borrowed a photo from her for this post to accentuate that – I forgot to take pictures and hope she doesn’t mind!).

And, so, I made them. They were like heaven in my mouth, kind of like mini pies – it was the dough that made them delicious.

The recipe is here. Mine were almost all cinnamon/sugar, but I did make one nutella one. The cinnamon/sugar were better.