Pizza Party!
After cooking many meals for friends, I realized that nothing excites people more than a delicious pizza. This week I threw a pizza party with friends. We only had one oven and two pizza trays, so we could only cook two pizzas at a time. In the end, I made six 14″ pizzas. We cut each pizza into ten slices, one for each person, and sampled one slice of each pizza. We would decide which pizzas were coming next while the previous two were baking. By the sixth pizza, we could barely take another bite!
We made all sorts of pizzas- from BBQ Chicken to Chicken Alfredo to Meat Lovers all the way to Hawaiian. Each time a new pizza was taken out, everybody was riled up- “This one is my favorite!” “Wait, no, THIS one is my favorite!” “Ah, no, THIS one is definitely the best!” I have never seen my friends so excited about something I cooked. This made me being to think about the wondrous pizza pie. A fresh pizza crust is like a blank canvas for a chef. You can combine any flavors you want to create your own unique masterpiece. I suggest to all of you that you make homemade pizzas at some point. My advice? Be adventurous, take risks, mix unlikely combinations- you’ll be impressed with the outcome!
Throwback Thursday: Hot Spinach & Red Pepper Dip
This week’s Throwback Thursday recipe is a hearty spinach and pepper dip; great for a cold winter day. There is something nourishing about a warm cheesy dip with bread. This recipe is a great pick-me-up. It goes well with chips or bread and is a great recipe for a potluck or party, and can easily be doubled if need be.
Sausage, Potato & Cheddar Waffles
What could be better than sausage and cheesy hash-browns? Sausage and cheesy hash-brown waffles! All of your favorite breakfast foods, combined into one delicious waffle. An old Everyday With Rachel Ray magazine gave me inspiration for this recipe.
These are great for a weekend breakfast- probably especially good for a weekend hangover as well. I must warn you, these waffles are not meant to be made healthier… I tried making them with turkey bacon also and they turned out a bit bland. The sausage gives a ton of flavor to the waffle, so if you insist on leaving it out, be sure to add other seasonings. I think that these waffles would be really good with onion added to the mixture as well. Play around and combine your own flavors if you would like!
Throwback Thursday: Baked Salmon Filets w/ Tomato Coulis
I want to begin this week’s Throwback Thursday by thanking all of my followers, especially anybody who was reading my blog at the time when I originally posted this on Tumblr. I have come a long way in a short time; I am officially a featured publisher on FoodBuzz!
This recipe was one of the first things I made after beginning my weekly cooking lessons with my mom this past fall. It is easy to make and teaches you some culinary basics, such as blanching and peeling tomatoes to make a concasse. This dish is one of my favorite go-to recipes for dinner with guests. It would also be a great surprise for your Valentine this Monday! 😉
Moroccan Stuffed Acorn Squash
I love exploring the flavors of foreign cuisines. Each country has their own unique way of doing things, that gives an exciting new twist to many foods. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest looking into the different flavors from around the world. I think that knowing different flavor combinations helps expand your cooking and keeps you from making the same dish over and over again.
This week I had some squash from my mom’s farm that needed to be used. I was in the mood for something a bit sweeter, so I decided on this Moroccan-style recipe. This dish has the perfect balance of sweet and savory. The raisins are a definite must, I even decided to add a few more to the recipe. It can also easily be made vegan/vegetarian by using vegetable broth and taking out the chicken. This recipe is simple to put together but looks sophisticated, a great idea for dinner guests.
Buffalo Chicken Chili w/ Blue Cheese Garlic Bread
Super Bowl Sunday means finger food and a messy kitchen right? Wrong. This Sunday you can make a delicious- and filling- full meal. Plus, it won’t keep you in the kitchen all day away from the company. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t always make some messy finger food to go with it! This chili, adapted from my mom at Cooking With Michele, has the buffalo wing flavor, combined with healthy ingredients like carrots and celery. Adding blue cheese to the chili and the garlic bread completes the dish and gives you an authentic buffalo wing feel without the mess- or the fat!
Throwback Thursday: Beef Goulash
I have decided to start a new tradition- Throwback Thursday. Each Thursday I will re-post an old recipe from my Tumblr blog, until all of my recipes are finally listed on this site. This way you can find everything you need all on one site! This week’s throwback recipe is a Hungarian beef goulash that I made while in New Zealand last summer. Enjoy!
Orange Chicken- Happy Chinese New Year!
February 3rd marks the first day of the Year of the Golden Rabbit, according to the Chinese zodiac. According to Chinese tradition, the year of the rabbit brings a year in which you can calm your nerves and catch your breath. For Chinese New Year, here is an easy recipe for a classic Chinese-American food.
Mahi Mahi & Creamy Polenta w/ Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette
This week I cooked dinner with my good friend Andy. He is one of few friends who actually love to cook as well. Like most cooks, we always bicker back and forth when we cook together, thinking that our own technique is the right one. Still, it is always fun.
As shocking as it may be, until this meal I had never eaten polenta. It had been on my list of things to make for quite some time, so I am happy that I finally got to make it. Being the sauce lover that I am, and roasted tomato lover, this recipe caught my eye. My inspiration for this dish came from Emeril Lagasse. His version for this recipe used fennel, but we decided to add asparagus instead. This recipe is great for a romantic dinner, or even just to treat yourself to something delicious!
Blueberry-Lemon Cobbler
I have finally made my first sugar-free, gluten-free dessert! Well, except for the vanilla frozen yogurt that I ate with it…I have to say it was amazing! This recipe shows how easy it is to cut out white sugar and gluten from your desserts without sacrificing any flavor. Of course, you can always make the dessert the old fashioned way if you want.
I was given two bins of blueberries this week by my mom, so of course dessert was on the menu. Conveniently, I saw multiple blueberry dessert recipe posts the day I came home, including one for blueberry cobbler. Cobbler is a great dessert for a small kitchen, because it doesn’t require the rolling of any dough. It is a great dessert for the winter because of the warm gooey fruit. Even in winter, adding vanilla ice cream is definitely recommended.
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