Stuff I’ve Been Cooking, Reading, Watching, Etc.
Favorite Things / March 27, 2020

I know most people are cooking more, reading more, and watching more. So I thought I would share what I’ve been up to over the last week or so. But first, a shout out to all of the health care, grocery store, and warehouse employees and so many others who are trying to keep us all safe and healthy! And to everyone else, stay home! It will make the jobs of those essential workers so much easier. Ok, off my soap box. Here are some things I’ve been cooking. Shrimp Fried Rice: I make this a lot because I usually have the ingredients on hand. You can use chicken instead of shrimp. I don’t have leftover rice that often, so I just cook some up while I’m prepping the other ingredients and it works fine. And you can use any fresh or frozen veggies you want. Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Soup: I’ve made a lot of versions of tomato soup, but this one has been the most popular with my family. And since it’s made in the slow cooker it’s super easy. I bought some basil in a tube, so I could make this again soon. I’ll let you know…

Cook Something: Gnocchi
Recipes / March 25, 2020

OK, today I’m trying something new. I call it Anatomy of a Failed Recipe. I think it’s good to admit that not every recipe we try is going to work out great, even if we have been cooking for a long time. It might be the recipe isn’t great. It might be that you are trying a new technique. It might be that you substituted ingredients that did not work out. And it might be that you didn’t have much patience, so you tried skipping a step or simplifying the recipe. The reason that this recipe didn’t work out is probably a combination of all the above. So my youngest son Logan loves gnocchi. When I saw a recipe (that looked pretty simple) for homemade gnocchi in the Cook Something cookbook, I thought this would be a good project for Logan and I to work on together. It did turn out to be fun, and it was probably a good first step on the way to successfully making gnocchi. Unfortunately, the final dish wasn’t a huge success. My husband and I still ate it, but Logan didn’t (my older son is not a fan, although he was a sport and…

Cook Something: Pimiento Cheese

Ok, so since we are all cooking at home a lot, I thought I would go ahead and share some recipes. Canal House Cook Something: Recipes to Rely On by Christoper Hersheimer and Melissa Hamilton is one of those basic recipe cookbooks that are great gifts for anyone who is just starting to cook. A lot of the recipes are just variations on a simple recipe. The one I tried out, Pimiento Cheese, is about as basic as it gets. This is something my husband makes a lot, but he doesn’t really have a set recipe for it. So the other day when I was hosting my neighborhood book club (remember those days when you were allowed to have other people in your house :-)) and wanted to make something, I looked up the pimiento cheese recipe in Cook Something. My only complaint about this book was some of the recipes seemed a little old-fashioned and not really the kinds of things I’m usually cooking. My two favorite basic reference cookbooks are How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman and the always reliable Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. In fact, I need to get updated copies of both of these! Anyway,…

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