strawberry-lime crumble bars

Growing up, my mom had a Land O Lakes cookbook that was given to her as a Christmas gift by one of our neighbors. Of any cookbook my mom had (aside from her ragged and worn 1970s edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook), we seemed to make things from this book more than most. One such item was a raspberry crumble bar. It was the simplest thing in the world, instructing you to mix up a quick crumbly dough, press half in the pan, spread that half with raspberry jam and crumble the reserved dough on top. Once baked, the bars had a soft and buttery base, topped with tart-sweet jam and tasty little crumbly crunchy bits. My sister and I loved them, and they were basically irresistible cause I never remember any pan of them lasting very long.

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AmandaMarch 24, 2013September 14, 20151 Comment

Dessert, Dinner, Lunch, Main Dish, Meat, Savory, Sweet

savory and sweet empanadas

Growing up in the southwest, I feel obligated to like empanadas. There’s just so many damn good variations of fillings one can cram into their flaky dough, that it’s almost impossible to not find something you’ll like.

I know a lot of people who have really only eaten sweet dessert-type empanadas, pumpkin or pineapple being very common, but I’m partial to the savory fillings. I don’t know if I’d enjoy the common Spanish filling that includes green olives and hard-boiled eggs, but luckily making them in my own kitchen means I can fill them with whatever I’d like!

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AmandaMarch 13, 2013September 14, 20151 Comment

Breads, Breakfast, Savory, Snacks

i’ll never buy bagels again

A long time ago, like 10+ years ago, I attempted to make some homemade bagels. I remember virtually nothing about them except that I found the process slightly tedious and annoying. I’ve always loved bagels, but up to now, I’ve been content to just buy them from places like Einstein’s and the like. There’s nothing really wrong with their bagels, they’re just not spectacular. Don’t even get me started on the crap “bagels” that you can buy in most grocery store bread aisles. They’re essentially dense hamburger buns with holes in the middle. Where’s the chewiness? Where’s the good crust?

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AmandaFebruary 27, 2013September 14, 20157 Comments

Cookies, Dessert, Spring, Sweet

knock-off samoas!

Hooray, it’s Girl Scout cookie season! Is there no better time of year? The ushering in of springtime, adorable little girls in their Girl Scout uniforms, ~~harassing you~~ asking you to buy some cookies as you walk into the grocery store. It’s wonderful. There seems to be quite a dividing line between people and their love of the top two Girl Scout cookie flavors, Samoas and Thin Mints — people always seem to prefer one over the other. I’ll generally devour anything containing coconut, and toasty coconut with caramel and chocolate is just a bonus.

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AmandaFebruary 20, 2013September 14, 20151 Comment

Drinks, Fruit, Spring, Summer, Sweet

easiest lemonade

As you all know, I received a whole bunch of lemons recently. The lemon-strawberry ice cream that I made didn’t even make a dent in the pile that I had taking up space in my fridge. So, I needed a way to use them all up before they got all mushy and gross and I had to chuck them into the garbage. Enter: the easiest lemonade recipe you’ll probably ever make — aside from just stirring some lemon juice with water and sugar in a glass, which, lets face it, never turns out well cause the sugar doesn’t fully dissolve in cold water. The secret to this recipe? Simple syrup!

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AmandaFebruary 15, 2013September 14, 2015Leave a comment

Candy, Dessert, Fruit, Holidays, Snacks, Sweet

tuxedo strawberries

Seeking out a Valentine’s Day gift for a significant other is sometimes difficult. Aside from agonizing over just what to get your sweetie, there’s the added stress of worrying if they’ll truly love the gift you’ve gotten for them. So far, I have yet to meet a man or a woman who would turn down the gift of chocolate. Want to do them one better? Make them these homemade chocolate-covered strawberries! Sweet, creamy, chocolate-y, and while some may say that they’re predictable this time of year, they’re a great traditional Valentine’s gift. Save yourself tons of money by making them yourself. Most places that sell individual chocolate-dipped strawberries at this time of year, tend to charge per berry what you’d usually pay for several pints of strawberries. The best part about making them yourself? You can choose your most favorite brand of chocolate to dip them in.

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AmandaFebruary 13, 2013September 14, 20153 Comments

Breads, Dinner, Lunch, Savory

lazy pesto bread

A short while back, Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread made the rounds on the interwebs. It’s still super popular, as more people discover the recipe all the time. It’s a miracle of bread- and dough-making technique, perfect for all the people out there who feel that a good loaf of homemade, crackly-crusted bread is beyond them. The ingredients are mixed by hand into a rough dough which sits at room temperature for several hours, and then gets baked in a cast iron dutch oven. When I first made it, I was shocked that a loaf of bread so good was able to come from my crappy electric oven.

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AmandaFebruary 12, 2013September 14, 20153 Comments

Candy, Dessert, Snacks, Sweet

key lime pie marshmallows

When I first made homemade marshmallows, I was blown away. I thought I was doomed to an eternity of eating marshmallows of the storebought, chemical-filled Jet Puffed variety. I will use these in a pinch, like in my rocky road squares, but I much prefer the homemade kind. They’re surprisingly simple, too!

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AmandaFebruary 8, 2013September 14, 2015Leave a comment

Lunch, Sandwiches, Savory, Snacks, Vegetables, Vegetarian

radish + chive tartine

At Thanksgiving, I hosted my immediate family at my house for the big meal. It was my first time being solely responsible for the entire dinner, so I went all-out: various appetizers, roasted turkey, lots of sides, and two pies . One of the appetizers that I made was little squares of pumpernickel bread with chive and onion cream cheese, topped with some fresh radish slices and cracked black pepper. The tray of these little snacks went very fast, and I’ve been dreaming about them since. I wanted to turn those ingredients into a sandwich, so what better way than a classic French tartine, or open-faced sandwich?

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AmandaFebruary 5, 2013September 14, 20153 Comments

Dessert, Frozen Treats, Summer, Sweet

lemon-strawberry ice cream

Recently, my roommate brought home a bunch of lemons from a co-worker’s lemon tree. These lemons were HUGE. Like grapefruit-sized, huge.

Since there were so many, I wasn’t quite sure how to utilize them. I solicited ideas, and was met with suggestions for lemon pound cake, homemade limoncello, lemon bars, you name it. Even with all these lovely ideas swirling around in my head, I always have a weakness for ice cream, and I’m one of those crazy people who could eat ice cream even in the dead of winter. Thankfully it’s not that cold where I live, so ice cream can always been in season! When life gives you lemons, you make a whole bunch of lemon-strawberry ice cream! Well, you do if you’re me.

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