Maple and Garlic Pork

I don't have enough superlatives to adequately describe how good this was. As per the recipe, I put the leftover marinade in a saucepan to heat it so I could serve it over the pork. At the advice of one of the comments on the site I found this recipe, I also used a cornstarch slurry to thicken it up to more of a gravy consistency. YUM. Only regret is that I didn't make more. Served with boiled red potatoes and asparagus (what I had on hand). Recipe is here. Make this. You won't regret it.

From: February 13, 2013

Pancetta Bacon Pasta (sans pancetta)

This recipe was made in an attempt to get rid of some of the food in my fridge. I found the recipe on the internet, but made a few liberal substitutions....bacon instead of pancetta, evaporated milk instead of heavy cream. It kind of turned out weird, but I guess it was alright. Served with garlic bread (that was, of course, delicious.)

From: February 1, 2013

Chocolate lava cake

I bought this set of corning ware a few months ago and haven't had a chance yet to use my ramekins. I read a friend's blog about how she made chocolate lava cake recently, and so that's what I wanted to make too! She didn't post the recipe, so I scoured the internet for one. I happened across a super simple one, and somewhat lower fat, so hey why not! I present "Guilt Free Lava Cake for One." Yes, that's right. A recipe that actually is designed to create exactly one little lava cake. Perfect. It was tasty. Not as sweet as I'd like, though I bet if next time I use vanilla yogurt instead of plain yogurt, that'll do the trick!

From: January 20, 2013

Shepherd's Pie

I had a few of those beef patties left, so I searched online for recipes I could make with ground beef. I got the idea to make shepherd's pie, which I've never really tried before. I found a great, simple recipe, and gave it a try. Originally it called for thyme and rosemary in the beef mixture, but I don't like those herbs. Instead at the last minute, I added some worcestershire sauce, and yum! That was the key. Super tasty. Though I didn't make nearly enough mashed potatoes to go on top!

From: January 20, 2013

Roasted Vegetable, etc. over Pasta

I don't know what to call this recipe. While I was in Utah for the holidays, I had dinner at my good friend Sarah's house, and she made this super scrumptious dish for dinner. She has a tendency to make up her recipes as she goes, and so recreating this in my own kitchen a few weeks later was tricky. Basically this is a creamy squash-based pasta sauce with various roasted vegetables, bacon, and sausage, served over pasta. Surely the sauce could be served as a standalone dish. My attempt was not quite as flavorful as the one Sarah made (not sure why), but still tasty!

From: January 18, 2013

Grilled onions, beef, and vegetables

Between holiday and work travel, I haven't tried very many new things lately, although I still have been cooking (most of the time). This week I bought these beef patties because they were on sale. There wasn't anything particularly special about them...they were just on sale. Tonight I had evening plans (that would have included dinner) that ended up being canceled because of a snow storm that never materialized here, but supposedly did where I was going. So I put together a dinner on the fly. I decided to grill up one of those beef patties, and threw on a bunch of grilled onions and served a sweet potato and blanched asparagus.

From: January 17, 2013

Pork Piccata

I recently found this recipe for pork piccata. Even though I didn't know what that meant, I decided to make it anyway. And in the pork sauce, those are capers, not peas. (Like I originally thought.) I've never cooked with capers before. In fact, when I went to buy them at the grocery store, I had to use my phone to google "Where are the capers in the grocery store?" In the aisle with the pickles and olives. Now I know! Anyway, this recipe was amazing. The sauce had the most amazing flavor! The capers REALLY added a great flavor. And now I have a whole jar of them, I'm going to have to find more recipes that use them! Served with leftover brown rice (I really needed to get rid of it) and green beams. Yummmmm!

From: November 7, 2012