I Am... Coconut Curry Chickpea Stew
I feel like we could all use a bit of comfort right now. It’s not so strange for me to be home and not go out - after all most days I work from home. But what is a little worrying is not being able to grocery shop with abandon. All of the online delivery places have their spots taken up almost instantly and as someone who examines each and every piece of produce, leaving produce choice in the hands of someone else is rough.
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I Am... Small Batch Baking in Times of Stress: 11 Small Batch Baking Ideas
We’re living in crazy times. Usually, when I’m stressed, I eat. Actually, scratch that, I eat all the time, but when I’m stressed, eating makes me feel even better. If you’re at home, practicing social distancing and self isolation, maybe you need a sweet treat but also don’t want to bake an entire batch of cookies that will be eaten by you and your other. Here are 11 small batch baking ideas that are perfect for one, two, or three – perfect for rationing those baking supplies.
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I Am... Everything Bagel Spice Aglio E Olio Pasta
When you think of bagels, do you think of New York? Everything bagel spice? Cream cheese? How about Montreal? There’s a bagel war and the main players are plush and chewy New York style bagels and smaller denser Montreal style bagels.
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I Am... One Pan Creamy Dijon Mustard Mushroom Chicken
If you’re looking for a quick and easy dinner that’s full of flavor, this one pan creamy dijon mustard is for you! I made this for a quick dinner the other day after coming in from a walk where I basically stopped to talk to every dog we met. I get so excited when I see puppies and their owners are always so patient and friendly. I’m pretty sure when you get a dog, you know that you’re in for people randomly accosting you to talk to your pet. It’s hilarious because walking around our neighborhood, we’ve definitely gotten to know the dogs that go out on walks.
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I Am... Super Simple Peanut Free Peanut Noodles
Everyone loves peanut noodles right? I mean, what’s not to love about a nutty, slightly sweet, savory bowl of noodles?! These noodles come together quicker than it’d be to decide on where to order takeout from. Best of all, the sauce is made from pantry ingredients so you’re pretty much good to go whenever the craving hits.
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I Am... Rilakkuma Bear Hugging Almond Shortbread
You're only six ingredients away from super cute crisp and rich buttery shortbread Rilakkuma bear cookies hugging a nutty almond heart.
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I Am... Spicy Chili Crisp White Bean and Barley Stew with Kale and Eggs
The weather is starting to warm up a bit but there’s still a chill in the air, which means SOUP! I’m always always down for a big bowl of soup and it’s even better if there are things that top it. Jammy eggs, crunchy onions, fresh herbs...sometimes I think the reason that I like soup so much is that it’s just a thinly veiled love for toppings that go on top of a soupy vehicle.
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I Am... Pan Fried Aglio E Olio Cauliflower Gnocchi
Do you love Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi and are always looking for new and fun ways to cook with it? My favorite way to make it is crisping it up in a non-stick pan so it gets nice and crusty and crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I still haven’t tried making cauliflower gnocchi by hand because I kind of feel like it’s best made by the people who invented it. Kind of like how I definitely know how to (and have) made homemade dumplings but still prefer to buy store bought because it’s fun to have a plethora of flavors hanging out the freezer, just waiting for a dumpling buffet bonanza. Anyway, last time I posted a cauliflower gnocchi recipe I kind of got some flack for it. Apparently opening up a package of cauliflower gnocchi and cooking it isn’t really worthy of a post, according to some energy sucking vampires. I kind of get where they’re coming from, but at the same time, l actually love seeing what people make with pre-packaged ingredients. Plus cooking the TJ cauli gnocchi the way they do on the package is bunk. Please don’t follow their instructions because if you do you probably won’t like them. Oh, and this isn’t sponsored by Trader Joe’s, I just love their gnocchi. My current fave for those little nuggets of goodness, aside from cacio e pepe, is another Italian classic, aglio e olio. What is aglio e olio you ask? Translated, it’s garlic and oil. And that’s what this is. Super simple but full of flavor, low carb, low calorie. All you do is heat up some quality olive oil, infuse it with garlic to make garlic oil, then toss the crisped up gnocchi with it. Finish every thing off with a generous shower of grated parmesan and you’ve got yourself a quick and satisfying vegetarian meal. I like to add some crushed red peppers for spice too. Keep on cauliflowering friends!
Pan Fried Aglio E Olio Cauliflower Gnocchi Recipe
Store bought cauliflower gnocchi pan fried aglio e olio style with garlic, crushed red pepper, and parmesan
- 2 tbsp olive oil (divided)
- 2 cloves garlic (sliced)
- pinch of crushed red pepper (to taste)
- 1/2 package cauliflower gnocchi
- salt and pepper to taste
- chopped flat leaf parsley (if desired)
In a non-stick skillet, heat up 1 tablespoon of oil over medium high. When hot, add the gnocchi, frozen from the bag, and fry until golden brown and crispy, flipping once, about 2-3 minutes per side. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the pan.
In the same skillet, heat up the remaining oil over medium low heat. Add the sliced garlic and red pepper flakes and cook so that the garlic and pepper flakes slowly infuse the oil without crisping or burning. Add the gnocchi back in and toss.
Remove from the heat and finish with a sprinkle of parmesan and flat leaf parsley. Enjoy immediately!
I Am... Chocolate Chip Cookie Review: Maman, NYC
Bakery: Maman Date Eaten: 11/5/19 Cost: $3.75 Maman is one of Oprah’s favorite things so I had pretty high hopes. There are several Maman’s in the city, all selling chocolate chip cookies, so we went to one that was close to us, thinking that all the cookies would be consistent. The Maman we happened to be the closest to was in a Paper Source - kind of a cafe/stationary store concept. There were a couple of cookies the case, but when I ordered one, they pulled it from a warming tray. It was a good sign! The cookie was about 4 inches wide with a super thin edge to a medium-thick center. There were lots of crackles and lots of nuts, with giant bits of chocolate that looked like feves. It was dense and very chewy in the middle with very caramelized edges. Surprisingly, it wasn’t very sweet, which I kind of held against it because it didn’t really taste very chocolate chip cookie-y to me. It was kind of disappointing really because I had hyped it up in my mind but really, it was a DNF. Edge: 2.5/5 Middle: 3/5 Chocolate: 2.5/5 Cookie: 2.5/5 Taste: 2.5 Total: 13/25 Follow along as I search for the world’s best chocolate chip cookie: methodology, what makes a good cookie, and a list of all the cookies I’ve eaten, right here. [caption id="attachment_30568" align="alignnone" width="1450"] Maman's famous Chocolate Chip Cookie[/caption]
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I Am... Chocolate Chip Cookie Review: Standard Bakery Co, Portland, Maine
Bakery: Standard Bakery Co, Portland, Maine Date Eaten: 10/10/19 Cost: $1.95 I heard that this was a really good cookie in Portland and when we got to the bakery I was excited because there was a little sign right next to the chocolate chip cookies that said “fresh from the oven!” When I got the cookie (popped into a wax bag) it felt just the slightest bit warm like it just came out of the oven about an hour ago. Things were feeling promising, but when I took the cookie out of the bag, it looked pretty average: lightly golden, without much chocolate and smooth, slightly crackly surface. It was a big cookie, about 4 inches and 3/4 inch thick in the middle. The edges were crisp with a good amount of caramelization, and the middle was thick and chewy, but also kind of had a slightly cakey texture with larger crumbs. Perhaps the most disappointing part of the cookie was the chocolate which was overly sweet without enough chocolate flavor. They were chunks, so that was slightly redeeming, but there definitely wasn’t enough of them. All in all, it was a DNF (did not finish) cookie for me. Edges: 3/5 Middle: 3/5 Chocolate: 2/5 Cookie: 2.5/5 Taste: 2.5/5 Total: 13/25 Follow along as I search for the world’s best chocolate chip cookie: methodology, what makes a good cookie, and a list of all the cookies I’ve eaten, right here. [caption id="attachment_30569" align="alignnone" width="1450"] Standard Baking Co's famous Chocolate Chip Cookie[/caption]
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I Am... Chocolate Chip Cookie Review: Flour Bakery, Boston, Massachusetts
Bakery: Flour Bakery, Boston, Massachusetts Date Eaten: 10/13/19 Cost: $2.50 Flour Bakery is pretty famous in Boston. Bostonians love Joanne Chang’s baked goods, especially her banana bread. But in the literal state birthplace of chocolate chip cookies, how does hers hold up? Surprisingly well! Chang based her cookie off the classic Tollhouse and it has that same flavor, homey and sweet, but with a few twists. The cookie was on the thinner side, but thicker than a Tollhouse, maybe about 1/3 of an inch thick and about 3.75 inches wide. There were large chunks of milk and semi-sweet chocolate and the edges were more on the soft side rather than crisp. The middle was chewy and fudgy and there were distinct rings of texture, where the edges were a bit more caramelized and the middle more pale with those ripples that cookie fanatics on Instagram love. There was a nice light brown sugar flavor and it wasn’t too sweet or salty. I loved and finished it! Edge: 3.5/5 Middle: 3.5/5 Chocolate: 3.5/5 Cookie: 3.5/5 Taste: 4/5 Total: 18/25 Follow along as I search for the world’s best chocolate chip cookie: methodology, what makes a good cookie, and a list of all the cookies I’ve eaten, right here. [caption id="attachment_30564" align="alignnone" width="1450"] Flour Bakery's famous Chocolate Chip Cookie[/caption]
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I Am... Chocolate Chip Cookie Review: Jacques Torres, NYC
Bakery: Jacques Torres Date Eaten: 11/6/19 Cost: $3.50 This is the chocolate chip cookie that kind of propelled chocolate chip cookies into a fancier, not just a cookie that mom bakes after school category. There’s a 24 hour resting period and two kinds of chocolate feves. It’s not really on many people’s NYC chocolate chip cookie radar anymore because of Chip and Levain but it was a really really good cookie: I loved it. They keep them on a cake stand so it’s pretty obvious that they aren’t warm and to be honest, they aren’t that pretty, but it has a depth of flavor to it that a lot of other chocolate chip cookies don’t have. The cookie was very flat with a lot of crackles and an even color throughout. It was HUGE: crispy and chewy and but very much the same texture throughout with almost no differentiation between the edges and middle. Maybe the edges were just the tiniest bit crispier. By no means was this a soft and tender cookie, probably due to the fact that it’s made with bread flour. There were large disks of chocolate that weren’t melty but weren’t solid either. The flavor was almost perfect, not too sweet and very balanced with a distinctive caramelized brown sugar flavor. This was my favorite of the NYC cookies! Edge: 2.5 Middle: 2.5 Chocolate: 3 Cookie: 3.5 Taste: 3.5 Total: 17/25 Follow along as I search for the world’s best chocolate chip cookie: methodology, what makes a good cookie, and a list of all the cookies I’ve eaten, right here. [caption id="attachment_30566" align="alignnone" width="1450"] Jacques Torres's famous Chocolate Chip Cookie[/caption]
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“hi, yes to both! it might be a bit thin in a 13x9, so just be aware and keep an eye on it so it doesn’t over cook. If ...”Stephanie on Easiest Corn Pudding RecipePopular
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