Welcome to another installment of “What I Made This Week.”
To be honest, not a ton of cooking has gone down in my kitchen this week. We made a huge feast for Easter which lasted us for a few days & then we treated ourselves to take out one night. We needed a break from not only cooking, but doing the dishes as well!!
Most of the recipes I tried this week were from Ina Garten’s cookbook, Back to Basics. If you couldn’t tell already, I’m a huge Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) fan. I think her cookbooks include relatable recipes, but also some pretty fancy meals perfect for special occasions.
My big winner of the week was baking my own bread. I literally did not know how simple it could be. I found a recipe that doesn’t require a bread baker or any kneading. It is time consuming in the sense you have to let it sit for hours on end, but it is SO worth it. You do need yeast, so try to get your hands on it next time you go grocery shopping.
So here is what we made this week:
From Ina Garten’s Back to Basics Cookbook:
- Parmesan Roasted Broccoli (page 172)- AMAZING! Cheesy broccoli with citrusy lemon!
- Honey Vanilla Pound Cake (page 208)- Great flavor! Something I would definitely bring to someone’s house as a simple hostess gift
- Baked Chocolate Pudding (page 218)- you NEED to make this ASAP. I made some substitutes (I didn’t have vanilla bean seeds to I used Vanilla extract instead). This dessert tastes like a brownie with a molten chocolate middle. It’s super sweet so might not be for everyone. But it tastes great with vanilla ice cream. We ate the whole thing!
- Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits (page 228)- these came out so much better than the biscuits I made the week before. Much better served right out of the oven!
Recipes from Other Blogs
- Healthy Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups from Rachael Good Eats– I thought these were great! It felt like an indulgent treat, but with less calories than the original. Alex thinks they need a bit more chocolate!
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from AnotherTablespoon– another recipe from Sue that is a staple in my house. I feel like everyone is baking Banana bread these days! I purposely buy bananas just so I can make this recipe! Now I just need to get my hands on some more chocolate chips so I can make another loaf.
Recipes from Pinterest
- No Knead Bread– the best homemade bread ever! And so easy to make!!! This is Mark Bittman’s recipe from The NY Times so you know it’s good!
Recipes from my Blog
- Garlic Mussels in White Wine Sauce– I posted this recipe on Monday. Here is it again in case you missed it!