RJ – Page 22 – Ryan Bakes It

January Cooking Round-Up

Published on February 10, 2021March 10, 2026 by RJLeave a comment

This past January, I made a number of Ina Garten recipes. I covered soup, chicken, Mexican, and vegetables. I really made a dent in January, with eight recipes. I think that is the most I’ve made in a month so far. I even made some dessert recipes!

Click on the links below to read the recipe reviews.

I started off with one of Ina’s favorite foods: chicken. But, I was feeling the need for comfort food, so I scoured her latest cookbook Modern Comfort Food for a worthwhile recipe. Boy, did Ina’s Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas hit the spot!

Read about the recipe here!

As a side dish for the enchiladas, I wanted to keep the Mexican theme going. So, I found a corn recipe that paired wonderfully with the enchiladas. Confetti Corn was so tasty and so easy to make! You can read about it right here.

Next, I made a dessert recipe. Ina Garten’s Ultimate Ginger Cookie really is something that should be tasted! I crystallized ginger adds a not-so-subtle flavor and “bite” to the cookie. Though these were tasty, they are not my favorite cookie. But, they can definitely be used as a wonderful fall dessert. If you want to read my review of the recipe, click here.

You know me and desserts! I can’t get enough of them!! So, I stayed with the dessert theme for the next Ina recipe I made in January. This time, it was Chocolate Chunk Blondies. This was a cross between a cookie and brownie. Filled with chocolate chunks, these will definitely satisfy any chocolate craving. These are for sure to be added to my recipe repetoire. Wanna hear more about these wonderful blondies? Here is the link.

The next recipe? More veggies! Orange-Braised Carrots and Parsnips introduced me to a new cooking method and I couldn’t be more pleased. Parsnips are totally an underrated vegetable. They can do more than just jazz up your mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving and Christmas! Read about braising and how these carrots tasted at the link.

Ina’s Lemon Chicken Breasts are a wonderfully light dinner than can be made any night of the week. With hints of Italian and French herbs, this recipe cooks up fast!

To go with the Lemon Chicken, I made a vegetable dish. Roasted Broccoli with Panko Gremolata looks elegant but it couldn’t be any easier to make. In fact, roasting vegetables is a great way to bring out the great flavor of vegetables without slaving over the stove. Read about the broccoli was dressed up right here!

To close out the month of January, I made a soup. Snow was predicted (and arrived) so having soup on hand was a must! Ina’s Winter Minestrone and Garlic Bruschetta filled us with tasty veggies and wonderful plant-based protein. Read about this flavorful soup here.

Let me know if you try these recipes! Do you agree with me? Let me know in the comments below!!

Hearty Vegetable Quinoa Soup

Published on February 9, 2021March 10, 2026 by RJ2 Comments

On Friday, I made this wonderful soup that tasted so yummy. An added bonus? It’s vegan! This soup is a wonderful soup to make because its essentially a one-pot meal. It has veggies, grains, and proteins all in one recipe! It will definitely save you some time in the kitchen while also ticking off some nutrient requirements.

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My Go-To Plant-Based Cookbooks

Published on February 8, 2021March 10, 2026 by RJ4 Comments

Even though this is an Ina Garten cook-through blog, I have been broadening my recipe stash and blog posts since the beginning of 2021. Every so often I take a break from Ina’s recipes and when I do, I try to go plant-based. Over the years, I’ve toyed with going vegetarian or full-on vegan. As of yet, that has yet to happen…just look at a few recipe reviews posts.

However, I am still trying to include more plants in my diet on a regular basis. Thus, I have amassed a collection of cookbooks — both in print and on my Kindle e-reader — that have come in handy over the last couple of months.

Below, I have included photos of some of my favorites. You’ll notice that many of them are “general cookbooks.” The huge tomes that cover the gambit. Think Joy of Cooking but for plant eaters!

This book was one of the first vegetarian cookbooks I purchased! It is still a great reference and resource for me. Plus with Bittman’s extensive knowledge of all types of culinary escapades, I feel good making one of these recipes since I can trust them.

This book has a much different tone than that of Mark Bittman’s book. The author’s humor and love for food easily comes across on each page. There are some great recipes in here, and Dragonwagon’s approach to plant-based meals is much more loosey-goosey than other authors. This makes it a great book for beginners!

I call this one the “Vegan Bible.” It literally has every recipe you could ever want as a vegan. I highly recommend this book, especially since many of the recipes are approachable, even for those starting out on a vegan journey. If you are looking to buy a vegan cookbook, make it this one!

Some books that I have on my Kindle e-reader include:

Love Real Food by Kathryne Taylor, the creator of the food blog Cookie + Kate. It has many wonderful recipes that are whole food and plant-based. One added benefit is many of them include ways in which to make the recipe vegan or gluten free.

American’s Test Kitchen The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook by the Chefs at America’s Test Kitchen. While I know that the Mediterranean Diet is not vegetarian or vegan, it is plant-based. It uses animal protein to supplement the plant-based proteins. Even if you ignore the meat-based chapters, there are still some wonderful, tried and true recipes in this book!

I hope you enjoyed this peek into a small section of my cookbook shelf.

Until next time…

Today’s Snow is Prettier

Published on February 7, 2021February 7, 2021 by RJLeave a comment

The snow is more fluffy today than last week. This is the type of white stuff that I like! Much easier to shovel and usually the storm passes much quicker.

Even though we are getting snow, I’m not making bread. I’ve done a lot of baking this weekend! I’ve been recipe-testing a new cookie recipe. It should be ready for posting soon!

Today, I’m making chicken soup.

If This Isn’t the Calm Before the Storm, then I Don’t Know What Is…

Published on February 6, 2021March 10, 2026 by RJLeave a comment

Many of these were taken around my property, but the weather was so nice today that I took a walk in the neighborhood. I was able to snap a few more photos. One my walk I was able to hear the birds chirping and the snow melting off my roof.

Too bad that will all change in less than 24 hours. More snow is on the way! Granted, not as much as last weekend, but still.

And this stuff was just starting to melt away, too….

I finished the cutting prep for tonight’s soup! I’m glad I save the time now, so I’m not freaking out later. I can’t want to share recipe with you all next week. Now, I can start baking cookies. I can almost smell them already.

I store my chopped vegetables in a bag for simple storage and easy clean up when it comes time to make the soup. These ingredients will all go into the soup at the same time, so one bag is all I needed. Otherwise, I would divide the ingredients by when they are added to the pot.

My Morning Drink of Choice? Black Tea

Published on February 5, 2021February 4, 2021 by RJLeave a comment

Ever since I graduated college, I drank tea in the morning upon waking up. It’s not that during college I was a coffee drinker, because that wasn’t the case either. I just never really enjoyed coffee. It wasn’t until I started working and got involved with theater once again that I would drink coffee and even then it’s only certain flavors. It’s still extremely rare for me to down a cup of coffee.

I guess I’m just not a coffee person, no matter how hard I want to be.

My love of tea has been a steady one. It is now part of my routine. I wake up and immediately fill the teapot with water and bring it to a boil. While it’s heating, I reach for my mug in the cabinet, place a teabag inside it, and wait for teapot to whirl with steam. Once it’s calling to me, I pour the hot liquid over the tea bag, cover it with my cup lid, and let the black tea steep for six or seven minutes. Yes, that long! I like it strong.

Depending on my mood, I’ll add some stevia or some honey, especially if I have a sore throat. But most mornings, I drink it black. Adding sweeteners to my tea is even more of a rare occurrence since last summer. That’s when I started cutting out excess sugar and processed foods.

On a related note, I do sometimes drink herbal tea as well. But this is rarely done in the morning. I tend to save the herbals for the evenings or in the afternoon on a snowy or rainy day. My herbal tea choices often coincide with the season: fruitier flavors in the summer; warmer, spice-flavored (like apple cinnamon) ones in the fall. Peppermint in the winter. These are almost never consumed with milk or an added sweetener. I find that adding to these teas overpowers the natural flavor of the herbals or the overall flavor it is trying to convey. Lately I’ve found that I’m drinking more dessert flavored teas at night. Red Rose makes some amazing teas that taste just like a blueberry muffin or a slice of lemon cake. They may quell your “need” for something sweet after dinner. You can find them on Amazon here.

Anyway, I digress…

What is your drink of choice in the morning? Are you more of a coffee person?

Cooking Thoughts Week of 2/1/21

Published on February 4, 2021February 19, 2021 by RJLeave a comment

This week I am planning to move away from Ina Garten when it comes to my weekly Friday cooking. As of this moment, I am planning to make a vegetarian dish. Probably a soup. It seems like this time of year, my family enjoys having soup in the house on the weekends.

But the question remains….what soup?

Barefoot Contessa Recipe #30: Winter Minestrone and Garlic Bruschetta

Published on February 3, 2021March 10, 2026 by RJ2 Comments

This recipe can be found in Foolproof, page 53.

Last Friday was really cold! Like really, really cold. Mother Nature was definitely preparing us for more than a foot of snow we got on Monday. But, with the colder weather on Friday, I decided that a soup would be the perfect dinner. Of course, I made an Ina soup!

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Spiral Cookbooks?

Published on February 2, 2021February 19, 2021 by RJLeave a comment

Does anyone else like spiral-bound cookbooks? Personally, I love them! I think they hold up much better than hardcover, and especially softcover ones. It’s a shame that they aren’t printed more often. I guess I’m in the minority on this opinion. After all, publishing is a business.