“Cooking is not difficult. Everyone has taste, even if they don’t realize it. Even if you’re not a great chef, there’s nothing to stop you understanding the difference between what tastes good and what doesn’t.”
–Gerard Depardieu
The Journey
Ina Garten Recipe #31 – Perfect Roast Chicken
This recipe is from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, page 130.
It’s been a minute since I’ve made an Ina Garten recipe, hasn’t it?
In fact, I think this is the first recipe I made of hers in the month of February. Guess I won’t be matching or beating last month’s total of 8 recipes!
Anyway, I decided to make an Ina classic this time. In fact, I think many fans of her show would argue that this is one of her signature dishes. Roast Chicken!!
Continue reading “Ina Garten Recipe #31 – Perfect Roast Chicken”
Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken
This weekend ended up being a bit busier than I expected. Instead of cooking on Friday, I chose to make dinner on Saturday. I once again I chose to use items in the pantry and give the wallet a little reprieve from the Ina Garten recipes. But, do not worry! An Ina recipe review will be posted on the blog later in the week!
This is a Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe that I’ve been making for a few years now. It’s also really easy since it uses store-bought ingredients. It stems from when I was in college and didn’t have the time or the patience to make everything myself. Plus, grocery stores have come a long way when it comes to the international food aisle. There are now some great options in there!
The recipe is below and I hope you’ll give it a try!
Continue reading “Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken”Starting the Day…
Weekend Photos I
Looks like something tasty is in the works! Cold holiday weekends are for baking, what else is there to do?!?!
Cooking Update 2/12/2021
Tonight for dinner I am making a chicken dish that I created myself. But, it has been quite some time since I made it last. In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I made it! I do plan to post the recipe for my Sweet & Sour Chicken early next week. The best part? It’s so easy and quick to make thanks to the use of some store-bought ingredients!
Some Great Valentine’s Day Desserts
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! With the pandemic still affecting “normal life,” I figured most people would be spending more time indoors this weekend. And if you live in the North East, like I do, we may be getting an ice storm! Yay for winter!! (Is it spring yet??….anyone….)
Anyway….I decided to scour the interwebs to find some Valentine’s Day worthy desserts that you can whip up and serve to a loved one. If you try one of these, let me know what you thought of it in the comments down below!
Continue reading “Some Great Valentine’s Day Desserts”
January Cooking Round-Up
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
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.
Continue reading “Hearty Vegetable Quinoa Soup”
My Go-To Plant-Based Cookbooks
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…
