thanksgiving

So this thanksgiving I am contributing 2 things - vegetarian gravy (no poor helpless turkey throat in MY gravy, thank you very much) and this gorgeous perfect delish cake. i made a mini-cupcake variation of this for my sister in law's "meet the baby" party, where all my mom's friends came to meet gorgeous Finley.
they were g.o.o.d.
so i'm makin the real deal holyfield for tomorrow!

yum city!

recipe via bonappetit

The recipe is fairly simple, and it's easier than it looks.

I'm excited! off to the grocery store!

the most gorgeous

how delish does this look!

and...

...wait for it...

it's vegan!

Pan-Fried Three Mushroom Dumplings

thanks designsponge for making all my dreams come true.

cherry, cherry

yay! i'm makin this baby today.





thanks, martha.

UPDATE:
srsly the best thing i've ever eaten.
plus, so easy it hurts.

when life gives you lemonz

make lemon bars!

I am a huge fan of Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook by Kathleen King (hey, any King is a friend of mine). I have made nearly everything in this book but one of my abso faves is the Dot's Lemon Bars. They are the perfect mix of tart and sweet, and i'm feeling tarty and sweet-ish, so bring on the baking.

In case you wanna get baked, here is the recipe for you.

Dot's Lemon Bars
Yield: 16 squares

Ingredients:
(this is the best part - you most likely have all these things in your kitchen already)

BASE:
1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

LEMON TOPPING
4 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

TO MAKE THE BASE:
In a medium bowl, miz the butter, flour, and sugar with your hands till the mixture is well blended. Place the mixture in a 9x13 inch pan. Pat the mixture evenly on the bottom of pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

TO MAKE THE TOPPING:
While the base is baking, beat the eggs. Add the sugar and lemon zest. Mix thtoroughly. Add the flour and mix it till it is incorporated.
When the base is baked, remove the pan from the oven (duh). Add the lemon juice to the sugar mixture and mix. Pour it over the warm base and bake it for 20 minutes.
When it is cool, cut it into squares. Dust it with more confectioners' sugar, if desired. (the recipe says they look prettier sugared, but taste better plain - i personally prefer the confectioners sugar dusting, but it's your call)

Eat.

club med

i made this delicious pasta for din din tonight. it was really easy and i suggest you make it! the only weird thing about the recipe is that it says the wine evaporates in 2 minutes and it took at least 6 for me.... but it was still med-licious!


recipe for mediterranean pasta w artichokes (yum!), olives (yum!), and tomatoes (double yum!)

soba schmoba

i made this yummy dish on monday it boy was she a delish dish!


recipe for
soba noodles with tofu, avocado and snow peas.

thanks martha.

easter sunday cake

this is what i made! i made a tiny ramekin for me and jamie to sample and it was deeeee-vine.

it looks GROSS, i have to say. i dont know why - but it really is not something i would cut into at the buffet table.

however, it tastes like a dream.

my momma loves cranberries thats why i made it. (she saved a bag in her freezer, otherwise this would have been a thanksgiving cake!)

Note to Reader: This picture below is complete bullshit. This cake does NOT, nor will it ever look like it does below. I was very disappointed when i turned the cake out of the pan. however, when that baby did the cha cha on my taste buds all my book judging instincts went out the window!

recipe found (duh) here

break-fast

breakfast is a weird word.
i made some in the shape of a heart, as all things should be.
it was really easy and turned out SO cute.
it's pretty self evident how to do it, but if you click on the picture it is
WAY bigger and you can see instructions!

yummy yumsnip yum

i bought a new food processor today!
i'm makin this tomorrow!

the actual recipe can be viewed here

maybe?

this miiiight not be legal but i mean, i see no harm in re posting something i have paid for. i made blueberry muffins this morning and i have to say they are the EASIEST things i've ever made and they were like, really freakin good. i take zero credit for the wonderfulness of this recipe, as it belongs to Tate's bakery (best baking recipes i've ever tasted and really really easy).

Blueberry Muffins
(you can add any fruit, really, but blueberries are called for here)

ingdts: 3 cups all-purpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup salted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups fresh or frozen berries (i used fresh as it takes a lot of the crazy sweetness away)

preheat oven to 400 degrees. grease twelve muffin cups. (i had a little extra so made whatever was left in a second batch)

in a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.

in a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, milk, and eggs. whisk the mixture until it is combined.

combine the butter mixture with the dry ingredients and mix it lightly until just moistened. fold in the blueberries, spoon the mixture evenly into prepared muffin cups.

bake them for 25 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester or a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of one muffin.

yields 12 muffinz. (for me it yielded 15!)

tate's

i'm making tate's uhhhhmazing chocolate chip cookie recipe!

yay!!

i made-a a pizza-a pie-a!

so i made a pizza. i'd only ever made english muffin pizzas, which my mom always made me when i was little. a little english muffin, with olive oil, some ragu and some shredded mozzerella....

and while those are delicious they didn't compare in the
awesomeness that was this-a pizza-a pie-a!
i also made some parsnip fries as a little side dish (super yum!)


see below for pics of my pizza adventure!!

long live mario!

pizza recipe via (you guessed it!) martha stewart.
pizza sauce recipe
parsnip fries recipe

bon appetit!

ok so i was DEVASTATED when domino closed. like, "i am calling conde nast and cancelling all subscriptions effective immmmmmediately!" not that they would have given a rat's tiddly wink. but, i have found a newer, not as clever, but just as useful boyfriend. a rebound if you will. i switched the remainder of my domino's for... wait for it wait for it....

bon appetit!

(if you hadn't guessed it in the headline you should really go back to school.
night classes. enroll online. whatever)

lazy-agna here i come!

ok ok i know "ugh martha" but i can't help it!!
everything is so good!
and there are so many recipes!!

(ps - i turned on the lights and i felt way less depressed. that plus 2 beers - definite mood changer)

vegetable lasagna night! yee!

click here for recipe

UPDATE: LAZY-AGNA DEEEEEEEEEELISH!

cupcakes cupcakes everywhere!

i made more yesterday. the plan was to "make cupcakes with my mom" but my kitchen is small and i work best alone. so she sat and watched me. anyway, these are delicious i just did a regular vanilla cupcake recipe with mashed bananas, flour dusted chocolate chips (to keep them from sinking to the bottom), a little bit of cinnamon and poof! and again, the martha frosting! so easy it hurts.


look at my little cupcakes!

and we ate it too...

i made the rainbow cake! and it worked!

i used a yellow cake recipe from the new Tate's Cookies Cookbook and a Martha Stewart vanilla frosting recipe - and they were both great. I added some chocolate chips to the top of the cake and really, it was yummy!

you could easily do this with box cake too, and forget the gel colors, just use regular old food coloring works well.

Just blob the layers on top of eachother. don't mix them around, just blob, and it will settle correctly.

also this would work really cute with different shades of blue or pink, or something like that.

it looked so cool!!!!!

see pics below.





click here for Martha Stewart's Vanilla Frosting Recipe
(the frosting was so delicious and easy, I have no excuse
to ever buy a can of frosting again)
like, seriously.

so i ain't martha, but..

i tried these cupcakes that were in the feb issue of God's Gift Monthly/Martha Stewart Living.

they looked exactly like the magazine until i got my hands on the cake decorating pastry bag and it kind of all went downhill. the recipe calls for melted white chocolate as the decoration but i'd try buttercream frosting or something softer for a novice. next time they will go better, but for now this is my first try. the cupcake part and the glaze were really easy, though!

see pictures of le process below!
the first picture has the magazine's version of them - my handwriting is decidedly less award-winning.

pre-glaze

i made a few for our new neighbors, so hopefully they won't think i have no life.

i just had one and they are really good! the bittersweet chocolate glaze is "bittersweet", so next time i'd probably use semi-sweet chocolate to make it a bit more sugary!

the recipe isn't available online but i will type it up tomorrow and blerg it!

jamie just tried one and said "fucking delicious"! so yay!

he said the cake part is perfect, so i am quite proud at this moment.

highly recommended
(all except the writing part - it takes the difficulty to another level. its not hard, but its "more")

tiramisu update. you know you were waiting

BEST THING EVER! so freaking easy it's embarrassing. like, so great.

recipe here

:::easy tiramisu, attempt one:::

i am about to leave for the italian shop at chelsea market so i can endeavor "easy tiramisu". easy my ass, but if it isn't complete bullshit i will post recipe. if it is a complete and total lie that its "easy", i will buy something on the corner and pretend i made it.

OH. MY. GOD.

recipe via the omnomnicon

look. at. this. cake.
i am officially dying. can you IMAGINE being a kid and cutting into this cake!!?!? anyway, i haven't made it yet so i don't know how simple the recipe is, but it's DEFINITELY worth a look. i know when i have kids i will completely totally make it.