What I made this weekend: Lemon soda

Can you tell I just bought lemons? Fresh lemon soda, even with the added sugar, is probably not as bad for you as a canned version, and infinite times more tasty.

What I made this weekend: Mushroom and celery salad

One of the difficulties I have with cooking, as I've mentioned, is using up the ingredients I buy, especially fresh produce, before they go bad and for things that I actually want to eat. This time it was a bunch of celery that I had bought a week ago, of which I had only used two stalks for chicken stock, that was sitting in my refrigerator, taunting me. I could have made vegetable soup or tuna salad, but was not in the mood for either (and then I would have ended up with a refrigerator full of prepared food that I didn't want to eat).

Then I remembered a salad I had at Supper of mushrooms, celery and shaved pecorino, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

What I made this weekend: Pancakes

Oh, how I wish my pancakes would always turn out perfectly every time! I grew up eating pancakes made from a box with 'pancake syrup' which, up until last year, I did not realize was different from maple syrup. I have very fond memories of eating these as a kid--not specific memories, just general ones that involved our very large electric griddle and the funny pages of the Sunday paper. The thing about pancakes from a box is that they turn out pretty well every time. The other thing about pancakes from a box is that they turn out pretty well every time. Isn't that kind of weird? Seriously, what is in that box?

Strawberries & Nutella

I'm addicted.

Lime and cilantro-spiked chicken noodle soup

Confession: I have never tried pho. For some reason, this seems like a rather egregious oversight as I greatly enjoy Vietnamese food in general. I suppose it's because when I did first try Vietnamese food, I stuck to bun, the cold noodle salad-esque dish, and summer rolls. Pho seemed rather exotic, with the thinly sliced, rare beef, that heaping plate of limes, bean sprouts, basil and cilantro (which I didn't know much about back then) and this strange, clear soup with noodles. Ironic, considering that a) I love noodle soups like Japanese udon and Korean neang-myun, and b) Korean neang-myun has got to be one of the strangest noodle soups a person can have, I mean it's cold soup for goodness sakes!

Simple homemade chicken broth

My culinary self-education has been an ongoing process. I have many mentors (primarily in the form of cookbooks and blogs), one of the first being Mark Bittman. Years ago his article on kitchen equipment caught my eye and had me hooked. So of course I read with great interest his suggestions on what ingredients to have on hand. Most of these I already adhere to. The chicken stock suggestion, however, was one that plagued me with some guilt.

Cupcakes with strawberries and whipped cream

Sam's 9th birthday
I have been making this cupcake recipe for years, after finding it published in the New York Times Magazine. It is incredibly easy, and practically no-fail. My cousin likes it so much she has requested it for her daughters' birthdays many years in a row. [My header photo consists of cupcakes made for Sam's wild west-themed birthday party a few years ago.] This year, we did a simple version with strawberries and whipped cream, because Sam loves strawberry shortcake. I experimented with decoration, eventually making a sort of flower-shaped arrangement with the strawberries, although if I had to do it over again, I kind of like this decoration:

Sun-dried tomato and goat cheese pasta

I'm kicking butt at the meal for one
It's rare for me to try a recipe for the first time and succeed. My first attempt is usually a mess, I'm always missing an ingredient and many times I have failed spectacularly (I'm talking to you, chicken and millet dish that I had to eat for about two weeks).

Usually I fail because inevitably I make changes to the recipe, often times adding too much of one thing and not enough of another. And, as I've mentioned, I'm trying to make single servings, which is what causes me to add too much of one thing and not enough of another.

However, this recipe for pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese is an exception.

Macaroni, tomato and goat cheese

Conquering the meal for one
I went to a wedding this past weekend. It was a blast, I danced like a fool. But there is nothing like a wedding to remind me of my singledom. Other than having to cook for myself.

Trying to make meals for one has been an ongoing dilemma for me. Actually it's more like a game. How many different meals can I use [insert perishable ingredient like cilantro] before it goes bad, and before I get sick of it? This is a game that I think I might be winning--as you can see from the first posts, I managed to eat a lot of kale, in what I consider to be several distinct ways.

Kale, in three parts: Part 3

Kale quiche-in-a-pan--an experiment gone terribly wrong, then marvelously rightMost of the time, I plan what I want to cook ahead of time: I know exactly what I want to make and I'll get the appropriate ingredients. Once in a while, I'll decide to prepare something with what I have on hand, which is always a bit of a risk as I am not one of those cooks that can spontaneously pair ingredients together and make a successful dish.

It was a Sunday night, I had spent the weekend doing my usual: lots of chores, some errands, shopping, meeting friends, cooking... when I realized I had not prepared anything for breakfast for the week. This was problematic.

Kale, in three parts: Part 2

Chicken sausage, bean, and kale stew

I tore this recipe out of Real Simple because the picture looked so delicious, and I love kale. I bought the chicken sausage at Faicco's, one of those places where you have to order everything at the counter. I love those kind of places. I'm sure you could use dried beans but I have yet to cook with dried beans (in fact, I am a little intimidated by the idea as I am by the idea of roasting a chicken) and besides, the recipe uses canned. My method is slightly different than the original recipe.

Kale, in three parts: Part 1

One a.m. kale with egg on toastI have enjoyed kale since my friend introduced it to me a few years ago at a dinner party. She had simply sauteed it with oil, then added some soy sauce, serving it as a side dish at her Asian-themed meal. I immediately tried my own version, sauteeing it with some melted anchovy fillets and garlic in olive oil. Sometimes I would add it to some linguine with a bit of pecorino or gruyere. While I loved the texture and the taste of kale, I was sort of at a loss as to other ways to prepare it.

As if on cue, I read this on Bitten about kale. Egg and kale--it was a revelation.