Apple-Cranberry Fruit Crisp

As we approach the year’s end once again, food seems to gain more and more attention, with desserts in particular gathering the majority of it. My workplace seems to revolve around food to a large degree on a normal basis and so as you might imagine, this time of year requires a huge reservoir of willpower even from the most devout of the health conscious. This week we  exemplified that with our first Autumn potluck in which we had to make a dish beginning with the first letter of our last name (no, I did not orchestrate this). Being as how I had about 4 pounds of Granny Smith apples on hand, an apple crisp was the first thing that popped into my head.

Butternut Squash Cappelletti/Tortellini

I have promised my fiancee Viviane that I will not use my new pasta maker until she arrives to the US. Friday was one of those days where I had a mean craving for some pasta, and that machine was sitting there on my counter all silvery, shining like a new trophy, and just begging for me to break it in. Well, as I am definitely a believer in waiting for a good thing, I resisted using it and took out the rolling pin instead. Viviane had shown me some pictures of pumpkin tortelli recently that looked delicious and since I had just bought a nice butternut squash from the local produce stand, the idea to make something similar to that tortelli came upon me and hence the Butternut Squash Cappelletti idea was born. This is what I did:

Drop Biscuits from Scratch

This morning I happened to be in the baking mood and so I decided to make an old breakfast favorite of my kids, biscuits and gravy. Of course it is easier to make them from a packaged mix like Bisquick or the refrigerated dough tubes, but homemade almost always tastes better. This time was no exception. These biscuits were absolutely delicious! Try them for yourselves and taste the difference!

Pizza from Scratch (Chicken-Garlic and Pepperoni-Pineapple)

Pizza is probably one of the most consumed dishes of all here in the USA. This is probably because it is relatively cheap and there are such a variety of ways to prepare it that there is bound to be a combination of crust, sauce, and topping selections to please nearly anyone. There are thin, crispy crusts for those who enjoy a New York style pie; thicker, doughier crusts for those who like the West Coast style; and even the infamous Chicago style with another layer of crust on top of the entire pie. Sauces range from pesto to ranch to creamy-garlic to marinara, while the list of possible toppings are too many to list here.

Mandarin Quinoa Stir Fry – An Intercontinental Fusion

Although I like great tasting food as much as the next guy, I do tend to pay attention to my health and diet. All of those college biology courses might be to blame, but I I have also had an innate interest in health since I was just a little tike. Recently I have been on a workout routine that requires me to have a large amount of good quality protein in my diet. As I don’t want to overload myself with too much saturated fat, I began considering adding some plant sources to meet my protein needs and lo and behold I came across Quinoa.

So You Think You Have Taste? – A Blind Tasting

Word on the street is that vision plays a large role in how we all perceive food. Since I first heard about Zee’s blind-tasting challenge, I have been curious to try it out. Initially I could not imagine having much trouble figuring out what I am tasting just because my sense of sight was taken away by a blindfold. However, I reasoned that for blind tasting to be so popular there must be some difficulty involved in it.

Halibut with Mango Salsa

I have been feeling the cooking bug this week for some reason. I made a few unique dishes over the course of the week that might have been nice to post, but I have been too crunched for time to snap photos and make a blog entry. Today was a little different. I went to my parents’ house with the kids and realized they were both going to be working for the next several hours. This was the perfect opportunity to prepare dinner for them and to give my cooking fiend mom a night off.

Scones for Tea?

My daughter came home from school on Thursday with an invitation from her teacher for full tea at high noon on Sunday. She seemed excited about the idea as you might expect most little girls would be prior to such an event. What girl doesn’t like the idea of dressing up, using dainty table settings, and practicing her outrageous British accent for an hour or so? The invitation was for seven girls in her class and at the bottom it read “You may bring food or snacks appropriate for afternoon tea,” along with an in-character reference to parents’ vehicles as carriages when announcing child pick-up times.

A Knefeh Dessert Experience

Last weekend was the perfect opportunity for me to make the knefeh for the challenge. I wanted my family to try it since it is not something that one finds on the average menu here in the USA. So after the kids finished school for the week and the rain set in a bit, I decided I would prepare this for all the house’s cooped up occupants.

Chicken Tikka Masala with Naan

I got a chance to make the chicken tikka masala recipe the other day for my family and so jumped on the opportunity. I made the dish with no changes from the challenge recipe as this was my first time making it. The flavor was very similar to the one served in the local Indian restaurant here I love so much and surprisingly it was not that difficult to make!