Homemade Bagels

I could write a lot about bagels.

Ode to Vermont Salad

Looking back at all my previous blog posts, I realize that I can come across as a little one-dimensional. This post will both reinforce that idea while also dispelling it. I can be a bit of a Vermont-loving, comfort food-makin’ one trick pony. I can’t help but be inspired by Vermont and I can’t help loving warm, comforting food. But I do, in fact, branch out. With the arrival of spring (or so I’m told. It’s currently snowing in NYC), comes my craving for fresh and healthy foods. What better way to welcome the spring than by making a big ole salad inspired by my trip to Vermont last weekend (is anyone really surprised)?

Breakfast Hand Pies (formerly known as Pop Tarts)

I love a good kitchen adventure. While it’s important that I have my regular and dependable recipes to pull out when needed, I also want to try making something new every now and then. I mean, let’s live life, amirite? Who wants to become the predictable girl who always brings the same Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt into the office? Not me. So last week, inspired by both King Arthur Flour’s instagram and a snack-loving coworker, I set out to make my very own Pop-Tarts®. Let’s just call them Breakfast Hand Pies.

A Pinch of Leftovers: Bacon, Brussels, & Pea Quiche

This right here is a perfect leftover dish. You can use almost any leftovers you have in a quiche, and quiche itself makes for great, no-fuss leftovers. I went so far as to use a leftover store-bought, pre-made pie crust (we’re not getting super fancy here – we’re cooking with what we have on a weeknight). Or, at least, I tried to use a leftover pre-made crust. It was from a year and a half ago (from that French week of cooking that I somehow keep talking about) and when I unrolled it, it crumbled everywhere. UGH. What I had hoped would be an easy evening was, like the pie crust, crumbling around me.

Let me begin at the beginning.

Pasta Alla Carbonara

What feels like a month ago forever ago, I took a cooking class with my dad, good ole Chris, at the Brooklyn Kitchen (otherwise known as that place that takes all my money every time I go in). I took him there as a Christmas present, so the class choice was all his to make. Brooklyn Kitchen has so many different classes to choose from and they’re constantly changing. Some stay the same due to popularity, like the Roberta’s pizza making class. Chris didn’t feel the need to attend that one because the recipe is online and he’s already mastered it, so he doesn’t need anyone to teach it to him. (I’ll back him up – my dad makes mad good pizzas, y’all.) If you’ve ever met him, you’ll probably know that he loves Rome from that one time he visited. And you’ll probably also know that on that visit, he had the best pasta alla carbonara ever at this small, hole-in-the-wall, local place. So when we saw there was a February Taste of Rome class in which we would make carbonara (as well as amatriciana* and cacio e pepe), my dad was sold. We were going.

Cinnamon Rolls with a Maple Cream Cheese Glaze

Several months ago, a coworker of mine gave me a gallon of pure maple syrup. She got it as a gift for Christmas and said she’d never go through all of it. In my Vermont crazed mind, I thought I would go through all of it super quickly. You can do a lot with maple syrup! And, I don’t know if you knew this, I love Vermont. (see here, here, and here)