I think I have just about made all of the eggplant dishes in this book. I added this simple side dish to the dinner menu one evening. It was easy to put together and I enjoyed trying some new ingredients while creating the glaze. But, we were not a fan of this recipe. It just…

This was a variation on the first ricotta cheese. The name pretty much says it all. Same process as before. Here’s the final ricotta with vinegar. Who would think such a minor change would make such a big difference. This one curdled better and I thought had better flavor. Round two of homemade calzones! page…

Making this ricotta couldn’t have been simpler. Do a little heating of ingredients. Pour the liquid through some cheesecloth. Let it sit. And then you have ricotta! We used this batch on some homemade calzones. page 48

Generally, when we eat ribs we go for the pork kind. But I took one afternoon and let these beef ribs cook away for hours. Getting them ready for the oven. 4 and 1/2 hours in there! I used the parchment paper technique. Here it is right after I removed the ribs from the oven….

This cake certainly lives up to its name. It tasted exactly like creamsicle. And it was yum! Kids and parents enjoyed this recipe. I had never before purchased an actual vanilla bean. Here it is. This bean shows my lack of knowledge. I thought I’d be getting seeds out of the inside – not exactly…

My husband regularly eats tofu. He’s the guy that goes into Chipotle and orders the sofritas for his burrito. And my husband loves any type of “vegetable stuff” over rice (especially if it is spicy), so this recipe was a winner. He took it to work for leftovers a couple of days in a row,…

In this recipe, Sara explains how the tops of some vegetables are edible, even though we usually throw them away. The sautéed tops reminded me of eating spinach. And the taste and texture of the radishes were completely different from eating them raw. I love eating a raw radish, but this was a nice change….

50 recipes! (technically 53 if you count those three speciality butters). I am trying new foods, different cooking techniques, and challenging my culinary skills. My kids talk about “the cookbook” and my husband is thrilled that I finally have a hobby other than doing research. Looking forward to completing the remaining 125 recipes! On to…

For the New Year’s Eve party that we attended, I took these deviled eggs. Using that super easy boiling method. The mix before adding the egg yolks. And after adding the yolks. And the final eggs. Whew. I’m not going to lie. The addition of the white truffle oil made these so rich. I could…