Today is the 10th Anniversary of this here website. It was 10 years ago a few weeks ago, that I finally decided that I should put some of my recipes and photos online and Ben was nice enough to help me set up the initial iteration of the site. Ten years later, over 1500 recipes, I am still going strong. Who knew that I could keep a hobby going with such gusto!
The Superbowl is this weekend, and like I often remind people this time of year, I am not an American Football fan, so I don’t have a specific team to follow, but I do watch. And it’s always a good excuse to make party snacks. Here I made some Bacon Cheddar Potato Skins …. oh so good. When I make these, I always try to find the smallest Russet potatoes that I can — like about the size of my palm. Often they are so big that you could make a boat out of them. Definitely aim for the smallest potatoes you can find here, but don’t sub out other smaller varieties like yukon gold or red potatoes; waxy potatoes won’t work here.
These are a little time consuming (the making the baked potatoes first) but they are very much worth the effort. Yummy!
I think Pears are woefully underrated. Apple Pies, peach cobbler, but less often do you find pears in the dessert spectrum. Well, the other day, I came across some Caramel Cardamom Honey Spread and thought it matched well with pears, so I decided to make some of my usual crumble bars. Success! These are great and I will definitely make them again.
One of my stated foodie goals to start the year is that I want to experiment more with heirloom and artisanal grains and such in my cooking and baking so I decided first up is lentils. These are black or beluga lentils, which hold their shape quite nicely when you prepare them. They have a bit of a rice like flavor and would do well as a side dish, if you want to up the protein and get rid of some carbs. This salad was a great lunch, flavor packed with the peppery arugula and tangy feta. Definitely a make again for me.
As you folks are well aware, I sometimes have this tendency to put “unusual” flavor combinations together. Today is no exception, though I don’t think that this combination is all that odd. I give you: Pistachio and Wild Cherry Thumbprint Cookies. Ground pistachios in the dough and sprinkled on top, fantastic wild cheery jam (literally the best jam that I have ever tasted!) in the “thumbprints”. Great combo, in my opinion. If you can’t find cherry jam, plum or apricots would also be good substitutes.