Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Tartlets

Left over pie crust + fresh rhubarb from the garden = Strawberry Rhubarb Tartlets!

Decadent French Toast

So I made some Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread  the other day, and then decided the perfect way to eat it for breakfast was french toast. I probably had this for breakfast three days in a row--it was so delicious. The key to this french toast is letting it soak for a few minutes before putting it in the pan. Also because the bread was homemade, the insides get so soft and gooey when you turn it into french toast. So yummy! 

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

Dorie Greenspan is a lovely lady. Recently I've been making sooo many things from her book Baking From My Home To Yours. Everything turns out so lovely. Here is a recipe from the book for cinnamon swirl bread. Sadly I didn't get a good picture of the bread before we ate it all up. I do have a picture of the bread in french toast form though, if you would like to see. This bread is not too complex, and fun to roll. I'm just imagining all of the delicious possibilities you could roll up inside this bread, beyond cinnamon and raisins.

Summer Salsa

I love salsa. You can't beat fresh salsa in the summertime, or anytime, really. I don't buy salsa at the store anymore because with just a little more work, you can make something tastier and better for you at home.  The other thing about salsa is that you can serve it on just about anything--meats, eggs, salads, with chips etc. Below is my own favorite recipe for quick, delicious salsa. You can substitute, omit, or add ingredients from your fridge or to your own taste. (I have added notes under the ingredients with my suggestions.)

All Delicious Apple Pie

Who does not love apple pie? Yes that's right, literally no one. Especially apple pie à la Mode. You can't get better than that. The other night my sister and I were craving just that, so we decided to whip one up. This recipe happened to produce probably one of the best apple pies I've had in my life. The crust was wonderfully flaky and the consistency of the filling was marvelous…2o minutes out of the oven and it still held its shape when the hot pie was cut. 

The recipe below is slightly adapted from the recipe in the wonderful book Baking by Dorie Greenspan. 

Rosemary Lemon Cake with Mascarpone Honey Frosting

I stumbled across a picture on Pinterest of a gorgeous baked alaska decorated with sunflowers and thought “ Wow I have to make that.” After reading the recipe, however, there were a lot of flaws to my plan.

The Perfect Bagels (Peter Reinhart adaptation)

I am currently obsessed. with BAGELS. I have been dreaming about bagels since my first real New York City bagel last March. About 4 weeks ago, I tried to make my own through a simple, quick, online recipe. They ended up pretty good, but then a week later I went to NJ/NYC again, and what do you know, I had some more bagels. On the flight back home, I decided that I was sick of being stuck in the middle of Illinois without access to these fresh deliciously soft and chewy pillows of wonderfulness. My quest for the perfect bagel recipe began, and through a quick google search, Peter Reinhart’s famous recipe popped up. Seeing all of the amazing reviews, I knew I had to give it a try.

I now owe so much to this magical bagel man, because these bagels not only satisfy my intense craving, but they make me want to make and eat these bagels 24 hours a day for the rest of my life.

The recipe is below, with my notes and tweaks.

Blueberry Almond Tart

The other day, Sara and I went down to Nashville to see The 1975 in concert. Before the show we stopped in a used bookstore and I found The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child, published in 1968! Honestly, Julia Child is one of my cooking idols and I was just so excited to find this book.

A few days later, I took a free afternoon and decided to make a creation that I had been thinking about for months. I turned to my new Julia Child cookbook and one of my old favorites Baking At Home by the Culinary Institute of America for some basic recipes.