Recipe Maverick

Browsing Archive: December, 2009

Pesto and Pepper Omelette

Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, December 29, 2009, In : Breakfast 


    You must know how happy I am about finding yet another food that tastes good with pesto. For a long time, I had no idea how to make a good omelette. My attempts at omelettes had a way of always turning into scrambled eggs, which are fine when you make them on purpose, but disappointing when you want an omelette. After practicing and watching lots of cooking shows, I am now able to make a successful omelette most of the time. The trick is to use a nonstick pan, don't skimp on the olive oil...

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Daring Bakers Challenge: Gingerbread House

Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, December 27, 2009, In : Desserts 


    The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

    This was a fun challenge for me, because I'd never made a gingerbread house from scratch before. In the past, I've always used kits or graham crackers, and the fo...

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Santa Toast, Holiday Traditions

Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, December 24, 2009, In : Random 


    It was not by a miracle that this vaguely Santa-like image appeared on my toast. Every year, my family designs and manufactures our own Christmas card to send out to our friends and relatives, and this year we decided to do a fake tabloid front page with sensational headlines about each of us. My headline was "Santa Toast Miracle!", which pretty much explains itself. Every once in awhile the virgin Mary or Jesus makes an appearance in someone's toast, grilled cheese sandwich, or pancakes ...

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Stuffed Baby Portabellos

Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, December 23, 2009, In : entrees 


    I am a bigtime proponent of stuffing. At Thanksgiving dinner, I happily bypass the turkey for a big serving of stuffing with gravy. I am also a fan of mushrooms. I understand why some people are grossed out by mushrooms, but I am not one of those people. The word "savory" for me is perfectly embodied in a mildly pungent, intensely flavorful sauteed mushroom. It makes sense, then, that I would eventually come to stuff mushrooms. The only surprise here is that I didn't do it sooner-and beli...

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Crispix Mix, David Lebovitz Style

Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, December 19, 2009, In : Sides 


    It was an old TV commercial that got me thinking about Crispix Mix. In the late eighties when my brother was a baby, my parents taped a Disney Christmas special that included Mickey's Christmas Carol and a bunch of classic Disney cartoons. I was watching the tape and reminiscing about my childhood when I noticed the commercials. They were hilarious! Everyone had goofy hairdos and microwaves were at the forefront of cooking technology. Sometime between then and now, advertisers learned to ...

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, December 17, 2009, In : Desserts 


    You didn't really think I would let the holidays go by without baking cookies, did you? There are so many good reasons to bake cookies this time of year: they make great homemade gifts, they make the house smell amazing, and having the oven on warms up the kitchen for a few hours. Not that I need any of these reasons, since I love to bake, but if you usually shy away from homemade cookies, let me try to change your mind.
    In past years I've gone all out with gingerbread, sugar cookies, ...

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Pork and Brussels Sprout Gyoza

Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, December 16, 2009, In : Sides 


    My dad is a teacher at the high school I went to, and on Wednesday he's hosting the faculty Christmas party at our house (technically it's a "holiday" party, but cm'on, who are we kidding?). This means that tomorrow at 3:12 when school lets out, a large group of my former teachers will descend on my house, bringing booze and (hopefully) cookies. I plan to hide for the duration of the party. However, before I lock myself in my room, I will take 5 minutes to cook up some of the gyoza I made...

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Raspberry Mini Wreath

Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, December 13, 2009, In : Desserts 


    Finals are finally over, much to my relief. Tomorrow, I'm going back to my parents' house for winter break, which means that today I was trying to use up as much of my food as possible. I had a pack of raspberries sitting in the fridge (They were on sale at the store a few days ago, and I never say no to Chilean produce!), and I spent most of the afternoon debating what to do with them while watching "Lawrence of Arabia" in an effort to distract myself from how cold it is. The movie was a...

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On Top of Spaghetti...

Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, In : entrees 


    Meatballs are definitely up there on the list of Classic Foods Cooked By American Moms; my mom makes them from time to time and so do the moms of most of my friends (we'll just temporarily forget about the vegetarians, shall we?). It is completely understandable that this is the case. Spaghetti with meatballs is a meal that nourishes, plain and simple. You've got your meat, your carbs, and even some vitamins and minerals in the hot tomato sauce. On a day like today, when I had a couple of...

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Chicken Curry

Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, December 7, 2009, In : entrees 


    Baby, it's cold outside! The weather forecast generated a lot of excitement among me and my fellow Davis-ites when it predicted "rain/snow" last night. Sadly, all the hopeful speculation ("Will we be able to snowboard to campus?", "Will they cancel my final?") was for naught, because it didn't snow. What it did do is get really freaking cold.
    When the weather gets cold like this, sometimes the entire town seems to get sick. Sitting for an hour in a lecture hall full of coughing, sniff...

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Mini Southwestern Quiches

Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, December 5, 2009, In : entrees 

   
    What is it about little things that makes them so darling? I guess it's probably wired into us to think small versions of things are cute so that we'll pay enough attention to our offspring to ensure their survival. Of course I don't really believe that two big quiches got together and produced these baby quiches, but I still think these little quiches are really cute! That's why I made mini quiches in the first place, instead of one big quiche. Food should always be adorable if at al...
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Cookie Dough Ice Cream Pie

Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, December 4, 2009, In : Desserts 


    Just about anyone who's ever made a batch of cookies can tell you what the best part is: licking the extra cookie dough off the spoon at the end. I haven't partaken in this for years, however, because I gave up raw cookie dough when I was nine and found out about salmonella. My thinking was that however much I loved cookie dough, I was not willing to die for it. Amazingly, considering how often I bake cookies, it never occured to me until last week that I could just make a batch of cookie...

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Split Pea Soup With Ham

Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, December 1, 2009, In : Soups 


    Split pea soup is one of those magic comfort foods that never fails to give me a boost. Somehow, when you take those little pebbly green split peas and cook them in water with ham and vegetables, they become something more. They reveal a potential for deliciousness you never would have suspected. Another great thing about split pea soup is it tastes just as good (if not better) the next day. Since I have some last-minute paper writing ahead of me this week, having leftover soup in the fri...

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Welcome to my blog! I'm Emma, a recent college graduate with a BA in French. I am passionate about cooking and writing, among other things. Come share in my love of food!

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