Now I Know My ABCs…
From applesauce to zebra cake, I cooked my way through all 26 weeks of my Alphabet Adventure. I miraculously survived without any explosions, fires, or even minor cuts, burns, or bruises. (Don’t worry, I had the doctor on speed-dial, just in case!) Continue reading.
Z is for Zebra Cake
Z required a bit of continent-hopping to find a good final dish. Since I’m slightly short on cash and time, an African safari and fresh zebra meat was out of the question. Instead, I skipped over to 18th century France and listened to Marie Antoinette: “Let them eat zebra cake!” Continue reading for recipe.
Y is for Yorkshire Pudding
About a year ago, I saw Yorkshire puddings for the first time. Not in person, mind you, but on TV. Claire Robinson of the Food Network’s “5 Ingredient Fix” was preparing a proper Sunday dinner, and she mixed up a batch of these beauties to accompany her roast beef.
I forgot about the puffy little puddings until last week when I began searching for a “Y” food. Yams, yogurt, and yellow cake didn’t quite fit the bill, but Yorkshire pudding seemed like the perfect dish. Continue reading for recipe.
X is for Xocolatl
The dreaded “X”. Since “X-treme” anything felt like cheating, I searched every nook and cranny of the internet to find a true X food to make this week. The majority of the results came from China and were for different xia dishes, but I refused point-blank to cook those. Xia, or shrimp in English, would practically kill me. I’m that allergic. So I kept scrolling, page after page, until I found the perfect X. Continue reading for recipe.
W is for Waffles
Since I bought my waffle iron last July, it spent the last 7 months sitting on a shelf collecting dust. Not exactly my intention when I paid for it… So when “W” rolled around, I figured it was high time to take the waffle iron out of the box and put it to use. Continue reading for recipe.
V is for Vindaloo
A few hours before I began cooking, I made an emergency switch-a-roo. The sweet dessert I originally planned to make for “V” clashed beautifully with the batch of chocolate cupcakes I baked the night before. Because a sugar high didn’t fit too well into my weekend plans, I opted for Plan B—or should I say Plan V?—vindaloo. Continue reading for recipe.
U is for Upside Down Cake
My preliminary Google search only returned about 4 foods that began with the letter U. 3 were Japanese, ranging from an asparagus-like vegetable to eel, but seeing as I wouldn’t cook eel even if you paid me, I kept scrolling. And there, sitting rather unassumingly amongst yet another list of Japanese food, I found my U. Upside down cake. Continue reading for recipe.
T is for Tortillas
Say “tortilla” and I’m immediately transported back to my childhood where I’m standing in front of Chevy’s mesmerizing tortilla machine. The cook stuck a dough ball in one end, and the machine pressed it into a flat disc, which then cooked as it spiraled down a conveyer belt. Two minutes later, it emerged from the other end in a warm, perfect tortilla. As a tiny girl, the workers found me cute enough to give me a dough ball to play with every time I wandered away from the table to watch the machine. Chevy’s was my favorite restaurant growing up because of those dough balls. Continue reading for recipe.
S is for Shepherd’s Pie
This letter of the alphabet has been simmering on the back burner for a while now. Months ago, someone told me that although Trader Joe’s (my favorite grocery store) typically stocks tasty frozen dinners, their shepherd’s pie was thoroughly disappointing. He insisted that he could make a better one, and seeing as he enjoys cooking about as much as a trip to the dentist, I thought if he could, why couldn’t I? Continue reading for recipe.
R is for Risotto
If I had known that the only skill required to make risotto was chopping an onion (without cutting off my finger), I would have tried my hand at making one years ago. But since I had only seen the dish offered on the menus of hoity-toity, upscale restaurants, I figured it had to be as demanding to make as those prices were to pay. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Continue reading for recipe.
Foods for the Soul 