Brown Gravy

Gravy’s easy! And so delicious.

Mashed Potatoes with Pecorino And Garlic

Great with meatloaf and gravy!

My First Meatloaf!

I’ve never made meatloaf before – in fact, I wasn’t sure whether I liked it. But I had a ton of seasoned hamburger meat leftover from the party’s burgers, so it seemed a good thing to try. I used Alton Brown’s recipe, with some slight adjustments.

Roasted Vegetable Salsa

Super easy salsa recipe – the results were sweeter than expected, with lots of depth. This was a clean-out-the-fridge recipe, so vegetables can be adapted pretty easily depending on what you have on hand.

Pepper!

I grew my fist pepper!

Find out tomorrow how I cooked it.

Summer Cooking Projects

Trying to think of some fun summer cooking projects. Here’s what I’ve brainstormed so far as possibilities (I’ve already done hummus, pesto and salsa in the past couple weeks):

mustard

sourdough bread

pickles

smoked salmon

Baba ghanoush

preserved lemons

flavored syrups

rotisserie chicken on the grill

minestrone

aioli

tortillas

butter

tomatillo salsa

homemade potato chips

fresh pasta

summer rolls

ketchup

mozzarella

infused olive oils

how to can

pierogis

ginger beer

sorbet

demi glace

bacon

marinated olives

crackers

Have experience with any of these? What sounds the yummiest? What’s missing from the list?

Watermelon Cucumber Tonics

What a great way to use up leftover party watermelon! Ridiculously refreshing drink.

Beer-brined chicken pieces

I wanted to make something resembling beer can chicken for the housewarming party, but cooking a bunch of whole chickens seemed impractical with a 40 person guest list and lots of meats competing for space. I applied a similar principle to grilled chicken pieces and really liked the results.

John’s Burgers

For our housewarming party, I used John’s recipe for hamburgers. Currently turning the leftovers into meatloaf, but that’s a post for another day.

Recipe Variation: Rosemary Lemon Hummus

Homemade hummus is ridiculously easy, which makes it fun to come up with variations. Here’s my latest.