Some New Recipes

I’ll bet you think that I haven’t been cooking much, what with not ever posting anything to this blog. You’d be wrong! I’m still cooking five or six days a week, albeit less interesting stuff than I used to. This has been my busiest year ever, work-wise, and I don’t have much time for recipe research. Also, The Assistant has aged up to the later jiu-jitsu class, and I have to be really creative with meals when we don’t get home until 7:00 or later each night.

Dinner

One of the easiest go-to recipes is Victoria Granof’s pasta con ceci. You can make it with ingredients that you already have in your pantry. I use a ton of garlic in mine, mince it instead of smash it, and often make things a little richer by using chicken stock instead of water.

Speaking of chickpeas, there’s a magical chickpea dish at Razza, my favorite pizza place in Jersey City. This recipe from Food Network gets started with the basics, but I’ve found that I like it best with celery, minced shallots, and garlic. Skip the vinegar and go straight to the olive oil, salt, pepper, and of course parmesan cheese.

When we go out for Chinese food, I only really want one thing. This recipe for spicy Sichuan green beans is exactly what I’m looking for. I often make them alongside Trader Joe’s potstickers.

I’ve been relying heavily on the slow cooker, rice cooker, and pressure cooker to have dinner ready and waiting when we get home late. I’ve toyed with several black bean recipes over the years, but this black bean recipe from Tyler Florence is a solid choice. I also add a jalapeño, halved and seeded, for a bit of flavor.

And I’ve recently rediscovered my own focaccia recipe. I don’t understand why I don’t make this more often. Daily, in fact. Easy and delicious.

Breakfast

How about some breakfast? These blackberry breakfast bars are delicious. And it’s possible that they might also serve as a nice dessert if you top them with vanilla ice cream. Not that I’ve done that or anything. Nope.

I’ve apparently been looking for some breakfast alternatives. Last month I made banana blueberry baked oatmeal cups. They were really good when warm, less so when reheated, which defeats the purpose of pre-making breakfast. But if you have a large group of people to feed, they’re tasty. I used regular milk and a splash of vanilla to compensate for the flavored almond milk.

You can’t go wrong cooking anything from Smitten Kitchen. Ever. She’s magical. You will never go wrong with the very blueberry scones recipe. If you make them, please deliver one to me. Thank you.

The weirdly popular breakfast hit in my household? Two-ingredient banana “pancakes” that I found on Pinterest. I’ve found that they’re surprisingly good when topped with White Chocolate Wonderful, Dark Chocolate Dreams, or Chocmeister from Peanut Butter & Co.

What have you been cooking? Do you have any slow cooker recipes to share?

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