Kitchen

I’d been sick for a while — in and out of bed, boxes and boxes of tissues later, and sick of staring at my bedroom ceiling. My brain said, ‘Feed me’. It also said, ‘It’s too cold outside. Feed me warmth.’ After a bout with two hard boiled eggs, I realized I still needed to give the part of me that needed it something sweet… and something warm. This is my first cup of cocoa of this season, and there will be many more. The maple syrup and the brown sugar not only bring sweetnes

I love it when recipes do what I want them to do the first time around, and prove that I was right that you really can caramelize bananas this way. It’s a perfect breakfast, well, almost. When I made this, to complete my morning, I needed black coffee… strong, black coffee. Even though it was almost perfect for me, everything about the caramelization of the bananas was as simple as I thought it would be, hardly took any time or effort, and created a meal that I would love to

This recipe comes out a lot like a brittle, but is mostly nuts. They’re sticky, they’re crunchy, and have all of the excellent qualities of a brittle, but because it’s mostly nuts, the caramelization coats them completely. You may find yourself chomping on large chunks of the stuff. In fact, I hope you do. If you love, love, love brittle, and only have nuts and maple syrup and honey around, I’m pretty sure you’ll like this recipe. It’s easy to make, and something sweet for wh

I hardly ever make juices, but there’s a first time for everything. I’m particularly proud of this one because the fresh, winter strawberries are just tangy enough to help along the maple syrup. Winter strawberries are exactly what it sounds like: strawberries that have been harvested in the winter. They tend to be tangier, more tart, and smaller than the ones you’ll find harvested during the summer. I decided to make a juice because I was tired of drinking the same carbonate

There’s a very specific reason why I chose to call this the ‘Grilled Trash Sandwich’, and it’s because I took every note in the book about making the bread crispy, and slammed them all together with some salt and black pepper. While creating this, I decided that an egg, butter, and mayo would make the best bread possible — not to mention seasoning it, which, is hardly ever done. At least, not to my knowledge, and not to toot my own horn, but reading cookbooks is fun! Another

Sometimes, a snack can make a good meal. All you need are some flavorings and something to create the protein needed for an actual dinner. Nutritional yeast and lots and lots of butter are utilized here. What’s nice is you’re in charge of how much you use of each. This is a recipe where you can truly experiment with how much of each ingredient you use. What makes this something to eat is your own tastebuds, and what you’d want to have for dinner. When I eat this, I add tons o

Whenever I’m hungry, too hungry to cook anything that takes too long, I always throw together a bowl of pasta. The only real time you spend cooking with a lot of pasta recipes, at least of mine, is how long it takes to boil the pasta. Then, all you need to do is throw in a few ingredients, like prosciutto and feta, and you have a meal. Gnocchi is something I often crave, and its known to be at its best once it’s cooked enough to float. If you have a gnocchi obsession like I d

I couldn’t wait. I was so happy at how this came out that I ate the first version… forgot to take a picture of it… made it a second time, and took a bite before realized, ‘Crap! I forgot to take a picture of this again!” Most people, when they cook at recipe to take a picture of it, they don’t eat it afterward. It gets trashed. I promised myself, if I was to make a cookbook, that I would be the one taking the photograph, I would be the one to not throw away the food, and I wo

Sometimes, an easy recipe is all we need. This takes a little cooked shrimp, and an easy sauce that takes a few seconds to whisk together. There’s no huge skill needed here, but the recipe still gives results that will make you reach for shrimp when you go to the grocery store. The texture is excellent, due to a little alfalfa sprouts, the soft and slightly crunchy give of the shrimp, and the smoothness and different-type-of-softness of the feta. If you don’t feel well, are t

These peanut butter cookies are filled with creamy peanut butter, and coconut sugar which behaves like flour. There is no baking soda or baking powder. I strongly dislike using these ingredients because they’re not natural, found in nature, and you can’t make them at home. They’re made in a lab. Also, I made these cookies for gluten-free and grain-free people. My mom is completely grain free. She gets sick from eating grains, so I had the thought, “Gee, sugar has an interesti

I love anything cheesy or creamy, but I’ve come a long way from those boxed macaroni days. This dish itself, however, is my ideal pasta, thrown together with thick noodles and a couple different types of cheeses. The cheese is thrown in after the pasta is already in the bowl, and adorned with more cheese, but a different kind. It’s one of those dishes that’s perfect for relieving a comfort food necessity, and also perfect for a wintery, cold, breezy, frigid kind of day. It wi

Two types of cheese to make this toasted croissant stand out amongst many of my other toast recipes. Rather than basing it in Brummel & Browne, I use a rather liquid-y brie cousin, slathering it n both croissant halves. After tearing several pieces of prosciutto over, adding pepper, and as much cheddar as I’d like, it’s baked in the toaster oven. The idea behind this recipe’s conception was simple: one tangy cheese, one sweet cheese, and meat creating a full, well-rounded ide

This could be called either a ‘salad’, or a ‘plate’. A plate because it’s a plate of prosciutto, arranged on porcelain. A salad because it has all the components of a salad, arranged as a salad would, on a plate. Whatever you call it, this sweet, umami, tangy meal is stupidly easy to make, and most of the ingredients can be adjusted of the amount to make your perfect plate of meaty goodness. I hope you mess around with this recipe, and find your own way of making plated prosc

It was morning, and I was starving. I was so hungry that my body needed something quick, easy, and filling. Nutritional yeast provides protein, and the rest feels like something akin to sugary cereal, but with popcorn instead of cereal. This takes about ten minutes to make, and the little kid in you who grew up on that cereal should be happy, especially if you like lots of butter and popcorn better than a bowl full of milk. I hope you love this recipe as much as I did when my

This isn’t quite French Toast. You’re not coating it with a batter. All you’re doing is dredging it in sugar, egg, and a little bit of melted butter. There’s no milk involved and no flour. Other than that, this recipe is ridiculously simple to follow, and produces an outcome that is kind of like French Toast. Because this isn’t battered and fried, it’s more of a sweet toast. Whatever your morning is, or whatever your morning is like, I hope you enjoy this recipe. As most of t

I love the idea of tossing hot pasta into easily meltable cheese like feta. The silkiness of each strand of spaghetti is my favorite type of texture, along with whatever globules of cheese around it. Pumpkin seeds give this bowl a little texture with a soft crunch. There are also two different types of tanginess: that of the feta, and that of the balsamic vinegar. It’s creamy, it’s filling, it’s easy, and has a complex flavor profile. For anybody who needs to double or quadru

There is a lot of layering of different flavors here in this dish. It’s a great bowl of pasta for those days when you need something comforting and warm inside your stomach. Great for those rainstorm days in front of a crackling fire. It uses a technique that, if you don’t pay attention, might burn the pasta. As long as you keep the dish moving, you won’t burn it. There are a lot of components here, but the addition of every ingredient creates a savory bite. I hope you love t

I love using balsamic vinegar as the base for pasta sauces. The first time I did this with pasta was a long ago recipe with vinegar, olive oil, and walnuts. How I use my favorite ingredient has evolved since then, and has only gotten better. When I designed today’s recipe, it was from the need to throw together something quick, easy, and that would fill me up. Most of the recipes I release are born from that necessity. Who decides what a serving is, anyway? Ingredients: 1 ser

I love experimenting on popcorn. There are so many different types of toppings that could be consumed on it. Sometimes, it’s fun to go savory, which feels much less classic than today’s recipe feels. This one is more of a dessert, and goes along in the same vein as quite a few of my other popcorn recipes have gone. I wanted to share this one. The texture from the graininess of the sugar mixture is slightly addictive. You’ve been warned. Sometimes, popcorn doubles as a meal. T

Shrimp is one of my favorite things to eat in the summer. All you need is to throw together a sauce. I was so hungry when I made this,...