Buttermilk Bread

Since baking bread is apparently all the rage during this pandemic, I thought I would share my mom’s tried and true buttermilk bread recipe. In my opinion, it is a fairly easy recipe to follow and tastes great with soups or toasted with jam for breakfast.

Quinoa Burgers

So, I’ve been a vegetarian on and off since I was about nine years old. At this point in my life, I probably just qualify as a picky eater, but my family and I still joke that I’m a “part-time vegetarian.” I’m extremely grateful to my mom – who cooked for the family basically every night growing up – for working around my pickiness and experimenting with new recipes to find things I could eat.

One of those recipes is this one for quinoa burgers, which let me enjoy all the condiments and sides of cookouts without having to eat hamburgers and hot-dogs. It’s a personal favorite of mine and I decided to make it this week because it’s something I know I’d be happy to eat for days, which can be great when you’re trying not to go to the grocery store as often during the pandemic.

Holiday Sugar Cookies

The holidays are upon us, which means baking aplenty! Every year during the holiday season I end up making dozens of cookies (last year I think the grand total was 13 dozen!!) and one of the biggest contributors is this holiday sugar cookies recipe which makes roughly 6 dozen cut-out cookies.

Holiday baking is typically my dad’s domain and I always fondly remember making cookies with him. Every year we make cut-out cookies, Russian tea cookies (or snowballs as we call them), chocolate drop cookies, Amish no-bakes, and a wide variety of other treats. But I think the one I always liked the most was this recipe and from making the dough to cutting out all the different shapes to decorating, this is one of the easiest recipes to do together as a family.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Growing up I never particularly liked the traditional pineapple upside down cake my mom make. Then when I was a teenager she switched to this recipe, which uses crushed pineapple as opposed to the typical sliced pineapple rings. The texture is much more appealing to me — and the cup of brown sugar you mix in doesn’t hurt either!

Potstickers

This is a recipe I have fond memories of my mom making growing up, although she most often used this filling to make egg rolls. However, recently she mentioned making potstickers with it and of course that inspired me to make some of my own. It’s an incredibly simple recipe and works well for me because I can either keep the filling in the fridge and make a few each night or make them all at once and freeze them until I want to eat them.

Broccoli Cheese and Noodle Soup

For me, broccoli cheese soup is one of those quintessential childhood recipes that my mom always made. It’s quick, simple, and easy, which is a great combo now that I’m in college and have to cook for myself. Now that it’s fall I just had to make it (okay, we’ve had one weekend of weather below 70º, but I’m trying to be aspirational). This is also a recipe that goes great with my mom’s homemade bread — as you can see in the picture — but I’ll post that recipe another time.

Roasted Cauliflower Gratin with Gremolata Crumbs

So this recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks Share, which I got my mom for Christmas. As soon as I gave it to her I took pictures of almost all of the recipes and I’m glad I did because I’ve loved every recipe I’ve made from it so far. This recipe in particular is a great way to make vegetables appealing, especially if you’re like my dad and prefer your veggies drenched in cheese. The gremolata crumbs also add an interesting twist and some extra flavor rather than just plain old breadcrumbs. They also make a great pizza topping, but that’s another post for another time.