Food Diary

There’s a short list of things that I can eat by the gallon full and I’m here to swing my arms in the air and tell you this is iiiittt!  Rice pudding.  Hello, sweet lover.  There is divinity in the simplicity of this dessert.  It’s rice – double cooked with sweetened milk, stirred to thickened, stirred until you’ve worked yourself in a trance.  Spooned into generous portions and chilled with patience. Continue reading Brûléed Earl Grey Rice Pudding at Joy the Baker.

Pour over coffee – sometimes written as pourover – is a style of making coffee that coffee enthusiasts love. But you don’t have to be a coffee fanatic to give it a try because it’s just a simple way to make a good cup of coffee. Pour overs don’t require a machine, and you will only need a pour over dripper – which resembles the basket inside a traditional drip coffee maker – that can be placed on top of a cup or carafe to brew your java. How to Brew a Pour Over Coffee Step by Step Step 1: Place a filter in a pour over dripper and fill it with your coffee grounds, then place it on top of a cup or carafe. Step 2: Bring 1 cup of water to a boil for each cup you intent to brew. Step 3: Remove water from heat and pour a small amount over the grounds to moisten them. Step 4: Slowly pour the rest of the hot water over your grounds, filling the filter and replenishing it as needed until the whole cup is brewed. You will likely need to refill the filter 2-3 times. Your fresh coffee will

Bread pudding is classic comfort food and most of these custardy delights are baked – and served – in large casserole dishes. This “family style” format is perfect when you have a big crowd to serve, but it’s not the only way to bake bread pudding. This recipe is for Muffin Tin Bread Puddings, where individual bread puddings are baked in muffin cups. These single-serving puddings are just the right size for an after-dinner treat and they’re very easy to transport if you plan to take your dessert on-the-go. The recipe starts out like almost any bread pudding, with cubed bread added to a custard mixture flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. I used plain white bread for this particular bread pudding, but richer breads such as challah and brioche are always excellent choices. I also added raisins to the mix. Not only do raisins go well with vanilla and cinnamon, but they plump up and become more tender as bread pudding bakes. If raisins aren’t your thing, however, feel free to leave them o

Hello dearhearts,   It’s been a wallop of a week for me between exciting work projects, trying relationships, and deeply sad family loss.   I’m hoping that this Sunday offers a settling of heart, mind and body for me and… while I’m making wishes for myself, I have the same hopes for you.  Essentially, I hope we all can just sit down and close our eyes for a spell.   Putting this post together is one of my favorite tasks in a week. Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 160! at Joy the Baker.

The Instant Pot might have been one of the popular holiday kitchen gifts last season, but the Dash Mini Waffle Maker has consistently been a best seller this year. The pint-size waffle maker is just a bit bigger than the palm of your hand and produce 4-inch waffles that are almost too cute to eat. It comes in a variety of colors and has a price tag right around $10 – making it a perfect impulse purchase, whether you’re shopping online or see it in the store. As a waffle fan with a Belgian-style waffle iron that I really like, I wondered how the Dash stacked up to its full size competitors and ordered one so I could give it a try. The waffle iron is so small and lightweight that it almost looks like a toy at first glance, but the waffle iron has a surprisingly heavy duty nonstick iron inside once you open it up. It has an indicator light on the top that lights up when you plug in the machine, then clicks off when the iron is hot. It does not have a on-off switch or any audible indic

After having spent 30 minutes listening to my (almost) eight-year-old daughter telling a joke, I can tell you with a 100% certainty that she’s got a talent for comedy. Someone apparently told her this joke in school and she tried explaining it to me repeatedly without ever reaching the pun. It was the funniest thing I’ve heard in years. And she refused to give up and just kept at it. Something about blood dripping in a dark room and an old woman peeling tomatoes (although I think it should be blood orange, but don’t tell Elsa). While I was literally ROFL with her, I had this revelation that this is it . This is the meaning of it all. As good as it gets. Total presens, laughing so my tummy hurts together with someone I love unlimitedly. Life peaks here. So here is a suggestion. Whip up a couple of good spreads, fill a tray with veggies, shut off your phone and sit down with someone you love and tell each other jokes tonight – with or without a pun. About these spreads. The pink one i

Whole grains are an important part of a balanced diet, so it never hurts to include them into your recipes when possible. These Buttermilk Whole Wheat Waffles are made with white whole wheat flour, which makes them a better choice for your daily breakfast than some other waffle recipes. Despite their high whole grain content – something that might make you worry that these waffles with be dense instead of delicious – the waffles still bake up to be crisp on the outside with a fluffy interior! The batter for this recipe is easy to put together and can be made up in just one bowl. It uses white whole wheat flour, along with a generous dose of buttermilk, vanilla, melted butter and a bit of sugar. Whole wheat flour is made using the whole grain of the wheat, including the outer bran. The bran is typically brown or reddish, which gives whole wheat flour its brownish color.  White whole wheat flour  is made from a variety of flour where the bran is extremely light in color and has a much

I feel weird that I called it a "minestra." That is the Italian word for a mixed vegetable sort of soup, think minestrone, and it sounds way more intriguing that way right?! I skipped the pasta here, though you could totally add it or some brown rice or shredded chicken to fill it out if you're into that sort of thing. I have a tough time with salads when it's chilly out, so this pot of goodness serves as an alternative to pack in the vegetables. It is made of easy, pantry staples and some easy to find produce. Boring on its own (sell it, girl!), as brothy, all-vegetable soups go, so a heavy hand with the parmesan croutons is necessary. It tastes better the next day, so lunch leftovers or delivering it to a sick friend is encouraged.  BUTTERNUT + KALE MINESTRA // Serves 6 Inspired by Williams and Sonoma I understand wine and vinegar are not often subs for each other, but I hate when I have all but one ingredient. It's winter, I stock red wine in the cool m

Skillet cookies – with their gooey centers, crisp edges and shareable size – have been steadily gaining popularity over the past year or so. They’ve gone from unusual dessert menu item to a treat that many people bake at home. You can make a skillet cookie with almost any cookie dough, including prepared dough, but Trader Joe’s decided to make things even easier with their new Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie. The 16-oz cookie comes frozen, in it’s own baking dish (not a skillet, but close), and ready to become your next quick-fix dessert. The cookie is pre-baked and includes instructions for heating it up in either the microwave or in the oven. While I’m usually a proponent of using the oven to cook frozen foods, I strongly recommend that you use the microwave for this one. Since the cookie is fully baked before being frozen, baking it a second time in the oven tends to dry it out a little bit, making it more of a “large cookie” than a gooey-in-the-center “skillet cookie.” When you m

One night. 350 dinner party hosts. Hundreds of guests in 25 countries and 50 US states. And one cookbook: Pretty Simple Cooking . On February 17, 2018, hundreds of people gathered worldwide to cook a meal using recipes from the same cookbook (our new book!), Pretty Simple Cooking . And what an event it was. Comments have poured in about how guests felt connected not only to family and friends, but to others all over the world. No mention of liberal, conservative, Christian, agnostic, pro this or pro that…the Pretty Simple Dinner Party became a way to celebrate some of the pretty simple good things in lives all over the world—food, family, friends! For Alex and I, who fiercely believe food is the great uniter, it was one of the most meaningful nights of our lives. (Save our wedding day and the birth of our son  Larson , of course.) Alex and I first dreamed up the idea as a worldwide cookbook club—a party where each person cooks a different recipe from the same book. With cookbook

This beautiful Lemon Swirl Bundt Cake is perfect for those times when you want to bake a cake with a bit of a surprise to it. The vanilla bundt cake has a gorgeous swirl of lemon running through it – a swirl that is bright yellow in color, but all natural in both coloring and flavoring. As a bonus, this cake is quite easy to make, so it will look like you put more time and effort into baking it than you really did. This cake uses one vanilla batter as a base. The pound cake-like mixture is generously flavored with vanilla extract and buttermilk, which gives it a buttery flavor and a tender crumb. The vanilla cake is very white in color because, like many white cakes, it only uses egg whites. The egg yolks are reserved and added to a small portion of the batter along with plenty of lemon zest, creating a batter with a sunshine yellow hue that is packed with citrus flavor! You will be surprised at how much color just a few yolks can add to your cake! You should add the cake batters t

I’m not going to tell you that these are the world’s best oatmeal cookies.  I won’t tell you that this is the only recipe you’ll ever need until the end of time.  I’m not going to tell you that I’m omg obsessed or anything like that.  I will tell you that I was trying to re-frame cookies into my everyday life.  What’s the cookie that I want to eat everyday, any time of day, with hot coffee or cold milk? Continue reading Weekday Oatmeal and Everything Cookies at Joy the Baker.

New Orleans is a city, yes – but it’s also a spirit, a feeling, and a force.  This past week the entire city had their hands in the air and their feet dancing across the ground in thanks and celebration for our very being, for our wildness, for the brokenness, for the wholeness, for the rain that fell, and the sun that surprised us all come Tuesday.  It was a really special Mardi Gras, as it always is. Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 159! at Joy the Baker.

Growing up, I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my lunch more times than I can count. I still love the combination of sweet, fruity jam and savory, sticky peanut butter whether I’m enjoying it in a sandwich or in a PB&J-inspired dessert. This Peanut Butter Coffee Cake with Raspberries is a brunch option that is inspired by this classic sandwich, featuring a peanut butter cake that is studded with fresh raspberries and topped with a buttery streusel. The batter for this cake is very easy to put together and can be mixed up in just one bowl. That being said, a small portion of the dry ingredients should be set aside towards the beginning of the recipe so that they can be turned into a bit of streusel for the top of the cake. Coffee cake is always better with streusel, isn’t it? There is a nice dose of peanut butter in the cake batter and raspberries are folded in after the other ingredients have been combined. I used fresh raspberries in this cake and prefer to use them, w

These tuxedo Black and White Chocolate Brownie Bars have something for every chocolate-lover, whether you prefer dark chocolate, white chocolate or love them both equally. The bars have a vanilla layer and a chocolate layer, with both dark and white chocolate chips packed between them. The bars start with a blondie-like batter made with melted butter and a very generous amount of vanilla extract. This recipe is a great one to use vanilla bean paste in, if you have it, because the specks of vanilla bean will make the finished bars look even more delicious. That said, classic vanilla extract is fine, too. The batter is divided into two parts and cocoa powder is added to one portion, giving it a deep chocolate color and flavor. The chocolate batter makes up the base of the bars and the vanilla batter is spread on top – but not before a generous amount of white and dark chocolate chips is packed in between. White chocolate chips work extremely well in this recipe because they have a cre

Words are helpful to describe food and cooking, but  seeing  the process is even more powerful. We wanted to give you a glimpse of what a recipe from Pretty Simple Cooking looks like in person, and we chose this Chipotle Black Bean Tortilla Soup . It’s one of our favorite quick soups that turns out beautiful with all the garnishes.  Take a look below–and tell us you dance in the kitchen too? Did you catch my Salt Bae impression? As you saw, one of our secret ingredients to amp up vegetarian dishes is adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers. This ingredient is in several of our recipes in the book: for example, our red and green enchiladas, and the chipotle aioli sauce for cauliflower tacos. All you need from the can is a bit of the sauce (not the hot peppers!). Typically, we freeze the remainder of the can for later use. Using only a tablespoon of the adobo sauce gives this tortilla soup big flavor without making it overly spicy. If you can find it, frozen fire-roasted corn b

Everyday is a series of events that I talk myself into, shadowed by a series of events that I have talked myself out of.  Checks and balances, every day.  Talking myself into an early morning walk before coffee.  Talking myself out of having tortilla chips for every meal.  You understand, right? It’s all dang day.  There’s a lot of chatter.   From that chatter was born this snack-attack recipe:  something sweet, something salty, something rich and creamy, something chocolate. Continue reading Sweet and Salty Yogurt Snack at Joy the Baker.

Waffles are one of those breakfast foods that I used to save for weekends. My desire to turn them into a “special occasion” breakfast food stems from the fact that growing up, it was rare that we had waffles for breakfast. And when we did have them, we all knew that our old-school waffle iron was time consuming to use and difficult to clean (we had a stovetop waffle iron in addition to a plug-in version that did not, in hindsight, work particularly well). These days, I have a much better waffle maker  in my kitchen and know that waffles are an excellent choice for breakfast any day of the week – particularly if you’re making a relatively healthy batch of waffles, like these Fluffy Whole Wheat Waffles that I’m sharing over on the Craftsy blog (it’s free!!). These waffles are surprisingly light, given that they’re made with only whole wheat flour, with a crisp exterior and a tender interior. The whole wheat flour gives the waffles a slightly nutty flavor that, in my opinion, makes the

Crepes are a wonderful addition to the breakfast table, but the thin, tender pancakes are versatile enough that they can make an appearance at any meal. Crepes stuffed with ham and cheese can be a savory meal any time of the day, while cinnamon sugar crepes are a delicious breakfast or snack item. When it comes to dessert, you can make things a little more indulgent with these Chocolate Crepes instead of their plainer cousins. Crepe batter is very quick and easy to make – and these chocolate crepes are no exception. The batter is very similar to that of traditional crepes, but it has a little bit of cocoa powder and vanilla added to it. The crepes can be whisked up in one bowl or made in the food processor. The food processor really streamlines the process, so I tend to use it when I need a double batch of crepes. You can use the batter immediately or let it sit in the refrigerator over night if you want to make it ahead. These crepes are not particularly sweet on their own becaus