Anne’s 2018 Cookbook Challenge

They Draw & Cook

107 Recipes Illustrated by Artists from Around the World

by Nate Padavick & Salli Swindell

Made on January 1, 2019

I completed my 2018 Cookbook Challenge!

At the beginning of 2018, I made seven New Year Resolutions including “Invite the neighbors over for a party” (check!), “Maintain my weight loss” (check!), “Sew a quilt” (fail!), and our favorite: “Make 21 recipes from 21 cookbooks” (CHECK!).

When I originally mentioned my resolutions on Facebook, my brother Ron had a wonderful suggestion-- “Hey Anne, you should document each of your recipes in a blog! That would be really interesting.”

At that moment, I should have considered:

I have never written a blog.

I am not great at writing.

Writing a blog post literally takes longer than making a recipe - including doing the dishes.

My brother is a Public Relations executive- of course he thinks that is a good idea.

Because I failed to consider any one of those four points, I jumped in. I also neglected to see into my future...that my free weekends would become consumed with spending hundreds of hours designing three pro bono design projects (one of which continues until July 31, 2019). I also did a lot of travel- two trips to NYC, one to DisneyWorld, one to Tucson, and one to Sweden. Can’t complain about any of that...unless you are still wishing I had sewn that quilt.

So, despite filling my weekends with design work, I remained committed to my self-imposed Cookbook challenge. Gosh darn it, I was going to see it through...how could I let my readers down? All 8 of them? You know who you are because you are reading this right now.

I wish I had something profound to say at this momentous accomplishment...like “I am now a much better cook!”, or “I have decided to make 30 new recipes in 2019!” Or even “My use of proper punctuation has improved!”. But, alas, none of those statements are true. What is true is this: “I am proud of myself”. I am proud that I did not quit. I am proud that I went ahead and showed my less-than-impressive results. I am proud that I learned some new things...including how to make Späetzle and a kick-ass Egg Foo Yung. I am also happy that my mother found my endeavors entertaining and my friends were supportive.

Without further ado, this is my last recipe...Pan-fried Fish with Lemon Caper Sauce. I loved this unique cookbook full of artist-created recipe pages. Each spread is completely unique. I rarely make fish so I thought it would be good practice. Plus, it gave me an excuse to buy capers.

I have taken a few photos of some of the other spreads/recipes from the cookbook:

The recipe called for the juice of a whole lemon...which was too much. Next time, I would only use a tablespoon or two. I chose tilapia for my fish.

For 2019, I have written some new resolutions. I will continue to maintain my weight. I will invite the neighbors over for another party. I will continue to cook new things. I will learn how to use my new air fryer and Instant Pot. However, I will not blog (at least until after July 31). I will not sew a quilt.

I will also say “Thank you” to you for reading my posts. Mom, Ron, Zoé, Craig, Andrea, Abygai, Kathy, Janice, Tina, Kelly, Carly, Yumi, Lynne...I appreciate your support and encouragement. Those tiny little “thumbs up” symbols went a long way to motivate me to make another recipe.

Biscuit Head Cookbook by Jason & Carolyn Roy

Made on my birthday, December 23, 2018

When I first moved to Kansas City in 1989, a friend took me to The Corner Restaurant for a true Kansas City breakfast. The Corner was known for their biscuits and gravy...a food I was totally unfamiliar with. Having grown up in Southern California, I was more accustomed to lighter breakfasts such as veggie omelettes with fresh salsa and avocado. The idea (and look) of biscuits and gravy was pretty unappealing to me (I am sure I stated the word “gross” at the time).

My friend refused to let me leave the restaurant without giving them a try. In fact, I think she told me “You have no idea what you are missing!”. She was right. One bite and my life was changed. I am sure biscuits and gravy were partly to blame for the loss of my size 8 figure in that decade. That, and peanut butter ice cream.

Cole and his girlfriend Abbie came home for Christmas and I thought it would be a great opportunity to see if I could make this dish for breakfast.

The recipe for “The Classic Cathead Biscuit” called for 2 1/2 cups of flour sifted with 2 1/2 cups of cake flour. My sifter was kind of broken so I mostly tapped on the side to get the flours to merge into the bowl.

Did you notice that the total was 5 cups of flour? The recipe also called for one stick of butter and two cups of buttermilk. The butter needed to be chilled and cubed...here is a page from the cook book:

They recommended using an ice cream scoop to form the biscuits. Everything looks good...

While waiting for the biscuits to bake, I started making the gravy. I used 1 lb of Jimmy Dean sage breakfast sausage. I have never made gravy before...the gravy recipe was very easy and worked out well.

Here is my final result...I like to break up my biscuits by hand before I pour the gravy on top.

Now...for the taste. The gravy was awesome. Definitely worth the work to make it from scratch. I think it was on par with The Corner Restaurant...really! I will make this gravy again. The biscuits, however, were horrible. They were baked correctly, but were like “Flour Bombs”. They were dry and tasteless. My mother told me the one stick of butter must have been wrong for the five cups of flour. Not wanting to waste the gravy, the next morning I went ahead and made some Pillsbury biscuits to go with the remaining gravy.

This morning I went to the Amazon book reviews and read that some other folks came to the same conclusion...the biscuits were dreadful.

I never got a good photo of Cole and Abbie pretending to enjoy these biscuits...but did get this adorable photo of them before they left at the airport. How can I not post it?

Happy holidays!

Bicentennial Cook Book 1776-1976

Baked on November 23, 2018

Where were you in 1976? I was in 4th grade attending John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Newark, California. That was the year that I embroidered a 2.5’ American flag (it took forever!) and a friend of my father gave me 50 7Up cans that when stacked on top of each other produced an image of Uncle Sam. Those cans were really cool.

Everyone had Bicentenniel Fever. My mom even sewed a Bicentenniel patch on the sleeve of my jean jacket right by my yellow and green patch that said “Asparugus”. And, a bunch of congressmen’s wives published a cookbook.

Bicentenniel Fever was partly due to that amazing logo designed by Bruce Blackburn, who worked at Chermyeff and Geismer. Bruce Blackburn also designed the curvy NASA logo still used today. The proposal for the Bicentenniel logo was originally just the soft star. President Richard Nixon asked that it have words placed around the star so it felt more like an official seal. Good call, Nixon. Here is a page from the graphic standards manual...can you imagine recreating the logo from these directions?

Anyway...let’s make some Mexican Corn Bread.

The recipes in this Bicentenniel Cook Book were “furnished by current (1976) United States Senator’s and Congressmen’s wives. These favorite recipes were, in some instances, passed from generation to generation.”

This recipe for Mexican Corn Bread was provided by the wife of a Congressman from Texas.

It turned out okay but I have had better. I was not a big fan of the cheese layer that ran through the center. It looked yummy, but for some reason was not as tasty as I figured it would be. I was also thrown by the 3/4 cup of Mazola oil in the recipe. Here is the recipe:

Here is the middle cheese layer:

Ellie has a good feeling about this recipe. Ready to go into the oven!

Looks good! Decided to make a pot of turkey chili to go with the corn bread.

Man Up Your Meals (Anonymous)

Made on November 17, 2018

In 1990, I discovered Bread Pudding at a Kansas City restaurant called “Kiki’s Bon Ton Maison”. My friends and I would go there to dance to Zydeco music (by the Bon Ton Soul Accordian Band) after eating Creole food for dinner. They served bread pudding with rum sauce after my preferred meal of crawfish étouffée and sweet potato fries. The bread pudding was heavenly. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t figure out what it exactly was...all I knew is that it was warm, gooey, buttery, and absolutely ah-mazing.

I have never had a desire to “Man Up My Meals” as the title of this cookbook suggests, but knew I wanted to buy this book when I saw the recipe for Chocolate Chunk Bread & Butter Pudding inside.

Nobody really makes bread pudding at home, do they? Probably because it looks like something you have to force people to try. It is the visual opposite of a beautiful pie, a layered cake, or even a sheet of lemon bars. Bread pudding is weird. Even the name sounds terrible. Despite its obvious flaws, I was convinced this recipe would taste fantastic and my “pre-holiday party” would be a great time to force people...I mean ask people...to try it.

My first challenge was finding a loaf of Brioche bread. I finally found one at the Ibis bakery in Lenexa...which is inside one of the coolest coffee houses in town. I didn’t realize brioche was so hard to find. I found challah at the grocery bakery, but no brioche. In case you were wondering, here is a passage from MyRecipes.com on the differences between these breads:

“Challah and brioche, while similar, are not the same bread at all. The most important difference has to do with the fact that challah is part of Jewish tradition, and is kosher to eat with all meals—so it is not made with dairy, i.e. butter. Brioche, on the other hand, is French, so of course it is made with butter! Both breads are rich, eggy yeast breads, but brioche is definitely richer. Challah, by the way, is often a braided loaf. Both make excellent French toast and bread pudding.”

Here is the Ibis Bakery (inside the Black Dog Coffee House):

The ingredients included chopped semi-sweet chocolate, figs, eggs, and lots of butter. According to the diagram, this recipe is at the “cro magnon man” level of difficulty.

I was excited to finally get to use my fancy “bread slicing knife”...I have had this adjustable Friskars knife for about 10 years. I bought it for $4 on clearance. It worked like a charm!

After slicing my bread, I buttered the slices and placed the chopped chocolate and fig mixture on one side of each slice. Then, I was told to stick the loaf back together and place it upright into a loaf pan with 3 inch tall sides.

What? 3 inch tall sides? My Brioche loaf was gigantic. I poured an egg, milk, and sugar mixture over it and was instructed to let it soak for 5 minutes before baking in the oven. I could see there was no way the top half of the loaf would really “soak up” the mixture...I would probably just end up with a stale top half. See what I mean?

I decided to disassemble the loaf and lay the slices down in a baking dish. Then I poured the egg mixture on top. Not nearly as appealing, but I felt it would be much more successful. I pulled it out of the oven, cut it into small portions, and poured cream over each serving. It was moist and yummy, but a bit bland. I sprinkled a little cinnamon on each serving which worked like a charm.

I got caught up in the swirl of the party and forgot to take a close up photo of how it looked in the cup. It did look good...and my friends required little coaxing to try it. Here are some photos of some of my friends playing along with my cookbook challenge. Even though Vance isn’t showing his cup...he told me it was so good that he wanted to marry me. Another gal took my leftovers home with her.

All in all, a big success!

The I Love Trader Joe’s Cookbook by Cherie Twohy

Made on November 11th, 2018

I feel a wee bit guilty for this post...I thought there would be a bit of a challenge to making these recipes but no matter how I look at it, both recipes only required the ability of a ten year old. I am not sure there really was any “cooking” involved at all...it was more like “mixing” and “heating”. I promise my next (and last!) 4 recipes of this cookbook challenge will be more worthy of your time.

Until then...let me talk about Potsticker Soup. The most difficult thing about making this soup was managing the shopping experience at the Trader Joe’s. In Kansas City we are fortunate to have two Trader Joe’s, but unfortunately, the nearest one to me is 25 minutes away so I rarely ever stop in. Therefore, I don’t know where anything is beyond the cheese and chips. Did you know they sell frozen cubes of garlic and ginger? Me neither. I eventually stopped wandering about and asked a Joe to help me out. Here is a picture of the frozen garlic cubes needed for the recipe:

Eventually I found everything I needed:

To make the soup, I used one box of chicken broth, 12 potstickers, one bag of stir fry vegetables, 1/4 cup of shredded carrots, two cubes of garlic (which is pretty nifty btw), and some rice wine vinegar and soy sauce.

The General Tsao Chicken Wraps were even easier. I chopped up cooked chicken breast, threw in 1/2 bag of shredded carrots and tossed it with 1/4 cup of the General Tsao stir fry sauce. I heated the mixture a bit and then placed it into a few leaves of romaine.

Done! Dinner’s ready, people!

The Chicken Wrap was pretty tasty- better than it looked. If I made the soup again, I would get a different vegetable mix. I found the mushrooms in this bag were too strong and overwhelmed the soup. The potstickers were great though...you really can’t go wrong with those.

Fika by Anna Brones & Johanna Kindvall

Baked on November 3, 2018

According to the subtitle of this cookbook, Fika is “the art of the Swedish coffee break”. Basically, Fika (pronounced FEE-ka) is a Swedish custom of taking a few minutes out of your day to have a cup of coffee with a small treat. I found this cookbook right before Mom and I flew to Sweden to visit Katarina in Malmö. Katarina was our Swedish foreign exchange student who lived with our family during my junior year of high school. 35 years later and we still feel like family despite living across the globe.

While we were in Sweden, we had a chance to see many desserts and sandwiches that were perfect for an afternoon coffee break. Here are a few from a bakery case near the glass factories of Kosta Boda and Orrefors:

And here are photos of Mom and I on a train between Copenhagen and Stockholm. Look! We are having Fika on the train!

I chose a recipe from this cookbook for my 2018 Cookbook Challenge (21 recipes from 21 cookbooks) called Fikonruter. I rarely bake, so any recipe that involves grinding raw almonds and requires a rolling pin is pretty intimidating. I decided to be a wuss and skip the step of making homemade fig filling (using port wine- who knew?) and bought jam instead (hey, the recipe said it would be okay). I found a fig and cocoa jam that sounded pretty amazing and most likely better than anything that I would make by steeping my own figs. I also found a sour cherry jam that sounded delicious and decided to make the recipe using the fig preserves on half and the sour cherry on the other half.

Yum...which flavor will be better? Fig Cocoa or Sour Cherry?

After grinding the raw almonds (which was EASY), cutting my unsalted butter into tiny little cubes, making the dough, and rolling it out, I spread each half with the two flavors of jam.

The dough was quite difficult to work with and confirmed that I will never be suited to being a pastry chef. At first the butter was too cold and wouldn’t mix, then the dough wouldn’t hold together when I was rolling it out. It also stuck to the table despite flouring it. The smile you see below is only due to my sense of satisfaction that somehow, despite it all, “I made a rectangle!” My confidence at this point was pretty low. Making a rectangular slab seemed to be quite a feat.

As you can imagine, if making a rectangle was a noteworthy accomplishment, making criss-cross lattice for the top was going to be quite the test. I had only a small amount of dough and had to keep putting it back into the refrigerator to chill so I could roll it out at all. The lattice kept breaking...Ugh! For someone who is normally very detail-oriented, it was hard to look at such pathetic results.

Eventually I finished the assembly, “embraced the imperfections”, and got it into the oven. It turned out pretty well. I really liked the almond cookie-flavored crust. By the way, I liked the sour cherry side the best.

Before I leave this blog entry, I wanted to share a photo of Katarina, Mats, and their daughter Agnes taken on our first morning in Sweden. We were treated to a traditional Swedish breakfast of hard cheese, crisp breads, tomatoes, meat, yoghurt, jam, and coffee. I may need to recreate that meal here in Kansas. But first, I have 6 more recipes to complete before the end of 2018!

Tots! 50 Tot-ally Awesome Recipes by Dan Whalen

Made on October 21, 2018

I was pretty excited to find a cookbook based on Tator Tots...one of the best food inventions EVER. Tator Tots, fish sticks and ketchup was one of my favorite childhood meals. I actually make an excellent Tator Tot casserole to this day- the perfect comfort food on winter Sunday evenings. Now I can add another 50 Tator Tot recipes to my repertoire!

Tonight we invited my cousin Dustin and his wife Laura over for pizza, board games, and pool. I thought it would be a good opportunity to make these cute mini cheeseburgers using Tator Tot “crowns” as the buns. I found some teeny dill pickles to help emulate the photograph from the cookbook shown above (tiny pickles are typically sweet). The appetizers were easy to make...the most time-consuming part was actually the assembly. A note of warning though—the recipe told me to cook the tots for 15 minutes and then flip them for another 10... after fifteen they were completely done. Don’t add the additional 10.

Here are the little baby “buns” cooking:

Here is 8oz of burger before dividing it into patties and frying them in a pan:

Voila! Here are the tasty tiny cheeseburgers ready for our tiny party:

The little burgers were a hit...Craig even thought they were adorable. Dustin and Laura were good sports and agreed to a photo. By the end of the night, all of the tiny food was gone.

Eat! The Quick-Look Cookbook by Gabriela Scolik

Made on September 29, 2018

I LOVE books chock full of tiny illustrations. I have a fondness for travel books with hand-drawn maps, language-learning books with quaint illustrations of foods and festivals of faraway places, and how-to-draw books that somehow dupe me into believing that I can draw a magnificent horse just as long as I start out with a few well placed ovals. Until now, I had never seen a cookbook that used graphics to diagram out a recipe. This cookbook makes cooking look easy enough for me!

My friend Yumi, visiting from Japan, requested I make tiramisu for my cookbook challenge because it is one of her favorite desserts. I am quite a fan as well, so thought it was an excellent choice for dessert on her last night in America.

Here is the recipe:

Yep, that's it. There are a few instructions next to the illustrations, but they are very brief. When I bought my ingredients, I was careful to follow the exact quantities they asked for...1 cup marscarpone, 6.5 oz of ladyfingers. It also asked for "4 tbsp strong espresso". They showed the espresso in a cup so I assumed that meant "brewed". I went to Starbucks and asked them if I could buy an espresso and they said they only sell it "as a shot for 80 cents". I told them I needed 4 tablespoons...how many shots would that be? We decided on three. Here are my ingredients...I'm ready to do this!

I knew at the moment I was standing at the Starbucks counter that this was probably not going to work out well. It was probably the look of confusion on the barista's face. This was a weird request. But the recipe didn't say I was supposed to brew the espresso...I was just supposed to have 4 tablespoons to soak my ladyfingers.

Here's a photo of what 4 tablespoons of espresso look like on the top of the ladyfingers. Not a whole lot of soakin' going on.

Luckily, I had another 4 tablespoons of espresso left so I backed out the ladyfingers and put them one-by-one into my remaining espresso. After I dipped the first half...the espresso ran out. At this point, I made a cup of coffee and spooned it on top of the ladyfingers. Dang! I must get these things moist...even if it means no one will be able to sleep after ingesting all of the caffeine contained in this dessert.

Meanwhile, Yumi volunteered to separate my eggs. She not only was a pro...she makes an excellent hand model too!

The highlight of this recipe was mixing the egg whites with sugar until they made "peaks". Here they are in all their peakiness:

As if the espresso confusion wasn't bad enough...another picture in the recipe led me astray. See the image with the "rectangular" pan? They show two rows of ladyfingers side-by-side in the pan and instruct you to spread half of the filling over them and then "repeat". Well, there are no more ladyfingers left to repeat if you use that sized pan. The dish really needs to be in a skinny loaf pan in order to have enough ingredients to "repeat". So, I had to change gears and use my loaf pan. Sigh.

I eventually got my double layer of ladyfingers doused in coffee and layered with the peaky mascarpone. I placed the dessert into the refrigerator for the rest of the day and Yumi and I tried it after dinner. It was pretty darn good. Yumi asked if she could take the remaining dessert back to Japan but I told her I didn't think it would travel well.

The next morning, I had to say goodbye and drive Yumi to the airport. Before we left the house, she ate two helpings of tiramisu for breakfast.

Fun with Cooking by Mae Blacker Freeman

Cooked on September 16, 2018

Nothing says “FUN” quite like the cover of this cookbook. When I saw this gem among the thousands of cookbooks at the Half Price Books sale, I thought “Heck ya! I DO want to have fun cooking!”.

THIS is the best cookbook I bought that day.

The cookbook seemed as if it had never been opened. The front and back covers look brand new, the only slight signs of wear are at the corners. The pages have barely yellowed. I figured it was a vintage reproduction...or at least a later printing. Craig and I were both surprised that it is the first edition, published in 1947.

The author mentions that the girl on the cover (and throughout the inside) is a 10-year-old named Geraldine Miller. That means that my mother, Diana, was just a year younger at the same time. I guarantee Diana would have made cooking look a lot more fun though.

Here is Geraldine showing us how to get started:

How to prepare...

...and how to make a “Mickey Mouse Salad” with a pear and pecans:

One of my favorite cooking tips was this one on how to determine the freshness of your eggs:

Since I am slightly above the level of a beginner cook, I had the added challenge of finding a recipe that actually had some complexity to it...and found the perfect one. Rice Pudding. When I was growing up, my father loved rice pudding and my mother used to make it for our family. I never quite understood the appeal...especially when milk was poured over it. It tasted fine...but chocolate pudding was definitely my favorite. My dad loved it though. Look how yummy this recipe looks!

So, I started cooking.

I read the recipe carefully.

I put everything I needed out on the table.

I made the two cups of cooked rice in my rice cooker and greased my baking dish.

I beat the softened butter and other ingredients with a fork and gently stirred in the rice and raisins. Then, I poured everything into the dish.

At this point, I went rougue.

The dish looked like soup. I just could not get my head around how it would turn into a dessert anyone would be willing to eat a mere 30 minutes later. I threw in more cooked rice. A LOT more cooked rice. I may have ruined the recipe...but hey, I was having fun cooking!

When I pulled out the dish, the rice was still moist...and certainly did not look like soup. It looked pretty good to me:

I dished the rice pudding into small bowls and sprinkled cinnamon on top.

I actually loved this dessert. I had two servings. Mom and Dad are going to be visiting for Christmas this year, I think this would be a lovely dessert to make.

It may even be better than chocolate pudding.

How to Grill by Steven Raichlen

Made on September 16, 2018

For this cookbook challenge endeavor, I asked Craig to be the grill master. He gets most of the credit for this one!

As I mentioned in my Späetzel blog, I have a friend visiting from Japan named Yumi. A few days ago, I asked Yumi if there was a special meal she would like while visiting America. She immediately replied “Yes! Filet Mignon”. In Japan, steak is extremely expensive-so this meal is not very accessible to a common person. One $6 steak (like the ones we bought at our meat counter) runs $45 in Japan.

Craig and I have never made Filet ourselves because of the perceived difficulty with such a thick cut of meat. Craig likes his meat well done, but knew that may ruin the Filet. Plus, I generally just don’t eat steak.

Thank goodness I have a bunch of cookbooks to guide the way. According to two different ones, the key to grilling Filet Mignon is to wrap it with bacon in order to keep the moisture in. Since we already like the simple salt and pepper seasoning for meat, this seemed easy. Plus, I learned that you can buy bacon by the slice at the meat counter and I didn’t have to buy an entire package. My bacon only cost $1.26 for 3 slices!

Craig did a great job with grilling...our Filets were a perfect Medium as Yumi requested. This was the first time he used our new grill, too. We will have to make this again...I can do this kind of steak! We didn’t eat the bacon since it wasn’t crispy, it was just used to keep the meat moist. Yumi enjoyed her American meal.

The CAN’t Cook Cook Book by Jessica Seinfeld

Baked on September 13

I’m back! My long summer haitus is over...I now have 11 recipes to get out in the last three months of the year. Gulp.

My husband LOVES oatmeal cookies. I am more of a peanut butter cookie person myself. During the fifteen years (so far!) of our marriage, I have only baked oatmeal cookies a handful of times. Once a year, the boy across the street would sell frozen cookie dough for his soccer team and Craig picked Oatmeal. For $14, Corbin would deliver a flat box full of thick frozen dough pucks ready to throw onto a cookie sheet. The cookies always turned out wonderful....and before they were totally cool, I had typically downed four. Or maybe five. Another reason why I don’t bake cookies.

This recipe called for old fashioned oats, golden raisins, and a tablespoon of maple syrup. The maple taste was quite subtle. Here’s the dough...

And the warm cookies:

My taste testers...

Craig was quite happy with the cookies. He suggested that they be made bigger next time so there is more soft middle and less crispy edge. I didn’t really notice an issue with that, but since he is the Oatmeal cookie connoisseur, I will defer to him.

Ellie’s opinion, on the other hand, will be completely ignored because she is on a strict no-raisin diet. She will just have to stick with peanut butter.

A Cook’s Tour of Minnesota by Ann Burckhardt

Made on September 16, 2018

This weekend Craig, Yumi (my friend from Japan) and I went to the annual Half Price Books clearance sale to gather box loads of $2 books. I enjoy finding the odd title among the thousands of common ones. This year, some of the gems I picked up focused on Tator Tots, pudding, sushi, and soup; Jewish, Japanese, and Tex Mex cuisines, and vintage Kid’s cookbooks. A Cook’s Tour of Minnesota is one of the best of the bunch. Here is a glimpse of the sale:

Now for some cooking!

When I was a student at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, I tried späetzel. I don’t remember where I was, or who I was with (which is typical of many of my experiences at MCAD) but I DO remember how wonderful those tiny little German dumplings tasted. According to my Cook’s Tour of Minnesota cookbook, New Ulm, Minnesota has a German Heritage festival every year in July that features späetzel. The festival also features costumed people dressed up as Narren, who are billed as “the relatives everybody has but nobody wants”. Since I still have relatives who live in Minnesota, and this is a cooking blog, I will keep my topic focused on making späetzle for the first time.

Späetzle only costs about $2 to make...but you do have to add on the purchase of a $10 späetzle maker. I never knew späetzle makers were a thing. Luckily, Amazon delivered it to me on Sunday free of charge (Yay, Amazon Prime!).

Making späetzle is a three step process. First you mix your späetzle batter. The batter is made from eggs, flour, water, white pepper, and a bit of nutmeg. Then, you place your späetzle maker over a pot of simmering water, pour some batter, and scrape it into the water below.

This is much easier than it sounds. Don’t be intimidated. The little strands of dough boil for about five minutes and pop up to the surface. Then you fish out the little guys with a strainer:

After straining out the adorable little späetzle, you melt a few tablespoons of butter in a pan and fry them until they are golden brown. You can serve them with gravy, cheese, or parsley.

Fry, späetzle, fry!

Here they are! Ready to eat. Yumi and I enjoyed them as they were...Craig would have preferred the addition of gravy. I will make them again...they were actually quite fun to make and the result was super tasty.

Tokyo Cult Recipes by Maori Murota

Cooked on May 19

This is a beautiful cookbook. The photography is gorgeous and it is well designed. I bought this cookbook right after Craig and I returned from Japan in the fall of 2016. Time to cook up some tofu!

The biggest challenge of this recipe was finding the Daikon radish. Until now, I had only seen it grated next to a bowl of tempura sauce in a Japanese restaurant. I went to three grocery stores and asked the produce workers if they had any. Sold out everywhere. “Is this a Daikon?”

Fortunately, no. Those are parsnips.

“Is this Daikon?”

Nope. That is horseradish.

Finally, I found it at Sprouts a few weeks later. This is Daikon:

Much less scary compared to the others, right? At least I am learning all about root vegetables with this recipe.

The first step in the recipe was to wrap the tofu in paper towels and press the tofu between two plates for 30 minutes. Easy! While I was squeezing my tofu, I started making the sauce and grated the ginger and Daikon. I cheated on the sauce...it turns out Dashi is made with seaweed, dried fish flakes, and water. I decided to go with using Mirin, Soy Sauce, corn starch (to thicken), water, and a bit of fish sauce instead. It turned out well.

I cut up the tofu into large pieces and covered them with flour.

I heated up 3/4” of sunflower oil and started frying my tofu. This was surprisingly easy. I have always been afraid of frying foods in that much oil...little did I know how easy it was. Look at these little gems fry!

I pulled them out, placed them on some rice, drizzled my sauce, and garnished them with green onion, ginger, and grated Daikon. Cole and his girlfriend Abbie were visiting and really liked them...overall, a big success.

The Peanut Butter & Co Cookbook

Made on April 8

Is “muffins for dinner” a thing? Because it happened at my house.

My cooking slump has been broken. Even if I fail at the next 14 recipes of my 21 recipe challenge, I will always be able to look back and remember the muffins. I may even get a little tear in my eye.

For this recipe, I had to buy “White Chocolate Wonderful Peanut Butter” which was surprisingly easy to find at my grocery store. I also bought frozen blueberries and waited for them to thaw.

The recipe was quite easy- and this time, there were no debacles...no confusion on the recipe...no muffin burning. 

Yummy looking, right?

I have nothing funny to write about this baking experience...nothing witty...nothing clever. I am speechless. These muffins were AMAZING. I can not adequately express their perfect balance of flavor...their light, fluffy texture...their ability to transport me from the longest winter in Kansas City history back to the memory of the warm blueberry muffins my mother used to make when I was a child.

I brought these into work today and was told my muffins were “RIDICULOUS”.

I recommend you bake them too.

The Magic of Peanut Butter by Skippy

Made on April 1 (Easter)

Most people probably think of Rice Crispy Treats as a “foolproof” cooking endeavor. Not true. I found out how you can screw them up...two different ways.

Before I share my embarrassing difficulty with this desert, I will mention this post is part of a Peanut Butter Duo. I actually own TWO different cookbooks about peanut butter...and until now have never made a thing from either of them. This is the first of two recipes.

The photo of the Extra Special Peanut Butter Cereal Treats looked amazing. Look at those slightly toasted mini marshmallows and melty chocolate chips!

The recipe certainly seemed within my grasp. Or so I thought. Little did I know that it was doomed from the start. Step 2 says “In large bowl, combine cereal and two cups marshmallows and set aside”. I pulled out my big metal mixing bowl...just like Mom’s...the biggest bowl I own. I poured in my 6 cups cereal and 2 cups of marshmallows. Then I boiled the corn syrup and sugar and added the peanut butter. I turned the oven broiler on as well. I poured the hot goo over my dry items in my large bowl. I quickly realized there was no way I could stir these items together, the bowl was heaped high with dry little rice crispies. The little guys were falling over the edge...how could I ever get down to the bottom? I couldn’t. They remained dry as a bone down there. The recipe failed to tell me that their definition of a large bowl was a trough or maybe a bucket from the garage.

Since I had already poured my goo into the bowl, I decided I would proceed by pouring everything into my greased up baking pan anyway. My theory was that I would be able to “melt it together” when it got hot in the oven. Hakuna Matata!

I placed my remaining adorable little marshmallows on top and sprinkled my chocolate chips. I should have taken a picture...there was so much potential!

The recipe said to broil it for 10 minutes. Since I wanted to “melt it together”, I decided to check it at 3 minutes, fix it, and stick it back in.

Oh, brother! Looking more closely at the recipe, it said “10 seconds” in the broiler. My little marshmallows were burnt to a crisp. And so was the top layer of rice crispies. I pulled it out of the oven and decided to do the obvious thing...mix it all together!

I am actually one of those people who likes burned things...popcorn, hot dogs, and marshmallows for s’mores. Maybe I am not alone?

I brought my cut up bars into Hallmark and placed them on the table the morning after Easter. I decided to call them “Toasted Peanut Butter and Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats” to give a nod to the fact that they may taste burnt. They were pretty homely...no cute baby marshmallows on the top, everything had to get mixed in. They did stick together though!

The treats were gone by lunch. Some people even had two. I knew it all worked out when one of my coworkers said “Anne, you have to bring in that recipe”.

The Ultimate Guide by Matteo Bruno

Cooked on March 27

Okay, we’ve had enough Prune Cake, time to make a hearty meatball dinner! I found this gorgeous cookbook in the clearance corner of my bookstore. I am not a big fan of meatballs but was committed to make this part of my 21 recipe challenge. I chose the Pork, Beef, and Ginger recipe. Not a very catchy title, but I liked the Asian angle.

Remember how I mentioned in my first blog that regardless of how my recipes turned out, I was going to share the results? I’m only making these recipes once...I’ve got 21 to make, people! I don’t have time to worry about perfection...I have to keep moving forward. In the “spirit of transparency”, this one kind of went off the rails.

It started off well...look at these pretty ingredients!

Even my meat mixture looks good (ignore the appetizing photo in the cookbook):

Looks promising...see my cute meatballs?

While I was getting ready to pan fry my meatballs and then bake them in the oven, I put on a pot of rice. I still needed something as a side dish, so I thought I would get brave and open my spiralizer for the first time and make some zucchini noodles. I bought this thing about 8 months ago and have been too intimidated to try it. The directions were pretty poor...but I stuck on a zucchini and cranked away!

What’s this??? These aren’t noodles!

These ribbony tendrils are certainly pretty, but where are my noodles? Oh...turns out there are two more blades hidden in the base. This is better:

This thing is cool! And easy! Why has it taken me so long to try it? Craig was very impressed by both styles and even said “WOW!”.

After the meatballs had been fried and were finishing in the oven, I threw the zucchini in some boiling water...but didn’t really have much energy to figure out how to season them. Here is the first plate I made for Craig:

Not exactly what I had in mind. SAD!

Craig is a good sport and quietly ate the meatballs. I kept thinking something was amiss. After we had eaten half of our meal, I realized there was another part down in the bottom corner of the recipe page...the part that suggests you make “Hoisin sauce with ginger and garlic (p 163)”. Dang. That sounds good. Fortunately, I had a bottle of teriyaki sauce in the refrigerator. And a Dove Bar.

5 down, 16 to go!

Betty Crocker’s Parties for Children

Baked on March 25th

When I was in kindergarten, my mother had a copy of Betty Crocker’s Parties for Children. I remember looking through it many times during my childhood. There are party games, craft ideas and recipes inside. I would select all of the fun games I wanted my mother to plan for my birthday party. The illustrations were amazing and made the simplest game—like rolling marbles through holes cut out of the side of a shoebox—look like loads of fun. I spent hours studying this book and dreamt of playing the games with my friends and brother Ron. My family owned that book for years but eventually it was donated...probably around the time I went to college.

Each summer, my husband and I go to the Half Price Books warehouse sale at the convention center. All hardcover books are $2. I was thrilled to see this book peeking out among the thousands of book spines on the tables. I opened the cover— first edition, 1962 (I was born the last week of 1965). Bonus, this copy is in even better condition than the one that got away in the 80’s.

For my 2018 recipe challenge (make one recipe from 21 cookbooks), I looked to the slim party food section at the back of the book. Other than some classic birthday cakes, the recipes sounded pretty awful. Here’s a gem: Pink Eggs. Place peeled hard-boiled eggs in a bowl of “juice drained from a jar of pickled beets”. No thank you.

So here we go...I am going to bake Jack Horner Prune Cake with Orange Butter icing. Craig has no enthusiasm for this one so half of the recipe will be plenty. Yes, I know it sounds terrible but at least I’m not ruining perfectly fine hard-boiled eggs with beet juice. Plus, I actually do like prunes.

The recipe was not specific about the nuts, so I opted for pecans. If you decide to make this cake, which I doubt, the prunes have to soften in boiling water for two hours before mixing.

Since I didn’t want to make an entire sheet cake, I opted to use a bread pan. The cooking time still worked out the same. I used the extra orange zest as garnish.

Here’s the final cake. It would be a great choice for fall...I like the nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves flavor. It reminds me of the coffee cake our Hallmark Crown Room makes for employee anniversaries. To be honest, I can’t taste the prunes at all which is rather disappointing.

The book, however, is a keeper.