World Cup of Yum

Kids Menu Katsudon

Katsudon is one of my favorite Japanese dishes – rice topped with deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, and onion simmered in a savory sweet sauce. It’s super simple to make, except for the deep-fried pork cutlet. One weeknight I was super craving katsudon, but had neither the ingredients nor the energy to deep-fry a pork cutlet….

Jelly Meatballs

A friend of mine introduced me to grape jelly meatballs, which are meatballs slow-cooked in equal parts grape jelly and bbq sauce. They were good, but a touch sweet for my tastes. It inspired me to make a version equally as easy but more to my liking. I air-fried the meatballs to give them a…

Summer Squash Casserole

I had a huge bag of shredded provolone from my cheese guy. Combined with summer squash and topped with panko for some nice crunch, my boyfriend devoured more than half of this casserole in one sitting. A double win because it’s very easy to make! Guessipe Mix together the eggs, yogurt, provolone, onion salt, oregano,…

Mango Cake

I got a box of huge, perfectly ripe mangoes, and after gobbling a bunch down and using a couple to make mango lassi, I still had one left. While I’m on Team Pie, I had some friends coming over who are on Team Cake (there’s just no accounting for taste). So I decided to use…

Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream

I wanted to make a cherry cheesecake flavor of ice cream, but didn’t want to have to make a whole cheesecake just to break it up as a mix-in. So I decided I could make cheesecake flavor ice cream, then mix in graham cracker pieces and swirl in store-bought cherry preserves. It worked wonderfully, and…

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream

It’s strawberry season, and I couldn’t resist buying a giant double box of juicy, succulent strawberries from a roadside stand. After eating ourselves sick, I found we still had quite a few strawberries left. I also happened to have a couple leftover cupcakes from a dinner party, and it occurred to me that strawberry shortcake…

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

Last time I visited the farm of my family friends in Hawaii, we harvested cacao and I came home with bags and bags of cacao nibs. I decided to try making a fancy version of mocha chip ice cream using some of those cacao nibs, and sweetened condensed milk like Vietnamese iced coffee. My only…

Chocolate Saltine Ice Cream with Cinnamon Nut Butter Swirl

My friend gave me a jar of cinnamon nut butter, with the request that I make some kind of dessert with it (and share it with him, of course). Since I’m on an ice cream-making kick right now, I thought maybe I could use the nut butter as an ice cream swirl. I paired it…

Spicy Spanish-Style Rice

Cookbook Club – Cinco de Mayo In honor of Cinco de Mayo, we did a Mexican themed Cookbook Club in May. We sourced recipes from three places – Joy of Cooking (2019 Edition), America’s Test Kitchen, and Chef John’s Food Wishes. Feast your eyes on the whole fiesta on my Cookbook Club site. For now…

Honey Ice Cream with Almond Loquat Swirl

I made a ton of loquat jam and it occurred to me that it would make a pretty good ice cream swirl. Honey seemed like a nice complementary flavor for the ice cream, and almonds added crunch plus some saltiness to cut the sweetness of the honey and jam. This ice cream flavor was such…

Loquat Jam

It’s loquat season and trees in my neighborhood are loaded down with fruit. Most people seem to have the trees for decorative purposes and don’t realize that loquats are fantastic eating… which means I luck into an abundance of loquats! A friend of mine has a loquat tree in her backyard and has been making…

Salted Caramel Praline Ice Cream

I find pralines a bit too sweet to just eat on their own. So I’ve had some leftover pralines that I’ve been trying to figure out something to do with. Now that I’m on this ice cream journey, I found a use for them. I have some friends who are obsessed with Salt and Straw…