Braided Loaf

Cookbook Club – Magnolia Table, Volume 2 In March, the Cookbook Club explored a little part of the Magnolia cult… I mean “network”… using the Magnolia Table, Volume 2 cookbook by Joanna Gaines. If you couldn’t tell, I was a bit dubious going in, and you can find out whether or not the meal turned…

No-Knead Crusty Bread

A friend of mine shared this no-knead bread recipe with me a long time ago, and I’d made it a ton because it was so easy and delicious. The original recipe called for bread flour, but noted that you could also use all-purpose flour. I’d made it both ways, until one day I went to…

Whipped Ricotta Fettunta

I got another ricotta bounty from my cheese supplier (AKA friend who works for the best Italian cheese company ever). There is an Italian restaurant nearby that I used to go to specifically for their Whipped Ricotta Fettunta… until it occurred to me that with the incredible ricotta from my friend I could probably make…

Cheese-Swirled Bread

When I make this bread, my boyfriend will eat the whole loaf in one day. The bread is soft and fluffy on the inside, with a crispy cheese crust on top, and delish herb cheese swirling through the middle. I have tried every combination of cheese and herbs – my favorite is cheddar with green…

Japanese Egg Salad Sandwich (Tamago Sando)

Before I went to Japan, people kept telling me I would love the 7-Eleven food there. I was skeptical to say the least. I have never eaten anything from 7-Eleven in the US, and with all the incredible food spots I had lined up for my trip, I just couldn’t imagine why I would want…

Caprese Sandwich

I am a meat lover, but when I’m looking at a sandwich menu there is one vegetarian option that always draws my attention and often wins out over its meaty brethren… the caprese sandwich. It’s fresh and zingy, but substantial enough that I feel completely sated when I’m done eating. When I realized I could…

Pancake Mix Garlic Onion Cheese Bread

Yes, I’m posting this on April Fool’s Day… but no, this is not a joke. Thanks to COVID-19 we’re all living in this new shelter-in-place world, and apparently everyone has decided to get into bread-baking. As a result that I never would have predicted for a global pandemic, all the grocery stores appear to be…

Caesar Salad

“Best Caesar Salad I’ve ever had in my life” – according to my friend who thinks Caesar Salad is the epitome of all salads. He also thinks he hates mustard, so I waited until after he was done eating his second bowl before I told him the dressing definitely contains mustard. Despite that, he keeps…

French Onion Soup

Onions, bread, and cheese are three of my boyfriend’s favorite foods, so French Onion Soup was pretty much a no-brainer dish to make for him. It’s traditionally made with dry white wine, but all I happened to have on hand was cream sherry when I made this. It came out great, so now it’s what…

Grown-up Filet-o-Fish

I still had some yellowtail in the freezer from my awesome fishing excursion, and was pondering yummy ways to use it. For some reason I flashed back to when I was a kid on the extremely rare occasions that my parents would take us to McDonald’s. My mom, I guess in an attempt to get…

Cremini Mushroom Toasts

Cookbook Club – Nancy Silverton’s Sandwich Book In honor of summer picnic season, our July cookbook was Nancy Silverton’s Sandwich Book. In the book, Silverton has gathered together her best recipes from the very popular sandwich night that she used to do at her restaurant Campanile (no longer open). You can examine every bread-y bite…

Pizza Marinara

Cookbook Club – The Elements of Pizza In June, we did a special event in partnership with the LA Bread Bakers, using their outdoor wood-fired pizza oven! We used The Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish for dough and sauce recipes and topping combos, and also came up with our own pizza creations. Go to…