Kitchen Through the Lens: What it’s about

First of all: I hate naming projects. I hate naming projects because despite my marketing background and despite the fact that I’m totally hilarious and funny (it’s my blog, I can say what I want), I have a difficult time coming up with cool catchy names that make you want to pay attention.

You want to pay attention.

In scope of a lot of stuff going on in my world, I decided I needed a project. I needed a fun project, but something… productive. I needed to incorporate something I love, but I also needed to incorporate room for growth. I think this project does both.

I have picked (with some help!), 50 recipes. They’re not all main dishes – some are desserts, some are beverages, some are appetizers, some are sauces. I don’t love cooking (you know this, right?) but there’s no reason for that. I love baking, so, uh… why not cooking? Each week, I’ll prepare one of these new things (not necessarily in order of the list!), and – here’s the fun part – document the process with my camera. Food photography? It’s freakin’ hard, y’all BUT this gives me the opportunity and reason to work on those skills also.

(Win, win)

Without further adieu, here’s the list of 50. I don’t anticipate changing any of these items out – but it could happen. And if and when it does, you won’t roll your eyes at me too much, will you? You’ll be super understanding and supportive and say, “That’s okay, Sarah, you really didn’t want to make that other thing anyway.”

  1. salsa
  2. tortilla soup
  3. pesto
  4. tomato sauce/marinara
  5. caipirnha
  6. croissants
  7. sourdough bread
  8. patatas bravas
  9. potstickers
  10. roast chicken
  11. char siu bao
  12. vinaigrette
  13. strawberry shortcake
  14. fortune cookies
  15. tequila bars
  16. a savory biscotti
  17. cream puffs
  18. Emperor’s pancakes
  19. beer bread
  20. mashed potatoes
  21. homemade pasta
  22. chicken enchiladas
  23. salted caramel ice cream cake
  24. hamburgers
  25. margaritas
  26. prosciutto wrapped melon
  27. tamales
  28. infused vodka (okay, I’m not making the vodka part)
  29. caramel corn
  30. fruit smoothies
  31. Grandma’s molasses cookies
  32. spaghetti tacos (you have kids that watch iCarly, don’t you?)
  33. a homemade treat for the dog
  34. blueberry muffins
  35. fresh juice
  36. cinnamon bread
  37. lemon pasta
  38. Greek salad
  39. Hasselback potatoes
  40. chicken tacos
  41. hummus
  42. risotto
  43. feta stuffed gyro burgers
  44. chipotle stout braised beef tacos
  45. key lime cheesecake
  46. taco pasta shells
  47. empanadas
  48. Narsai mudslide cookies
  49. Wendell’s cookies
  50. Thanksgiving dinner (turkey & stuffing)

The last several are recipes given to me by others  – so pretty specific versus the mostly vague first half of the list. Wendell is my grandfather who died in the late 80s – the recipe I’ll be making, Wendell’s cookies – those were his favorite. I received the Narsai mudslide cookie recipe from my dad – who has brought them up in conversation several times. Joe from The Hungry Dudes gave me links to recipes for items 43 – 46 and when a foodie gives you recipes, you take note.

The kids wanted to make some kind of biscuit for the dog – granted, I won’t be taste testing that one, but… why not? Tequila bars are a Guy Fieri recipe (yeah, I know) that I pulled from a magazine because…tequila. I’m more inclined to pay attention to his recipes if I don’t have to listen to him. Or watch him. Or want to rip the sunglasses from the back of his head and want to beat him with them. Anyway, worth a shot right? I pull a LOT of recipes from magazines…and never make them. This project will help me face down some of that list – maybe discover some new favorites.

Alright. Are you with me? Here we go.

I’m starting tonight. Got my lemon zester ready for some lemon pasta. Let’s do this.

 

Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookie

Last week, I talked to y’all about cookies, and my Fairy GodSista Jules sent me a message and said, “Hey Sarah – Have you ever tried these?” And I was like, “Um. No. But OH-MY-GOODNESS. I need to.” {And big ups to Jules to know that when you have a recipe like this under your hat, you SHARE it}

And so I spent days scheming the perfect combination of cookies.

And then I made them wrong.

Word to the wise, never shut down your computer thinking that the picture you took of the list of ingredients with your iPhone is enough to get you through.

BUT WAIT.

Even though I didn’t beat the cookies for the requisite TEN MINUTES (ohh yeah, you read that right), they were still delish if only just a little bitty bit flat, so… no harm no foul. AND, I have an excuse to try again. Once I go to the store and get more brown sugar because I was completely out last night and had to mooch from my neighbor – and she didn’t have enough – and yeah, then I was so distracted I didn’t blend the dough long enough, blah blah blah.

The Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookie is basically a chocolate chip cookie to which you add a bunch of stuff to it – not just ANY stuff. DARN NEAR ANYTHING.

The first batch? Rollos, chopped almonds and broken pretzel pieces.

Om nom nom nom. I won’t tell you how much cookie dough I ate (but it was A LOT).

I split the dough in half and added some teddy grahams, marshmallows, chocolate chips for a S’mores inspired cookie. I also added chopped peanuts and rice crispies.

The end result (even though I DID NOT FOLLOW DIRECTIONS)? Supah tasty.

Plus, I get to make them again. Y’know… the right way.