Golden Bowls

 https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/golden-bowl/

I made this quite a while ago. I can't recall what, if any, changes I made when making it.

Apple tart

 https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a23364812/apple-tart-recipe/?fbclid=IwAR3gZxYTCYRdYPxQRaqU8SgzeDAxfhVbqiiv76B_M9BHUY9PoP03saiqDsQ

I made this after seeing it on the FB dinner group. I didn't use the crust recipe, though because we had a tube of sugar cookie. It turned out ok, but needed a little more sugar because the apples were quite tart.

Vegetarian Swedish "Meat"balls

 I made this the other day

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020839-vegetarian-swedish-meatballs?action=click&module=RecipeBox&pgType=recipebox-page&region=meatball&rank=1

I enjoyed it much, but upon making it again, I would reduce the salt quite a bit. Also, I will have to reduce the amount of liquid. When I made it as a double batch, it was too wet, even after adding additional cracker crumbs. It baked ok, but were blobs vs spherical.

Tomato and White Bean soup

 This is a good way to use up some white beans

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020733-tomato-and-white-bean-soup-with-lots-of-garlic?action=click&module=RecipeBox&pgType=recipebox-page&region=soups&rank=1

Wild rice soup

 I very much enjoyed this, but again, the family did not 

https://www.feastingathome.com/instant-pot-wild-rice-soup/

Vegan Breakfast cookies

I was experimenting with vegan stuff for L while we were trying to figure out trouble with her stomach.

These end up kind of dry, but taste ok with some jam.

https://www.mydarlingvegan.com/gluten-free-vegan-breakfast-cookies/#wprm-recipe-container-18360

White Bean corn chowder

 I thought this was pretty good

https://thedairyalliance.com/dairy-recipes/white-bean-corn-chowder/

Eggplant recipes

 This was ok, but the rest of the family didn't like it

https://vegetariangastronomy.com/thai-basil-eggplant-vegan-contains-gluten/

I can't remember if I actually made this, but I'm listing it anyway

https://foodyschmoodyblog.com/eggplant-stir-fry/

Sesame-ginger bok choy

 I got some baby bok choy from the Asian market. I found the recipe below and really liked how it turned out. I tried to use it for a stir fry, but I needed to add a bit more sauce for the added tofu.

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/sesame-ginger-bok-choy/#wprm-recipe-container-162686

Lentil sloppy joes

I made these for dinner at one camping night. Actually I don't think we made them during our our big camping trip, but I really liked it.

https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-sloppy-joes/#wprm-recipe-container-35325

So many zucchini!!

 This Zucchini Butter was ok, but not worth the time to make

https://food52.com/recipes/23071-jennie-cook-s-zucchini-butter

I have made these Zucchini kimchi several times and also shared with some people at work and they liked it too

https://www.food52.com/recipes/35678-zucchini-kimchi/amp

LEMON BUTTER RISOTTO WITH ZUCCHINI

 I loved it, but the rest of the family did not

https://dishingouthealth.com/lemon-butter-risotto-with-zucchini/

Zucchini brownies

 These are awesome

https://iambaker.net/zucchini-brownies/#wprm-recipe-container-66158

Chocolate lava cake

 Not made in the instant pot

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/chocolate-lava-cakes/

Peach jam

 Peach preserves from this recipe were good, at least so far

https://natashaskitchen.com/country-peach-preserves/

Nopales

 https://www.isabeleats.com/how-to-cook-nopales/

 Being in an area where there is a large  Hispanic population makes for some interesting produce selections. The kids picked out a couple cactus paddles. I looked up how to prepare and cook them.

I cooked them in olive oil with garlic and a little oregano and cumin. 

I was surprised by the reception, L and E said they were good! I think they would be really good in a taco or fajitas.

I will make it again!

Greens and bulgar gratin

 I've made this quite a few times before, but I was surprised to find I hadn't documented it before.

This is a great way to use up a bunch of greens. In my case, I had a lot of beet greens, so I made this so they would not go to waste.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/greens-and-bulgur-gratin-13121

Breadmaker Asiago cheese bread

 I made this Asiago cheese bread in our bread maker by adding all the ingredients except the cheese to the bowl. When the “Add” notification beeped, I added the cheese.

I liked it, but the cheese definitely blended in all the way. If I were to make it again, I’d leave the cheese in larger chunks. L didn’t like it, so I probably won’t make it again, bummer!

https://redstaryeast.com/recipes/asiago-cheese-bread-rolls-recipe/

Vegan Brown Gravy

 When I'm out of mushrooms and I want to make gravy, this recipe is quick and easy

https://shaneandsimple.com/easy-vegan-brown-gravy/

I used the veggie Better than bullion. It gets pretty thick pretty fast so I had to add more water on the back end. Otherwise, it's got a good flavor. I'll use this again when I don't have any mushrooms.

Vegan Mongolian tofu

 E very much likes Mongolian tofu from the Chinese restaurant in town. I'm not a huge fan of them because everything is so sweet. I found this recipe for Mongolian tofu and wanted to see how it compared.

https://chejorge.com/2020/07/06/crispy-mongolian-tofu/

Other than adding an entire sliced onion when I add the water, I make it as described. I did try a couple different ways to make the tofu and prefer to use the oven baked method. Also for finishing, I like to add about 1/2-1 tsp of starch to thicken the sauce, as it sticks to the tofu better.

Overall,we both like it a lot and it's very easy to throw together, so four thumbs up from the adults. So far the kids haven't tried it because of the chili peppers.

Blueberry Buttermilk Loaf

 One of our milks went sour a little early, so I made pancakes on Saturday and Sunday morning I decided to use up a bit more with a buttermilk-based quick bread. I found this recipe as a starting point, but I made quite a few modifications.

https://www.seasonsandsuppers.ca/blueberry-buttermilk-loaf/#wprm-recipe-container-41344

I doubled the recipe to use up more milk. Instead of the eggs, I used 4 of the numerous bananas that became too ripe and went into the freezer (thawed out of course). Because of the bananas, I reduced both the butter and sugar to 3/4 cup and 1.5 cups, respectively. Because of the subs and probably because I forgot to remove the pizza stone, it took about one hour and 10 minutes.

It turned out pretty good. Definitely not too sweet. The texture is a little gummy, but maybe that will help it stay moist. I will freeze one loaf for later. We'll see how it comes out then.

Christmas Cookies

I was looking for something to do with the kids over winter break and decided to make decorated sugar cookies. I used this recipe from the New York times. It tastes great, but I'm not sure how often I will do it again because making them with the kids is a bit of a pain! I now know why my mom didn't make these with us when we were growing up. Haha!

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017888-frosted-holiday-sugar-cookies

Happy New Year

 I'm trying to keep up with using my Rancho Gordo beans and decided to use the black eyed peas I received in the last bean club shipment for the New Year. 

I used this recipe and I was happy how it came out. Hopefully it will bring good luck for this coming year.

https://www.africanbites.com/black-eyed-peas-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-576856

To make with Masa

 I have been wanting to make tamales and pupusas since the beginning of the pandemic, so I found these recipes.

Pupusas https://www.google.com/amp/s/tasty.co/amp/recipe/salvadoran-pupusas-as-made-by-curly-and-his-abuelita

I think I did pretty good for my first try. I filled them with refried beans and cheese. I also liked the slaw.

Tamales (not made on the same day...)

I made three types. Sweet corn -https://www.mexicoinmykitchen.com/easy-sweet-corn-tamales-recipe/

bean and cheese, and (soy) chorizo-https://www.veganblueberry.com/vegan-tamales/

The sweet corn ones, I only made 1/3 of the recipe, and it was just enough for the kids, but there were no leftovers. Then I made the other recipe fully.  There were lots of leftovers which I put in the freezer! I steamed them in two batches in the instant pot. It took a little longer than I expected but seemed to work pretty well.

 I didn't use any stock, and I think that would have made the dough more flavorful. Otherwise it was a success. 

IP Mac and cheese

After making a different recipe for at least 15 times, the family informed me that they didn't like it. So I searched for a new one.

I found this one and used cheddar, asaiago, parmesan, and mozzarella cheese with a small chunk of cream cheese. I thought it came out great and the rest of the family liked it too.

https://thesaltymarshmallow.com/instant-pot-mac-and-cheese/#wprm-recipe-container-4012

Pizza at home

We finally found the right pizza crust recipe. We put the ingredients into the bread machine on dough mode and it's ready a couple hours later, so we do need to plan ahead. One recipe makes two pizzas that fit on our 15" round pizza stone.

https://www.food.com/recipe/easy-peezy-pizza-dough-bread-machine-pizza-dough-35805

With this dough recipe, at one point I was missing Somerville and Flatbread pizza, so I made this as one of our favorites from there.

http://planetofcrepes.blogspot.com/2014/06/punctuated-equilibrium-rip-of-pizza.html?m=1

One day we had some extra dough, so we tried making dessert pizza. It tastes like Godfathers cinnamon streusel pizza!

https://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/14610060/godfathers-streusel-dessert-pizza/