Cook’s County Cookbook Minestrone

Oh my gosh, this soup. This soup!

I mentioned the Complete Cook’s County TV Show Cookbook on my new Cookbook Club page last week, but I only recently delved into its meticulous pages to try a recipe. I’d followed Chris Kimball, the creator of America’s Test Kitchen, via his excellent Cooks Illustrated magazines in my mother’s kitchen. However, I was unfamiliar with the Cook’s County recipes until this fabulous book showed up under the tree. (Thanks, Mama THT!)

What to do? Why, try a recipe, of course! Hence, this absolutely unreal minestrone soup.

“So Earth-Friendly, Even a Vegan Will Eat It” Veggie Chili

Friends, as you know, I’m a fan of experimenting with vegetarian and vegan food. (Baking, more baking, pasta dishes, etc. )While I can’t say I’d go vegan for life (being engaged to a semi-carnivore makes that a bit complicated — love you, THT!), I’ve been working on incorporating a vegetarian diet more regularly into my life for the last 6 months or so. (See, this is what happens when you take a “blogging hiatus,” GKG. No one knows about these adventures! she said to herself…)

The verdict?

Fruits of Our Labors: Cookbook Club 101

Image sourced from kcrw.com

Pesto is much-loved around here — I’ve cooked with it in pasta dishes, as a pizza sauce, and even as an addition to hummus or other dips. And while I’ve enjoyed playing with the basil – Parmesan – pine nut formula by swapping in spinach, kale, cashews, almonds and more, until recently, I had never ventured too far outside of that routine. That is, until I tried Rachael Ray’s Roasted Red Pepper Pesto.

That is, until my DC girlfriends and I created a Cookbook Club.

Bread Baking, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dough

Why yes, I did Instagram this loaf. Bread: So hot right now.

Once upon a time, there was a little blogger who loved freshly baked bread. She knew that white flour was, according to all things medical research, not the best thing in the world for her nutrition. But, like the steadfast food-lover that she was, she also knew that a nutritionist would have to pry a baguette from her cold, dead hands before she’d give it up entirely. 

Sound familiar?