oat cakes

These were possibly the most Irish things I have ever made. Hard, full of oats, go well with tea. And honestly, not highly recommended as they taste like something that came from a time when people were referred to as peasants. Onion obviously wanted a taste though. 

strawberry muffins

After making these I learned to not add strawberries to muffins. The recipe insisted I could use anything but citrus and pineapple but the strawberries did not hold up very well. Sad day. They were tasty out of the oven, though!

Weirdest looking pasta ever.

mac n cheese

mozerella + thyme + parmesan + peas

fig galette

I stole some figs of someone's tree and made this goat cheese galette with them. Yum yum. It's just a pate brisee/shortcrust pastry dough with goat cheese slathered on top, figs cut and placed and honey drizzled on top. Unfortunately I baked this around 11pm one night, so lighting was not optimal which is why it looks a bit funky. 

scones

There's nothing like fresh baked raspberry scones.

seasonal food

I've always wanted a poster that includes seasonal fruits and veggies, so I finally made one. 

purple drank

Apparently strawberries + blackberries + yogurt = the purpliest smoothie of all time. I just had to document it. 

Holiday

So I've had this entire week off and while I slacked on the blog posting, I've actually been up to a lot! I visited with an old friend, built shelves for a local art center, made some new necklaces, cleaned the house, and slept a whole lot- boy does it feel good. Having new things to look forward to in daily life is important, a new one for me will posting with I SPY ATL, a new site dedicated to local goodies and I will be contributing recipe posts! I already feel more inspired to make delicious and beautiful things for sharing. Here is my first post.

coconut cake redo

I stuck to one recipe this time and it was MUCH more successful! Well, I used a different recipe for the icing but that doesn't really count, right?

more radishes

Every time I get radishes I have to take pictures, they are just too cute not to. 

fried green tomatoes

I don't really like red tomatoes, I like very little or no sauce on my pizza, won't eat them in a salad etc. Green tomatoes are a different story, I love making fried green tomatoes and I continually order them at restaurants. The problem is that they are usually over battered and fried, so I prefer to make them myself. I simply cut them up, dip them in egg and then cover them in corn meal with Mrs. Dash seasoning and serve with goat cheese or sour cream mixed with garlic and lime. Easy peasy. 

coconut cake

Whelp, I made my first-ever coconut cake without ever having tasted one. Probably not the best plan. And for some reason, I thought all the recipes seemed wrong and either too complicated or not complicated enough so for the first time in my limited years of baking I attempted to combine recipes and it didn't really work out. It looked cute and tasted good, but not great, because it wasn't fluffy. So pretty please if you have an excellent recipe, throw it my way. 

raspberry scones

I am determined to make the perfect scones. Someday. These were close, but not quite crispy enough on the outside. 

broccoli + rice casserole

I'm not sure that this really qualifies as a casserole but I put it in a casserole dish, so there's that. I also don't tend to like casseroles much for some reason and this dish seems quite American and traditional, but I found it pretty tasty- it's based off of this one. 

radish salad

These radishes were too beautiful to not purchase and consume. I put them on a salad with goat cheese, radish sprouts and balsamic vinegar + olive oil. Just like me, this salad is pretending it's summer already.

tofu tacos!

 There is a bar here called mother that serves tofu tacos, and my roommate and I are straight up addicted, so it was only a matter of time before we figured out how to make our own. Luckily it's pretty simple so while they aren't identical they are pretty damn good. Also this is my very first recipe that I didn't copy from someone else! (Well I copied their idea but whatever, you get get it.)

Ingredients:

tortillas of your choice

1 package extra firm tofu

red cabbage (half a head or less)

fresh ginger

broccoli slaw

sweet chili sauce

few dashes of rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, sriracha 

Directions:

Cut up your tofu into around 18 pieces, I like thin rectangles because they fit in the tortillas better. Fry them up in your favorite oil (I use canola) until they are pretty crispy. This is basically the only occasion where I don't add seasoning to tofu because the sauce is absolutely phenomenal and works better if added after the fact. 

Grate/cut up the cabbage in manageably bite size strips, toss with broccoli slaw and grated ginger (add as much as you think you can handle, maybe a teaspoon? more? just go with it) you can add a bit of the vinegars and soy sauce just enough to coat the slaw. I'm not super descriptive because we make this a little different every time, and it's all about personal preference to me.

Now time to doctor up the sauce. This is probably unnecessary since sweet chili sauce is the best thing ever, but I like a bit more kick to it, so I add the vinegars and some sriracha and keep on tasting it until it's so good I want to eat it by the spoonful. 

We prefer to warm the tortillas for a couple minutes, but not until they are crunchy. So once you have crispy tofu, slaw, sauce and warmed tortillas you are all good and ready to pile it up and make a mess. This makes about 6 tacos, but if you are feeding more than two hungry people, you might want to fry up another pack of tofu. So easy! So addictive!

falafel

This was my first attempt at falafel, and after a few tweaks of this recipe, I got it right. I'm not a cilantro/parsley fan, so I left that out but upped the garlic and lemon factors, adding them to the yogurt sauce. I also had to add an egg to the falafel mix because the patties basically crumbled when I tried to fry them. The slaw, like most cabbage/non-creamy slaws, tasted better after a day of marinating in the lemon juice. All in all quite tasty, and I will probably make it again. 

biscuits and snow

The snow in Atlanta has basically incapacitated the whole city, not that it really snowed all that much but there was no preparation- no streets were salted, people don't have snow tires etc, everyone tried to leave work/school at the same time driving on icy roads and so it was rather a disaster. However, I've been lucky enough to be sitting at home comfortably enjoying myself while many of my friends were stuck on the interstate for hours upon hours. I've spent my snow day(s) drinking, listening to Harry Potter on tape, making these parmesan and thyme biscuits and watching movies.