From Fancy to Finger Food

For someone who adores baking bread and making homemade versions of things you'd normally get at the grocery store, homemade English muffins should have been a no-brainer. And yet somehow, it took a couple of years and the accumulation of three  recipes before I got around to it. Yes, I was busy being educated and whatever, but I never let that stop me before. A couple of weeks ago, though, I finally got the bug and spent a nice weekend morning making the most delicious English muffins I had ever had, by several orders of magnitude. The kicker is that for some reason, I was surprised. I knew they'd be good, better than store-bought, but they were so good . I didn't even toast them after I split them, but ate three in rapid succession with just a smear of butter. My plans for a fancy English muffin egg sandwich went right out the window. Why would anyone ruin this heavenly perfection with eggs and bacon? (You know I'm serious when I say that bacon would not be an impro...

Today, I make good on a promise I made a couple of weeks ago, and boy am I glad that I held myself to that promise. I don't know how/when I had the idea for these, but it was likely one of the more brilliant thoughts I've had in the last few months. These sort of evolved as I was making them. First, I decided that I wanted to make a big batch to have a homemade version of frozen, ready-to-bake tater tots. I've been trying to make meals and snacks to freeze, but not of the frozen-mystery-vegetable-casserole variety. I've made some pizza, now these tater tots, and hopefully soon some dumplings and/or pierogis. It'll be a nice way to avoid eating either fast food or cereal on nights when I get home late. I was watching Iron Chef as I made these (it's amazing how quickly I cook when vicariously afflicted with the anxiety of chefs who are asked to make 5 dishes in one hour ), and as I was grating the cheese, I heard someone say "chives" and realized that...

Well, the heat has officially been turned on here and I am back to the fall I remember from growing up (Maryland fall is quite warm). I can't say I'm exactly welcoming it, since I'm already pining forlornly for ripe, juicy stone fruit and sweet, vibrant strawberries, but there are a few things I enjoy about fall. The cooler weather opens up the possibility of soup for lunch, which I love because it's one of the few things I can make in large batches without getting sick of, and it reheats like a dream. I generally dislike leftovers because I often find reheated food to be a sad imitation of its former self. What once was vibrant is muted, crisp turns to mush. Naturally, this makes lunch a challenge. In fact, a lot of the inspiration for this blog so far has been a desire for lunch foods that either do not require heating or stand up well to the microwave. I think this soup will certainly do the trick. I adore broccoli in all forms, and cheddar is one of my fav...