We’re trying something wild and new today! And by today I mean for the last 6 months!

I added a new category for “vegan” recipes.

I pretty much never intend to make vegan food but in the course of making vegetarian food I do make plenty of vegan food as well. This tag will include recipes that are vegan (naturally!) or ones that would easily be vegan by replacing the cooking fat (usually butter) with oil or honey with sugar in places where it won’t too significantly change the recipe at all. Most of these don’t EXPLICITLY say to replace these products so but I will attempt to suggest it in future posts I plan to tag as vegan.

While in a technical way you could make my Broccoli-Cheddar Soup with vegan milk substitutes and vegan cheese, the consistency of the recipe would likely be pretty heavily changed and you’d have a way better time finding recipes already geared around those ingredients.

Most recipes of course can be adapted to be vegan, some by simply removing meat or replacing it with a meat substitute or by using vegan substitutes for butter, milk, and eggs but you might notice I don’t really eat meat substitutes and I’m not a fan of things like seitan and tofu in place of meat so I’m going to just trust you’ll make your best judgements about recipes and I’ll keep trying to helpfully tag recipes.

Happy cooking!

I had a party and decided to throw together a nice punch because who doesn’t love punch? I saw this one on Smitten Kitchen and decided to go ahead and try. It’s fabulous! It was enough punch for the 14 of us the last the whole night. I worried there would be too much or too little but this was just right! Not a drop left.

Boozy Punch

1 1/4 cups cold water
1 1/4 cups limeaid
3 3/4 cups pineapple juice
1 3/4 cups Campari (or less, to taste)
1 bottle dark rum
1 bottle sparkling wine

Mix all chilled ingredients in a large punch bowl (this makes about 4 quarts so plan your bowl accordingly) and if desired, put a handful of garnishes like lemon or orange slices.

**If you’re not serving right away, do not add the wine until serving time so it stays cold and fizzy.

Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen

Not quite a full recipe it’s basically just wine and fruit. This is a delightfully light sangria that is perfect for a hot summer day. I made this in the blender and blended up about half the fruit just to give it a more infused flavor (and a light pink color)

Summer Fruit White Sangria

750ml white wine
1/2 cup vodka
6 cherries, pitted and cut in half
1 peach, cut in chunks
1 lime, skinned and cut into pieces

1. Prepare your fruit (pulse in blend or food processor if desired).
2. In a large container or pitcher combine wine and vodka and fruit.
3. Let the sangria sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. Add ice and serve.

Source: Wright Kitchen

Just a post of some very good meals I had and haven’t posted before. Enjoy the deliciousness of these pictures 🙂

When I started cooking I need to a buy a lot of things and the worst was actually that there was so many choices! How do you know where to start and what to buy? Here is what is in my pantry after 8 years of cooking that I’ve found works for me.

Cooking Spices: salt, pepper, ginger, oregano, basil, thyme, dill, cumin, corriander, paprika, garlic, mustard, chili powder, cayenne pepper, garam masala, fennel
Baking Spices: cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, clove, star anise, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder
Fresh Herbs: mint, rosemary, chives, cilantro, parsley
Other Stuff: olive oil, rice wine, cooking sherry, hot sauces (siracha and chili lime sauce for us), tonkatsu sauce, ground korean chilis (for kimchee), fish sauce, peanut oil, chocolate chips, coconut, almonds, tomato paste, and curry paste.

Pans: cookie sheet, baking sheet with sides, sauce pan – 2qt, stock pot – 6 qt, grill pan, frying pan – small, colander – free standing, small colander, dutch oven – 3.5 qt, set of mixing bowls – 4 sizes, glass baking dishes – 3 piece set, pasta pot with strainer top (so handy), mini muffin pan, muffin tins (2), 9″ cake pans (2), bread loaf pan, and a kettle.

Appliances: stick blender, blender, crockpot – 6 qt, crockpot -2 qt, rice cooker, stand mixer, food processor – small.

Extras: 2 good quality knives for chopping, a set of 4 cutting boards, peeler, whisk, soup ladle (2), pie cutter, pizza cutter, zester, tea press, set of 3 stirring spoons, spatula, hand grater, two 6 piece sets of Tupperware of varying sizes.

I don’t think every person needs everything on this list at all of course but this is what works for me and there isn’t a thing listed that I haven’t used in the past month which feels like a good judge measure that my kitchen really is working for me. Plus there’s a small amount of things I could stand to pick up (ramekins and cooling racks come to mind).

I always wonder what other people have in their kitchen.