Old Apartment cooking: Lettuce wraps – these were so good! I found a recipe supposedly copying a certain appetizer at a certain restaurant. I made a couple changes (ground turkey instead of minced chicken, button mushrooms instead of shiitake, and added carrots) and it turned out great! I should definately keep this recipe on hand for later.

The tree in the parking lot had these gorgeous apples.

I decided to try an apple crisp recipe. The “topping” (if you can called two tablespoons of brown sugar a topping) didn’t really cook. So I used my blowtorch!! The cinnamon sparked when I blazed it (kind of scary).

These were supposed to be bars you can eat out of hand. They were far too gooey, in fact, the center didn’t cook while the edges were dry. I have that problem with bar cookies a lot. I should get this pan.

Stuffed zucchini and pork sandwich. Blah.

Pasta with two sauces and standard green beans. Blah. (Getting close to moving, can you tell?)

A sudden spurt of energy led me to pizza!

The one on the left has steak, carmalized onions, cheddar, and garlic on marinara. The one on the right has a pesto base with sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and garlic.

Sweet Potato Soup. Ingredients: sweet potato, sage (thanks mom!), butter, chicken stock, salt and pepper.

Simmer all day, stir in cheese, you’re done. I also made wheat bread with sage.


New House!! It took me several days, but I finally cooked in the kitchen. This is my first dinner (not counting the mac and cheese from a box). I improvised with food on hand (hadn’t gone grocery shopping yet) and used a recipe I found online as a base. It’s acorn squash, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, and garbanzo bean stew with Indian curry.

After shopping I made – sandwiches! I know, real ambitious of me, huh? But they were quite tasty: bacon, gouda, and butter lettuce with grainy mustard and horseradish. I picked up the requisite gallon of cider at the store. The neighborhood king soopers was fairly impressive.

And tonight’s dinner: rosemary pork tenderloin, sweet roasted acorn squash, sweet and sour braised cabbage, and you’ll notice my prized roasted garlic nestled on the right. I have a whole head of it, baby. I just brought a batch of brownies with butterscotch chips out of the oven.

It’s starting to feel like home.