A Dietary Compendium

And now, in a break from books and the Speck--food!  If there's one thing I like, it's food.  (But really, that is a ridiculous thing to say because I like many things and 99% of people like food.)

Anyway, lately we have been engaged in sourcing our dinners from what we already have in an effort to clear out the freezer and some cupboard space.  But before that, we were eating things like these:

Rustic Crusty Bread
I don't make bread very often--I just don't have time--but this recipe is so simple and doesn't require too much active involvement on my part.  Also, it is really good and perfect for open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches, a term I just made up.  It is also really good for...

...Tuna Melts and Tomato Soup 
Growing up, my Mama would make what we called "tuna toasties"--bread topped with tuna and slices of cheese then broiled until it's all crispy and melty.  These tuna melts are basically the same, with the addition of tomato slices.  And if there's one thing I like, it's tomato slices.

As for the soup, I think I mentioned last time that I've been hunting for the perfect tomato soup recipe, and this is definitely the winner thus far.  Simple, tomato-y.  All it needs is some basil...

Speedy Vegetarian Cheese Tortellini Soup
I love soup!  I especially love easy soup.  This is one of those soups.  I highly recommend adding some zucchini, and I also added more celery and carrots (along with more broth).  It's kind of a basic recipe as is, but certainly not a bad one.

Quick Clam Chowder 
I am always on the lookout for a great clam chowder recipe.  I like super thick clam chowders when someone else has made it, but I have a hard time adding all that cream myself.  So I liked that this recipe has SOME cream but it's a little lighter overall.  Still plenty of clams though!  You gots to have a lot of clams (I got half minced, half chopped, because I like to SEE my clams). 

French Bread Rolls
I actually made these twice, and they turned out very differently.  Both batches were good, but the second was infinitely better and there were two things I did differently--used bread flour and added a little bit more salt.  Oh, and even though I use instant yeast, I did let it sit in the warm water for a minute anyway.  I love rolls.  Rolls and soup!  Does it get better than that?

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
I made these cookies to bring to a work meeting, and let me tell you, it was hard to not eat them all beforehand.  They are so pretty, so soft, so tasty!  (And so easy!)

Chocolate Fudge Coconut Cake 
This cake looked pretty when it was done, but let me tell you, it was not the best cake-making experience I have had.  When the timer beeped, I went to do the toothpick test and they were not done.  Five minutes later, they were--but also all three layers had sunk miserably (solidarity among cakes?).  This is always depressing.  So to account for my sinkhole cakes, I had to make even more frosting and use even MORE butter, and I will not say how many sticks of butter went into this cake.  Ignorance is bliss.  Anyway, it was a very long, frustrating process and though it did look pretty and was well-received, it was hard for me to love it.  And that's the story of that cake.  

(Also, can I just say that I have no love for food blogs that go on and on about things entirely unrelated to the food they're posting about?  [Or really, go on and on about anything] Get to the point!)

For the Oscars this year, we had a food party.  And by "party" I mean I made a lot of food for the two of us to eat while we speed watched the Oscars.  It was not a particularly social party but it was...well-fed?  Here was our menu:

Killer Artichoke Bread
You cannot go wrong with anything that has this ingredient list. 

Hoagie Dip 
This makes SO MUCH.  We ate it as dip on two occasions and then still had so much left we used it to make open-faced grilled cheeses and also regular grilled cheeses.  So, be prepared.

Chicken Verde Wonton Tacos
Delicious little things.  Yep, that sums it up.

Tiny Pigs in Blankets (technical term) 
These hardly need any explanation: lil smokies + crescent/biscuit/breadstick dough + oven = these.  If there's one thing I love, it's pigs in blankets.