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31 Recipes in 2 Weeks

31 Recipes in 2 Weeks

October 05, 2024

Hi all, it’s been a while! Life has been pretty busy, but you can still find me in the kitchen—I haven’t stopped testing recipes!

Since I’m behind on sharing, I’ll be posting two weeks’ worth of recipe-testing updates over the next couple of weeks. In just two weeks, I tried 31 recipes. 👩‍🍳

I’ve been diving into cookbooks lately. I made 8 recipes from Cocina sana con pizca de sabor: Una guía práctica para nutrir tu cuerpo y vivir / Healthy Cooking with a Pinch of Flavor, four from The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Cookbook: 100+ Recipes and Stories, two from Cookies: The New Classics [Cookbook] by Jesse Szewczyk, and one from Libro Mesas para Compartir de Mesa Sana (Sharing Tables from Mesa Sana).

My college roommate, Katie, visited for a week, and we tackled 12 recipes together. She was amazing in the kitchen—I have to give her credit for leading most of the recipe testing! We cooked up a lot of delicious Italian food (even making vegetable broth from scratch!) and whipped up some cozy fall desserts to pair with the meals. 🍂 We shared some with neighbors and friends, and Katie even brought desserts back to Chicago for her family. Recipe testing is so much more fun with Katie by my side—I missed her so much after she left. 💛

A quick note: some recipe links might be missing since they’re only available in the cookbooks. If you're interested in any of those recipes, just reply to this email and I’ll happily forward them to you! 📩

Recipes Made So Far This Year:

Goal: To try seven new recipes each week 🗓️, aiming for 365 this year!

Number of Recipes Made this Week: 15 (Week 36) + 16 (Week 37)

Number of New Recipes Tested as of 9/15: 333

Weeks Achieving Seven or More New Recipes: 36 out of 37 ✅

This Week’s Recipe Test Summary

Impress Someone🌟

Brown Butter Banana Bread Oatmeal Cookies from Well Made by Kiley | Instagram Reel 🍌🍪

Both my aunt and sister sent me this recipe via Instagram. It’s an amazing warm cookie that feels like a cozy hug. 🤗

Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies from Well Made by Kiley | Instagram Reel 🎃🍪

This recipe is the same as the one above, but with pumpkin purée instead of banana. Perfect for fall vibes! 🍂

Spaghetti all’ Amatriciana from The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Cookbook: 100+ Recipes and Stories | Instagram Reel 🍝🇮🇹

H loves having pasta with guanciale when we go to Italian restaurants, but I’ve never cooked with it myself and usually replace it with pancetta from our local grocery store. Since Katie was in town, we visited an Italian grocery store and bought some guanciale for the special occasion. We had so much fun making this pasta and have officially added it to our essential pasta recipe list! 🍷
Note: I recommend less pasta and more sauce for the perfect balance.

Would Make Again 👍

Chewy Apple Cider Sugar Cookies from Cookies: The New Classics [Cookbook] by Jesse Szewczyk 🍏🍪

Wow! Combining brown butter with reduced apple cider and turning it into a cookie? So creative and delicious! The next recipe, Apple Cider Doughnut Blondies, uses the same technique but in a blondie version. If I had to choose, I’d just stick with these cookies and skip the blondies. However, Katie took some home to Chicago, and everyone enjoyed them!

Baked Italian Chicken Thighs from Marcellina in Cucina 🍗🇮🇹

I needed a protein recipe to go with the risotto below and found these quickly. Katie and our friend Emma really liked this one. All the ingredients are super simple, and I’ll be adding this as a quick, easy protein dish to pop in the oven when friends are over for dinner.

Pappardelle Pasta with Portobello Mushroom Ragu from Family Style Food | Instagram Post 🍝🍄

Simple pasta to whip up for a quick lunch!

Jitomate Hierloom con Burrata y Vinagreta de Albahaca (Hierloom Tomatos with Burrata and Basil Vinegrettte from Libro Mesas para Compartir (libro físico) de Mesa Sana🍅🧀

A great side dish for dinner with friends and family. You can prep it in advance, and it looks elegant.

Homemade Vegetable Broth from The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Cookbook: 100+ Recipes and Stories 🥕🍲

I’m proud of this one! Katie and I made vegetable broth from scratch to use in the risotto below. It was super easy and can be frozen for up to 6 months. I’m officially done buying veggie broth—it’s much cheaper to make and tastes way better.

Risotto agli Agrumi [Lemon and Orange Risotto] from The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Cookbook: 100+ Recipes and Stories | Instagram Reel 🍋🍊🍚

What a great risotto! The texture was perfect.

Chicken Piccata from Barefoot Contessa at Home | Youtube Video 🍋🍗

Another great protein to accompany your risotto or pasta. It takes a bit longer to make, but it’s worth it!

Agua de sandia y coco (Watermelon and Coconut Water) from Cocina sana con pizca de sabor: Una guía práctica para nutrir tu cuerpo y vivir / Healthy Cooking with a Pinch of Flavor [Cookbook] 🍉🥥💧

A healthy agua fresca with no added sugar.

Lasagna Soup from Tastes Better from Scratch 🍲🍂

This soup is super comforting—perfect for a chill fall day.

Salmon a la naranja (Orange-glazed Salmon) from Cocina sana con pizca de sabor: Una guía práctica para nutrir tu cuerpo y vivir / Healthy Cooking with a Pinch of Flavor [Cookbook] 🍊🐟

Another salmon recipe H enjoyed, and he usually doesn’t like cooked salmon!

Ninja Creami Kiwi Sorbet Recipe from The Ice Cream Confectionals 🥝🍨

Simple, but the texture and taste are perfect.