Dark Chocolate Brownies with Cookie Dough Cream Cheese Swirl [My First From-scratch Gluten Free Baking Experiment!]

I have been extremely busy lately with very important activities – marathoning both seasons of Scandal at an unhealthy pace – but took a brief break this week to do my very first from-scratch gluten free baking in honor of my friend Andrea’s birthday, as friendship is one of the few things that trumps obsessive TV watching.

Andrea isn’t gluten free, but since I now own only GF baking ingredients, that’s what everyone is getting. I knew I wanted to start with brownies for my first homemade gluten free baked good, as their low flour content meant that I could use my existing recipe without any complicated modifications. And thankfully, these came out exactly the same they did when I made them with regular flour. I really don’t think you’d know they were gluten free if I hadn’t just told you.

But this is a birthday, so fun modifications needed to be made. I had originally been thinking of doing a cream cheese swirl, but then Pillsbury sent me some of their new gluten free doughs (check out how their pizza dough came out in my post on Babble!) and made me think a cookie dough swirl was in order instead. Then brilliance struck, and I figured, why not do both? And the baked good angels sang, because this was one of my best ideas ever. In fact, I was mostly sad that I had not made more of the swirl, because I had to put it all in the brownies instead of eating it with a spoon.

I made these entirely with gluten-free all-purpose flour, but I’ve printed the recipe below with some of it replaced by almond flour, as it will give the brownies an even richer flavor without overpowering the swirl. (I didn’t make them with it because Andrea is allergic to some nuts and didn’t want to chance killing her with a present.) And on that note, I only used half extra dark cocoa here so that the swirl would still stand out, but feel free to use all dark, or all regular, cocoa.

And now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go finish watching Scandal.

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Cream Cheese Cookie Dough Swirl (adapted from Fat Witch Brownies)
Ingredients for Brownies
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup extra-dark cocoa powder
1/4 cup regular unsweetened cocoa powder (or just use a full 1/2 cup of one of these)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (the real stuff, kids)
1/2 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional, but highly recommended)

Ingredients for Swirl
3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons cookie dough, softened (the pre-packaged kind works just fine here)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8 baking dish with butter. Cut a piece of parchment the width of your dish, but long enough to go up the other sides. Place in dish; butter parchment.

Make the swirl: in a small bowl, combine cream cheese, cookie dough, extract, and sugar until well combined (I used a fork to mash up things). Set aside.

Make the brownies: In a glass bowl, heat butter in 30-second intervals in the microwave until melted. Let cool for a few minutes, then add sugar and cocoa powders and whisk until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, whisking between each edition. By the 4th egg your batter should be very shiny and should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl a bit when you’re stirring. Whisk in vanilla, then whisk in flours and salt until no trace of the flour remains. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading to even out. Drop swirl in dollops around the pan (don’t forget the corners), then take a knife and swirl it around the pan until swirl is nicely distributed, but not melted out of sight. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with some crumbs attached. Cool in pan for 30 minutes, then use parchment to lift brownies out and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Cut into 16 squares and try not to eat four of them in one go.

How to Cook for a Heat Wave, Gluten Free or Not

I love to cook. I even love to cook in the summer, mostly because vegetables actually have flavor (and you can buy them local/organic/all that jazz for a reasonable price). Even after a hard day, I still like doing it, because it zens me out.

But not so much in the summer. And way less much when it’s a heat wave, like the one the northeast had last week, when it was essentially 100 degrees for one week straight.

My dog was not pleased.
However, there are some easy ways to power through. The first is to actually not cook at all (and no, I don’t mean use Seamless – though if you use this link to try it, you’ll get $7).
Behold, the easiest dinner ever. Just buy a pint of cherry tomatoes (I got mine at the Union Square greenmarket) and a container of burrata (you should be able to find this at most nicer supermarkets – I’ve seen it at Trader Joe’s and Fairway). Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried herbs, make some toast if you need carbs, and you’re all set.

Option two is grilling meat, because AMERICA. And also because it’s fast and easy. I really like making my own turkey burgers; they’re light, they take less than 15 minutes to both make and cook, they go well with so many toppings and sides, and the extra ones freeze quite well. If you own a grill, you also won’t heat up your home at all making them. If you live in a tiny apartment like me, you’ll get a little toasty, but you won’t have to keep your grill pan heated for too long.
Easy Turkey Burgers with Sauteed Summer Squash
Ingredients
1 package ground turkey breast (most are a bit over a pound)
1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
1 1/4 tsp ground black pepper, divided
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp increments of whichever dried herbs you like (I use basil, oregano, and then a pinch of thyme)
2 large summer squashes (I used one yellow and one zucchini), diced
1 large glove garlic, minced
red pepper flakes
olive oil
(gluten free) hamburger buns

Take ground turkey out of the fridge and let it hang out at room temperature while you dice your squash. Heat enough olive oil to lightly cover the bottom of a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add squash, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and a dash of red pepper flakes. Stir to combine. Let cook 2 minutes, then add garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until squashes begin to brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cover to keep warm.

While squash is cooking, mix ground turkey with remaining salt, pepper, cayenne, and dried herbs in a large bowl with your hands. Try to mix as little as possible, but make sure seasonings are well dispersed. Pull off slightly-larger-than-golf-ball sized pieces, roll into balls, then flatten into patties about 1/2 an inch thick. Make an indentation in the center of each with your thumb and set aside (this keeps them from shrinking/getting fat). You should have 5 patties. (If you’re not making all of them, wrap each extra patty in a piece of parchment paper, then place all wrapped patties in a freezer bag, and, well, freeze them.)

Wipe out skillet so there’s just a thin coating of oil left. Heat over medium-high heat for a few minutes to get it hot again, then add turkey patties. Cook until browned on the bottom and the edges of the top that you can see are turning white, then flip and cook until cooked through, about 7 to 9 minutes total. If you want a cheeseburger, add cheese during the last minute of cooking. Put on toasted (gluten free) buns, top with any toppings you like, and serve with veggies on the side.

Homemade Spicy Buttermilk [Gluten Free] Chicken Fingers Recipe

Of all the ideas you had in your head as a kid about what being a grownup would be like, one of the only ones that ends up true is being able to eat whatever you want, whenever you want. Theoretically you will want a balanced diet, but it also means you can do things like also have hot dogs and (homemade) French fries for dinner one night (thanks Leela!) and chicken fingers the next night.
However, I’d venture a guess that these are quite a bit healthier than diner and fast food versions. I wouldn’t say they taste BETTER, but they most definitely taste really, really good. The secret is the buttermilk, which tenderizes the chicken overnight and really gets the spices in there. And obviously, you can make this with regular breadcrumbs if you’re not gluten free. It’s a great, easy make-ahead meal, and goes great with my grownup favorite that kid me hated: broccoli.

Bonus points if you get the reference in the above photo.

Spicy Gluten Free Chicken Fingers
Ingredients
one package of thin-sliced chicken breasts (or already-cut into-tenders chicken, if your store has it and you want to save another step)
2 cups buttermilk, shaken
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper (depends how spicy you want it, I recommend the 1 tsp, but you can go more or less)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp paprika (I used sweet)
1 1/4 cup gluten-free breadcrumbs (or regular if you’re not GF)
seasonings of your choice if your breadcrumbs are unseasoned (I use salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme, and dried rosemary until the crumbs look well-seasoned)
olive oil

If you bought chicken breasts, cut breasts into tender-size pieces. In an 8×8 or so baking dish, whisk buttermilk with salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, and paprika. Add chicken strips and mix with your hands until all chicken is coated and mostly submerged. Cover dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook, 2 to 24 hours, stirring around again halfway through marinating time. I strongly recommend doing this the night before and giving it a full 24 hours.

When ready to cook, take chicken out of fridge and let rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. In a large plate, pour out breadcrumbs and combine with seasonings, if using. Working one strip at a time, remove chicken from buttermilk, allow excess to drip off, then coat thoroughly in breadcrumbs. Repeat for all chicken.

Heat enough olive oil to very comfortably cover the bottom of a large, nonstick skillet over high heat. When oil is hot (a drop of water added to it should sizzle), lower to medium-high and add as much chicken as you can fit without overcrowding the pan. Cook until golden, then flip and cook until other side is golden, about 5 minutes total, depending on the thickness of your chicken. Drain on a paper towel- or lettuce-lined plate until all chicken is cooked, then serve. Makes a lot, and reheats well, and is good cold too!

Best-Ever Gluten-Free Mac and Cheese Recipe [Seriously, It’s Better Than Real M&C]

You guys, we’ve all been making macaroni and cheese wrong our whole lives. Forget all-purpose flour. Mac and cheese comes out so much better using gluten-free flour.

I know, I was pretty shocked myself.
I’ve been cooking for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been making myself homemade stovetop mac and cheese at least since high school. (Seriously, why do people buy the boxed kind? Homemade takes the same amount of time and tastes roughly 83479237 times better. Also, no chemicals.) But I’ve always had a bit of trouble getting the bechamel (the butter-flour-milk sauce that is the base) to thicken properly. When I made the bechamel using gluten-free flour, however, the sauce thickened beautifully. Julia Child totes would have been proud, were she alive, and friends with me, and over my apartment. It’s probably the xanthan gum in the blend and not my skillz, but we don’t have to tell Julia that.

This has always been my go-to mac and cheese recipe, but this was the first time I adapted it to be gluten free. You can definitely make this with regular flour and pasta, but the gluten free version tastes and is textured the same, if not a bit better, than the regular kind. If you served this at a party, I guarantee no one would have any idea it’s gluten free. It’s not the least bit healthy, but it’s so good you won’t notice.
The great thing about this recipe is that it’s based on ratios, so it’s incredibly easy to adapt based on the amount of people you want to serve. The recipe as printed below is enough for 3 to 4 people, depending on your appetites, but the basic ratio is below it for your math purposes.

Gluten-free Macaroni and Cheese (or not)
Ingredients
8 ounces gluten-free pasta (I like Ancient Harvest quinoa-corn blend), in elbows, shells, or other small, bendy shape
2 tbsp salted butter
2 tbsp gluten-free flour blend
1 1/3 cups milk, set out at room temperature for at least 10 minutes (I use 1%)
2 cups shredded cheese (your choice, though I usually use a blend)
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
sriracha or other hot sauce

Set water to boil and prepare pasta as box instructs, cooking until al dente.

Melt butter over medium heat in a saucepan big enough to hold your pasta. When butter is melted, add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until it smells really good, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly pour in milk, stirring the whole time. Continue to stir, scraping the bottom of the pan, until bechamel sauce (this is what you just made, aren’t you fancy) has thickened, anywhere from 4 to 8 minutes. Add cheese and stir to melt. Add seasonings to your taste, keeping in mind that you want the sauce to taste a bit stronger than you think you’d like it, since the pasta will dilute it.

Add drained pasta to sauce and stir to combine. Divide into bowls and serve.

OPTIONAL FANCY ADDITION: Spread combined pasta and sauce in a baking dish. Combine gluten-free breadcrumbs and melted butter in a small dish until it resembles sand. Sprinkle this mixture on top of pasta, top with a bit more cheese, and stick under preheated broiler until breadcrumbs are golden and cheese is melted, 2 to 3 minutes.

Basic ratio: 1 tbsp flour + 1 tbsp butter + 2/3 cup milk +1 cup cheese = 1 serving of sauce

Gluten-free Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe, and a Puppy

Yesterday was not a good day for me. A lot of things went wrong, a lot of things were stressful, and a lot of things were not happy. So I did two things guaranteed to cheer me up after work: I played with my friend Cait’s new puppy, and I made comfort food.

LOOK HOW CUTE AND LITTLE HE IS KSHJFSKDJFSD.
Seriously, if you cannot be cheered up by a puppy, even a puppy who hates selfies, then you have no soul.
I have lots of soul because LOOK AT HIM LOOKING AT HIS REFLECTION.
Anyway, then I came home and made one of my favorite, totally unhealthy, totally delicious, totally soul-lifting, totally takes-less-than-30-minutes dinners: spaghetti carbonara. My dad taught me how to make this a few years ago, and while it’s got a bit of my own spin on it, it’s legit: no cream. Do you hear me, horrible “Italian” chain restaurants of the world? Spaghetti carbonara does not have cream in it. Instead, let me extol its true virtues for you:

• It is basically breakfast for dinner with pasta instead of toast.
• It requires only 10 minutes of active work and is so easy even all of you who claim you can’t cook could make it.
• Cheese (thanks Torie) and pancetta!!
• Since the “sauce” is naturally gluten free, no adaptation is necessary other than using GF pasta, and thus it can be made easily with regular pasta if you’re not GF.
• Despite not really having vegetables it’s got lots of protein, so, health.

It’s almost as good as having a puppy. Almost.

Spaghetti Carbonara
(serves one very hungry person or two more normal people with a side salad, but can be easily doubled/quadrupled/etc.)

Ingredients
olive oil
4 oz gluten-free (or regular) spaghetti (I used Andean Dream quinoa/rice pasta, which is just okay)
1.5 oz pancetta, diced small (I buy the pre-cubed kind sold at Trader Joe’s and many other grocery stores–this is about 1/3 the package)
2 medium shallots, diced
2 garlic gloves, minced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 to 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for pasta water
1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese, plus more for serving

Boil water for pasta. When water is ready, add a lot of salt and pasta, stir until noodles are submerged, and set the timer for one minute less than the package says (should be about 12 minutes).

Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a large, nonstick skillet over high heat. Add pancetta. As soon as pancetta is sizzling and has released some more fat, lower heat to medium. Add shallots and stir to combine. Cook, stirring often, until shallots and pancetta are beginning to brown. Wait another minute, then add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, beat eggs with salt and pepper in a small bowl, and set aside.

When pasta is finished (test it for doneness), turn heat off of pancetta mixture and transfer pasta to the skillet using tongs. Working quickly, pour beaten eggs on top of pasta and stir with tongs, using the heat of the food and pan to cook the eggs. Do not stop stirring and stir quickly–this will make sure the eggs coat the pasta and other ingredients as they cook, rather than turning into scrambled eggs. Once eggs are set (this should take a minute or less), add in 1/4 cup pecorino cheese and stir to combine. Transfer to bowl and top with more cheese and drizzle with olive oil. Grab some napkins and eat up!

Channeling Israel: Homemade Shakshuka Recipe [Naturally Gluten Free!]

I am now well into my third week of being gluten free, and I’m definitely feeling more human again. However, I’ve been eating a lot of replacement products, which are a) usually processed quite a bit and b) a great way to gain weight, so I’m spending this week focusing on working more naturally gluten-free foods into my diet (full post on that to come!). I’ve been craving shakshuka since I got back from Israel, so I figured that would be a great naturally gluten-free dinner to start with. If you’ve never had it, shakshuka is a simple yet incredibly tasty dish: you take a spiced tomato sauce, crack eggs into it, and use the heat of the sauce to poach the eggs within it.

However, this is also a dish that is great for breaking my natural no gluten rule, as this dish is best enjoyed with pita to sop up the sauce and runny egg. I used sunflower bread from Tu-Lu’s Gluten-Free Bakery, which was about 17 times more flavorful than store-bought Udi’s. While more expensive, the flavor was so much better that I think the extra money for taste will definitely be worth it in more bread-focused meals. The slices are also normal-bread sized, which is glorious. Excited to try making a sandwich with it!
I poked around online and didn’t see any single shakshuka recipe that called out to me, so I mixed and matched what I liked from each to come up with the recipe below. This makes enough sauce for at least 4 people, and you should budget 2 eggs per person. Feel free to adjust the spicing if it seems like too much for you, but I wouldn’t recommend going below 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne.

Israeli Shakshuka
Ingredients
olive oil
1/2 large onion or 1 medium onion, diced
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt (increase to 1 1/2 to 2 tsp if your tomatoes do not have added salt)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper (or more or less, depending on how spicy you want it)
1 tsp paprika, sweet or smoked
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
pita or gluten-free bread of your choice

Pour enough olive oil to comfortably coat the bottom of a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid (only one pot! How great is that?). Heat oil over medium heat, and add onion once hot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened and are a bit translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and spices (everything before tomato-ey ingredients) and cook, stirring to combine well, until your kitchen smells incredible, about 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir to combine, then add crushed and diced tomatoes. Stir well until everything is very well combined, turn heat down to low (not all the way down, but pretty close), and cook sauce uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened and bubbling, about 30 minutes.

One by one, crack an egg into a small bowl, then slide egg into sauce (this prevents shells/bad eggs from ruining your sauce). Repeat until all eggs are nestled in the sauce. Cover and cook until eggs are poached and whites are set, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how runny you like your eggs. Occasionally uncover skillet and gently baste the tops of the eggs with a bit of sauce.

Carefully scoop out eggs with a healthy amount of sauce and divide onto plates. Serve with bread for dipping and sopping up sauce.

Exploring Gluten-free Pasta [Summer Vegetables Recipe]

I eat a lot of pasta. It’s a fallback item I always have in the house, and something I’ve had multiple times a week since I started eating solid food (it’s a side effect of being half Italian). So I knew that when I went gluten free that this would be one of the most important things to find a good substitute for. Taste wasn’t really a concern for me, as I think all pasta basically tastes the same and is mostly just a good companion to various sauces and toppings. My big concern was texture: I eat my pasta al dente, full stop. I’d heard from a number of people that rice pasta has a tendency to get gummy, so I decided to buy a few brands of quinoa pasta to see what I like best, putting aside my extreme grumpiness that gluten-free pasta is sold in smaller quantities and much higher prices than semolina pasta.

The first brand I tried was Ancient Harvest, which is a blend of quinoa and corn. And it was surprisingly good! I cooked it for about 7 minutes and the texture was pretty close to regular pasta’s, and the taste was good too. Unfortunately, I learned the next day that this pasta does not hold up well as cold leftovers, so I’d strongly recommend only cooking the amount you plan to eat in one sitting (the recipe below makes 2 to 3 servings). But hot the pasta did quite well, even tossed with just veggies and no real sauce to speak of.

This is a really easy dish to make and shouldn’t take you longer than 30 minutes. It can easily be made with regular pasta too, which is what we did in my apartment; I had it with my GF pasta and my roommate had it with regular–we just each mixed the veggies in in our own bowls. Like all things, it is vastly more delicious with cheese, but is good without it too if you’re also dairy free.

Summer Squash & Broccoli (Gluten-free) Pasta

Ingredients
1/3 large or 1/2 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium zucchini or summer squash (I used one of each), cut in quarters lengthwise and diced
10 ounces broccoli florets, preferably organic
olive oil
salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste
8 ounces gluten-free pasta, or regular pasta, any shape of your choice
2 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, diced (optional)
grated pecorino romano cheese, for serving (optional)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt once boiling.

Heat enough olive oil to comfortably cover the bottom of a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until softened and translucent a bit, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, stirring constantly for 30 seconds. Add broccoli, more salt and pepper than you think you need, and a large pinch of red pepper flakes, and stir to combine. Cover and let cook, undisturbed, for 4 to 5 minutes. Uncover and stir. At this point your broccoli will probably have absorbed most of the oil, so add more as needed. Then add in zucchini and stir. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add your pasta to the boiling water, stir and set the timer, then go back to your vegetables. Keep stirring occasionally until veggies are tender but still a bit crisp, and browned a bit in places. Taste for seasonings and add more if necessary.

The vegetables and pasta should finish around the same time. When pasta is done, drain, then combine with veggies and more olive oil. Divide into bowls and top with more olive oil and with cheese, if desired. You don’t have to tell anyone how many times you add more pecorino to the bowl, I promise.

Gluten-full Adventures in Pinterest: Mini Chicken Pot Pies [Recipe]

As 2013 sprints along and June looms ever closer, I’ve been getting to work on my gluten bucket list: things that have no substitute that I want to take advantage of while I can. This happened to coincide with 1) my dad buying about a million cans of Grands biscuits when they were on sale and making me take one 2) falling down the Pinterest rabbit hole one day and coming across these mini pot pies using said biscuits. Naturally, this being Pinterest, the link to the instructions didn’t work, so I decided to wing it.

Great, non-shocking news: those biscuits make anything incredible, and these mini pot pies were amaaaazing. They’re a great way to use up stuff in your freezer and are really fast to make; at about half an hour from start to finish, you could even make these on a gym night.

Now if you can tell me where I could get gluten-free versions of these delightfully buttery, totally-not-organic biscuits, we’ll be best friends.

Mini Chicken Pot Pies
Ingredients
2 thin-sliced chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups assorted frozen vegetables of your choice (I used equal parts corn, peas, and broccoli)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 can Grands biscuits, or similar
1/2 cup shredded cheese (optional)
salt
pepper
olive oil
thyme (optional)
rosemary (optional)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If your oven is anything like mine, take this time to go write a novel, conduct a symphony, watch all the old Arrested Developments, or another activity that will keep you busy while your crappy oven takes its sweet time warming up.

Heat a grill pan over high heat. While pan is heating, pour a little olive oil on a plate. Place chicken on oil and season with large pinches of salt and pepper, and small pinches of thyme and rosemary, if desired. Repeat on other side. Grill chicken until cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove from heat when finished, let rest one minute, then cut into small pieces.

While chicken cooks, put all your vegetables in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Cover (with something also microwave-safe, and not plastic) and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes, until vegetables are just defrosted (it’s okay if they’re still cold in spots). Add cut-up chicken to bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Also while chicken cooks, whisk cornstarch with an equal amount of water. Heat chicken broth in a small saucepan until steaming, then add in cornstarch mixture. Let cook, stirring regularly, until broth has reduced and thickened a bit. (If it doesn’t seem to really thicken, this is okay too.) Pour about half of the liquid in your bowl with the veggies and chicken and stir to combine.

Grease a metal muffin tin. Try not to get scared as you pop open your can of biscuits. Flatten out each one with your hands and press into muffin tin, making sure to press firmly against the sides. Stuff each crust with as much of the filling as you can stuff in there (you’ll probably have some left over). Top a few with cheese as an experiment if you like, you know, for science. Bake for 12 minutes or until crusts are golden. Let sit 2 to 3 minutes, then dig in. Try not to eat all of them at once.

Other recipes you might like:
Best-ever, easiest-ever stovetop mac and cheese
Chocolate chip cookies to top all others
Spaghetti carbonara better than any restaurant’s