Upcoming Recipe Roundup, Just In Case You Care

let me first state that none of the following pictures are mine. i found them on various websites and the blueberry muffin photo is from martha stewart, which is why it looks so damn perfect. okay, so i'm back on the cooking wagon and wanted to share my culinary adventures. because, dammit, i'm nice like that. notice how i worked in damn and dammit into one paragraph? sweet.

the dish below is called grandma b's bean soup and it's currently doing its thing in our crockpot, making the entire house smell positivo delish. and what i like is that it required minimal effort. i soaked a pound of navy beans overnight, drained them when i got home today, threw in our leftover ham (diced), some chopped veggies (carrots, celery, potatoes, and half an onion), added water to cover, and it will percolate overnight. i mean, this is super easy, even for a novice like me. did i mention it already smells yummy?

so, while the ham and bean soup is a'cooking, we (the adorable one and me) decided to make martha's double blueberry muffins. now, ours did not look all puffylicious like the ones below, but they did turn out pretty decent. they needed more sugar as the blueberries were a bit tart and less cornmeal. otherwise, it's a good recipe, not too difficult, especially for us non-bakers (that's me, as the adorable one makes the most scrumptious chocolate cookies. ever. period.), and pretty quick from start to finish. next time we'll adjust the recipe as needed and put more batter in each paper cup so ours are sweeter and and picture-perfect (it's the martha in me, sigh!).

okay, this odd little pic is a baked apple with some kind of sauce on it. i'm making dave lieberman's recipe on saturday, when my mom comes over for lunch. i'm also serving my safe standby, yes, tuna salad sandwiches, as it's probably the one thing i make that she actually likes. anyway, i'm kinda interested to try it and since it's mostly healthy (alright, alright, it has real butter and an ice cream sauce--small details) and she's a sucker for dessert like me, hopefully it will turn out darn delish. i'll let ya know.

and the chili i made on sunday turned out really awesome. i did deviate a bit from the recipe in that i added a can of chili beans and used a can of diced tomatoes and their juice, versus a cup of pureed tomatoes. and i added tons of pepper, salt, and less chili powder (like two tablespoons, max, versus the 1/4 cup called for), and it was really quite good. surprise!

what's really amazing is that i'm tackling recipes from the likes of martha and williams-sonoma, when previously i would have been too intimidated to try. maybe my confidence is up as i've learned that it's okay if the recipe doesn't turn out exactly like as expected. then again, it still chaffs my butt that i made gummy pasta. never again!

but it's all good, and even better when i get to cook with the adorable one. my twin is coming over tomorrow with roast beef, so we're gonna chow down on that bad boy with some soupie and sauteed green beans. is it dinner time yet? i'm starving.