More Food, Weeks 1-6

In a continuation of Week 1/2:

I made two additional new recipes: pumpkin pound cake with buttermilk glaze, and lemon knot cookies. Can I just say mmmmmm. Well at least for the lemon knot cookies. It is a rare day indeed that I enjoy my own baking, mostly I love to bake things and share them with others, but these little tangy, sweet, soft lemon cookies are scrumptious! The pumpkin pound cake was also good, however not my favorite.

Pumpkin pound cake with buttermilk glaze

Lemon knots - The ingredients were very simple (like sugar cookies with a lot of lemon juice and rind added) then you split the dough into six pieces and roll each one out fairly thin. You cut the rolled out dough into 5" pieces and tie the knot (some looked better than others).

You only bake them for about 10 minutes, enough time that the bottoms are golden brown but the tops still look pale yellow. Last you make the glaze which is lemon juice and powdered sugar to lightly glaze the top of each cookie with.

 I found them to be quite scrumptious, especially when enjoyed along side a cup of tea. I finished making them just in time to watch Downton Abbey with tea and cookies, it felt appropriate.

Week 3/4:

My roommate and I had a friend over for dinner on a Saturday night, he grilled some chicken that she used to make chicken bryan Texas (which was delicious). The new recipe from my book that I made were cheese puffs, which are small bread puffs with cheese in them. I also made a champagne risotto with asparagus, that I've made before, and my famous apple pie for dessert.

The cheese puffs were very good and I could easily see them becoming addicting. I ate at least 4 while waiting for the chicken to be ready. I made them with shredded gruyere, but I'm sure they could be made with any number of cheeses. First you heat the wet ingredients in a small pot, then add the flour, baking powder, and cheese. Last you scoop out tablespoon size balls and sprinkle a little more cheese on top then bake.

Very simple and very good!

Current Week 5/6:

I wanted to try something big, so I found in my book a standing rib roast recipe, then I invited 7 people over for a dinner party and had a marvelous time. The rib roast was paired with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts from me, my guests brought bread and salad, and I made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Everything was delicious, but the roast was the star of the meal! I rubbed it with salt, pepper, dijon mustard, garlic, green onions, thyme, and rosemary - and I have to say I don't think I would ever prepare it another way now.

I sadly didn't get a chance to take an after picture of the roast before it was devoured by my guests, but this is what it looked like going into the oven, and on the right is the roasted brussel sprouts.

Chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels. Yum.