i heart naptime

I’m a week behind…

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

Because life has been busy and I’ve been adulting. For the first time in 5 years, I’m not working from home every day- and it’s an adjustment. But we’re four weeks in and I’m starting to settle into a pattern.

A pattern that involves almost constant motion and busyness. A pattern that is forcing me to be organised about everything. And a pattern where I’m still baking- but a bit behind on my writing!

So, let’s catch up! I’ve expanded my cookie empire… well, not really but I did bring them into my new job- and they were a hit. I refuse to make it a habit….REFUSE! Famous last words !

This week I made the Double Chocolate Chip Sprinkle Cookies from the I Heart Naptime cookbook. It’s a great cookbook with lots of recipes that can be made an under an hour, and most of them are crowd pleasers!

I also made (another) Christina Tosi cookie recipe from her All About Cookies cookbook. I made the Pretzel chocolate chunk cookies and they were great! I’m a massive fan of Christina Tosi- she’s the cookie whisperer.

Two weeks ago, I made Pat McCorkle’s Chocolate Chip Cookies from the One Big Table cookbook. I didn’t love them. They had oatmeal in them and I didn’t love the oatmeal chocolate chip combo. Some people did, I didn’t.

This week is a challenge- chocolate chip cookies. There are SO many recipes, so it’s hard to choose just one. Even my favourite bloggers and cookbook writers have MULTIPLE recipes for chocolate chip cookies on their sites- so how will I choose just one???

I’m tempted to try these althought not sure about the 24 hour resting time! I do love Smitten Kitchen so these could be great too! Or maybe we stick to Christina Tosi’s super easy recipe…. Or maybe we try a few and see how we go!

What we ate this week…We’ve got Sauce…

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

Also, week 2 of our new blog format.

So, last week started with Father’s Day dinner and it actually turned out better than I expected.  I believe the phrase, “These are the best potatoes I’ve ever had” was uttered at least once.  Which was a win for me- and everyone to be honest.  Also, I got to have bearnaise sauce which means it was a good day.

What else we ate last week. 

A Char Siu Bun Salad from Every Night of The Week which was delicious and loved by the Team BUT required A LOT of steps for a Monday night.  It was more of a Sunday salad if I’m honest.  It was a pretty easy recipe, but  there was pickling involved- and honestly, who has time for that on a Monday night.

Tuesday was Gourmet Traveller’s Taco Rice and I cannot stress enough how much I love this recipe.  First of all, it’s an Asian/Mexican fusion dish that combines BOTH of my favorite cuisines.  It’s easy, fast and tasty- and involves chips.  What else could you want for a Tuesday night?

Thursday we had Neil Perry’s Taglioni with Crab.   It’s hard to go wrong with pasta, crab, or Neil Perry so it was good.

We had some unexpectedly sad news this week (Sad in a first world problem way).  Our favorite local burger place is closing down, BurgerHead.  It’s a go-to weekend burger staple for us– and I think I saw actual tears leave Thomas’ eyes when we told him the news.   Our neighborhood doesn’t have the best food options (as compared to everywhere else I’ve lived in Sydney) so this could mean more cooking on the weekend or more meals further afield.  

We also visited our one-time favorite Fried Chicken place in Sydney– Butter in Surry Hills.    When I lived in Surry Hills (a lifetime ago), it was right down the street and certainly one of the coolest places for fried chicken I’ve ever been.  Honeymoon Chicken still wears the crown of all time, best, most favorite and amazing Fried Chicken in the world but Butter could have the Sydney crown.    Bowery to Williamsburg’s Chicken and Waffles in Melbourne are pretty good too.

So what’s on for this week?

Soy Glazed Pork Cutlets with Japanese Slaw from Gourmet Traveller on Sunday will get a run before I put the Gourmet Traveller magazine back on the shelf upstairs.

BLT Salad on Monday night from the I Heart Naptime cookbook.  I’ll also make the Chicken Taquitos from there on Tuesday.  I Heart Naptime is actually a great cookbook for time poor parents- everything takes less than an hour and is kid friendly.   I don’t love the name (especially since it’s been ages since anyone in my house took a nap) but there are great baked treats (hello, Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Bread Muffins) and some pretty good dinners in there as well!

Thursday night we’ll do Steaks with Fries and Bearnaise sauce (because there’s leftover Bearnaise sauce and I love Bearnaise).

Friday night, we’ll probably sneak in a trip to Burgerhead.  We have 6 weeks before they close and I’ve only just discovered their Chicken burgers are pretty good!

So, that’s what we’re eating this week?  What’s on your menu?