I want to be a terrific cook and baker, but as I keep reminding That Husband, it’s going to take me a few years to get there. I’ve had a few successes, but more often than that some part of my attempt at a fabulous dinner is a fail. I rarely make the same thing again, and TH has been telling me for years to focus in on a few recipes and stop jumping around so much. The probablem with my approach is that whenever we have people over I agonize, make huge mistakes, and feel embarrassed when dinner is served because things didn’t go quite right.

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And so I’m embarking on my recipe mastery project. I’m going to pick classic dishes (think pot roast or chicken curry) and attempt the same dish once a week until I’ve found a recipe that turns out stellar results three times in a row. Once I’m conquer one dish, I’ll move on to the next. I thought I could create a blog series out of it by putting up an initial post asking for recipe ideas, and then putting up a recipe post once I’ve found the perfect fit.

My first pick is beef stew. I made this one on Sunday, and we want to try something else because neither of us really liked the mushrooms. Do you have a favorite beef stew recipe? Link to it below and I’ll work my way through your suggestions until I find the perfect fit.

I can’t remember what this was. Something unusual in Poland.

There is a meme called 100 Things to Eat Before You Die going around the blogosphere and Facebook with people marking off the items they’ve eaten so far. I saw it on Grace’s blog, and decided that I’d like to start working my way through the list as well. There are some things I won’t try though, and I’m wondering if you guys would be interested in helping me think up replacement items.

I’m going to eliminate:

Absinthe

Bellini

Cognac

Dandelion Wine

Eel

Pufferfish

Mimosa

Octopus

Phaal

Shark

What food items should I add in to replace these? They don’t have to start with the same letters, I just want 10 unique food items to seek out and try (preferably from a variety of cultures!)

This weird low-carb low-meat diet I’m attempting is tough for several reasons, but the thing I struggle with the most is snacks and dessert. These little cookies, which I’ve named Nutty Cocoa Cookies function as both of those things for me. They’re a bit salty, rich, and sweet (but not too sweet). And I can keep them in the freezer and pull out a few at a time when I’m feeling snacky.

They aren’t really cookies in the traditional sense, but let’s not dwell on that fact okay? I need to feel like my diet doesn’t feel like deprivation, and you can’t feel deprived when you are eating cookies. Right?

These are adapted from a four ingredient recipe I found at Whole Family Fare. My recipe has six ingredients because I added cocoa and salt.

First, whir your almonds around in the food processor until they are are ground up. I know they’re done when they just start to get moist (you want them to be ground really fine or it affects the texture of the cookie and isn’t as good).

That right there is my Blendtec with the Twister Jar attachment.  I personally like my Blendtec a lot more than the Vitamix (which my mom has) but I think either is a great choice.

Add in cocoa, vanilla, peanut butter, and salt. Blend a bit more. If your peanut butter is dry (ours is the natural kind and when TH mixed it up he added extra oil and made it really soupy) add coconut oil. You’ll definitely need coconut oil if you grind your peanuts from scratch (if you do that, grind your peanuts first, remove from the processor, then do the almonds).

The last thing I add is the dates. I like adding them last because sometimes they don’t get ground up all the way and then you get nice juicy date bits in your cookie balls. Find the medjool variety if you can. They cost more but all the foodies say it’s worth it.

Once it’s all ground together you should have a mass that looks a little bit like this. If yours is looking dry, add some coconut oil or peanut butter.
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When making my 101 in 1001 list, I added the item “Bake a cake for someone” because I think giving someone a layered, completely-from-scratch cake is an excellent way to show how much you care for them. I also like making cakes, but I don’t do it often because I’m a taste-tester who samples far too much whenever I’m baking.

I decided I would make said cake for my friend Paige, after she had her baby, as a way to celebrate her and the excellent job she did birthing her sweet baby boy. I looked over my Pinterest cake board, and I knew that one of my oldest pins, Annie’s Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Layer Cake, promising rich chocolate flavors combined with the sophistication of salt and caramel was the perfect choice for a new mother.

It took me 3.5 hours, but it was by far the best thing I have ever created in the kitchen. I was a little nervous about the Swiss meringue buttercream, but I just kept on whipping (I think I had it in my kitchenaid for almost 30 minutes) and it eventually came together.

I’m not going to write out the entire recipe (go to Annie’s site to see it) but I did make one small change out of necessity that really took things over the top (in a good way). I didn’t have enough plain chocolate, and didn’t want to go downstairs to buy more, so I raided the husband’s supply of dark chocolate bars with candied orange peels and used that for the frosting. The very subtle orange flavor combined with the richness of the salt and the caramel and the dark chocolate was perfect. If you make this cake, give that tweak a try.

That Husband wants me to make this again, and soon. I loved it, but how can I make this one again, when there are so many other tantalizing cakes waiting to be created?

Although it isn’t as pretty, I had the idea to make a little mini cake for my photo shoot. That way I could take nice pictures in the daylight without being the obnoxious friend giving someone a cake and then asking to take a picture of their slice.

As I was drifting off to sleep last night, I found myself thinking about mayonnaise. Which is weird, because for the past few years, we’ve all but given up on mayonnaise. I try to avoid oils like canola or vegetable, and mayonnaise is almost always made with them. It hasn’t really been that big of a deal since we gave up lunch meat, and most of our previous mayonnaise consumption came via ham or turkey sandwiches.

I know that they make all sorts of alternative mayonnaise-like products, like vegenaise, or mayonnaise made mostly/fully with olive oil, but I only like one kind of mayo. Period.

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If it isn’t Hellmann’s*, I don’t want it anywhere near my plate. I’d rather eat a dry hot dog any day (actually I don’t eat hot dogs either so that’s kind of a non-issue) than slather some of that disgusting slop called Miracle Whip on my bun.

While I was surfing the chasm between sleep and awake on said night, I had a thought. I probably only like Hellmann’s because that is what my mom liked and bought, and I associate that taste with how all mayo should taste. The part of me obsessed with  localganic whole foods, bucking-the-industrial-food-revolution, Occupy Big Food, etc wants to switch to mayonnaise made with oils I find more agreeable, but I can’t force myself to make the sacrifice. Sometimes a girl just wants a tuna sandwich with her childhood favorite mayo, you know?

Which means I’m probably dooming my own children to loving the soybean oil infused flavor that Hellmann’s provides. I know I could make my own (and I’m sure I will at some point just to see what it’s like) but the short storage time is really an issue. I like buying my big ol’ Costco sized tub of mayo and digging in month after month with no worries.

So, are you willing to help me figure out if my theory is correct. Do you consider one type of store bought mayonnaise to be best? Is it the same mayonnaise that your parents raised you on?

*Also known as Best Foods.