It's been so long since I last posted, you might think that I haven't been cooking much. On the contrary, despite busyness and colds, I've been determinedly cooking on just about every night of the week, armed with my shiny new stainless steel pan set that I got from my parents for Christmas.

Thanks to the Easy/Fast/Cheap Cooking tumblr, I've been discovering great new food blogs, some of my favorites being Smitten Kitchen and Love and Olive Oil. I've made several recipes from each site recently.

Smitten Kitchen
Sugar-and-Spice Candied Nuts
Mustard-Roasted Potatoes
Tequila Lime Chicken and Green Onion Slaw (the chicken was okay, but the slaw was very tasty)
Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp

Love and Olive Oil
Baked Panko Chicken Tenders with Basil Aioli
Farfalle with Chicken, Tomatoes, Goat Cheese, and Caramelized Onions (I used penne and frozen whole tomatoes from the summer instead of fresh ones, left out the chicken)
Mongolian Beef


Tips on the beef: I accidentally bought thin-sliced sirloin instead of a regular old sirloin (from the wonderful Amazing Grace farm). To say that it was an accident sounds ridiculous, because the packaging was clearly labeled "thin-sliced sirloin". What can I say? I'm a practically a virgin at purchasing steaks! Anyway, the pre-sliced steak ended up being fantastic. I just cut it into strips and it fried up beautifully. Very tender.

Another comment: I cut the brown sugar down to about 3/4 of what it called for, but I could have halved it. I don't like my "Chinese" food to taste like candy, but use your own judgment.

Finding and reading all of these great blogs has humbled me in regards to both my cooking and writing skills, but it gives me something to aspire to. Here are some other sites I've enjoyed that you might want to check out:
Not Eating Out in New York
Serious Eats (lots of variety, fun food-related content)
Closet Cooking (I'm looking forward to trying his recipe for okonomiyaki - Japanese pancake/omelet)