Hot Summer's Night in Barcelona Macaroni Salad

My air conditioning hasn't been too dependable lately, so I decided to find something yummy that required minimal heat.  Enter Marlena Spieler's Macaroni & Cheese, which has a great "Soups and Salads" chapter where I spied a recipe that required me to cook just one thing - the macaroni.  Eureka!  With promises of transporting me to Spain, "Hot Summer's Night in Barcelona Macaroni Salad" was a shoe in for my weeknight menu.  I had a bunch of the ingredients already - another big plus.  Let's get not cooking!

Marinated Strawberries over Pound Cake

Yes, I have a favorite cookbook.  How'd you know?  A friend let us borrow a shelf of his fridge while we were moving and we were without a full-sized fridge for nearly two weeks.  To repay him, I offered to make him dinner.  He requested Italian and I immediately knew what book to reach for: Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis.  In my meal planning, I was naturally first concerned with dessert.  I'd just had some lovely strawberries, which inspired me to try "Marinated Strawberries over Pound Cake," basically an Italian take on strawberry shortcake, but better!

Popovers

One of the lovely things about getting married is receiving the advice and words of wisdom passed down from those who have loved and learned before you.  One of my favorite bits of advice came in the form of this cookbook, Williams-Sonoma Bride & Groom Cookbook: Recipes for cooking together by Gayle Pirie & John Clark.  It is part of a set, which also contains a guide to entertaining, for a true amateur such as myself.  The books set the stage for a sharing, harmonious kitchen, if only you would follow their simple directions.  As we all know, marriage is no fairy land and we make do with what we have, but there are some great tips and recipes in here.  I was inspired to make breakfast for my slumbering hubby, and as usual I had failed to plan for something fancy for breakfast, so "Popovers" stood out to me as something that didn't require a ton of technique and had a really short ingredient list.  Best of all, while simple, they're really easy to dress up.

Salsa All'Amatriciana

I enjoy a good tomato sauce as much as the next Italian American, but I don't always have time to simmer marinara for an hour plus (especially if I don't plan ahead on the weekend).  Sometimes, I want my dinner in half an hour.  And sometimes I want bacon.  "Salsa All'Amatriciana" from Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian fits the bill, giving me lots of tomato-y, bacon-y goodness to pile on my pasta without a ton of time in front of the stove, which is always a plus during the height of the summer heat.  Time to sizzle...some bacon!

Pancakes

When I moved into my new apartment, all I wanted was some comfort; something familiar and warm to make me feel at home in unfamiliar surroundings.  Add to that the complication of not much food in the house yet and just a mini-fridge for perishables, options were slim.  Pancakes - good old fashioned pancakes - came to mind as something simple and easy to make.  Not to mention, pancakes always remind me of my mom and cozy weekend mornings with my family.  As always, when I go for the basics, I reach for Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.  I've probably made these 100 times, but I can never remember the portions.  I do, however, remember the page number of the pancake recipe in this book (p.128 if you're interested...)

Now if you've never made pancakes before, there is a fun yet overly complicated episode of "Good Eats" that will give you more information than you ever need to know.  I prefer to use the knowledge learned peering over the countertop as my mom cooked them, but whatever floats your boat.  On with the yumminess!

Pasta Primavera

In another effort to incorporate more vegetables into my diet, I decided to add them to one of my favorite things, pasta!  When I think pasta, I think of Giada.  Consequently, I pulled out Everyday Italian and selected the "Pasta Primavera."  Here in Southern California our weather is pretty mild and produce is abundant for most of the year, so I figured I could stretch the "spring" reference in this recipe.  Are you ready for some spring in August?  Me too!

Sticky Toffee "Pudding"

I am afraid of baking cakes. I can never seem to get them right.  Usually, they come out too overdone on the outside and underdone inside.  Oven malfunctions?  My inexperience?  I was never totally sure.  Therefore, it was with some trepidation that I cracked open Rose's Heavenly Cakes in search of a recipe to serve at our Redcoat Appreciation Party (before 4th of July, of course).  I'm lucky enough to have traveled to England, and while there I had a fantastic toffee cake dessert, referred to as "pudding".  Upon a brief perusal of Beranbaum's book, I found that the "Sticky Toffee 'Pudding'" recipe fit the bill, so it was time to take a deep breath and preheat the oven.  Here goes nothing!