Other blogger's recipes

Well, I know that we all try to come up with stunning recipes every day to WOW our readers and make others want to rush home, drop their bags as soon as they walk in the door and make our recipes. Okay, I admit that's what I do, but since I'm still very much learning, I am well aware that mine aren't exactly stunning every day...admittedly not even most days, but I love you all for still coming back to see me anyway :).

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I find myself drooling over someone else's recipe while I'm reading it, I immediately have to print it out, rush home, drop my bags as soon as I walk in the door and make it!

Unfortunately, most days this scenario generally goes more like me printing it out, finding I don't have everything I need to make it and desperately waiting for the weekend to come so that I can actually have some time to cook. This goes double for when I'm sick, like I have been lately, and have no energy to try and find a new recipe to add to my repertoir. Thank goodness for other blogger's recipes! Recently, I was finally able to make two of the recipes I'd been drooling over for quite some time...

And I'm here to be the judge and tell you - they're both fabulous! I'll be making them again and again, I'm sure. So, if my opinion means anything, these women know what they're doing when it comes to the kitchen!

The first was dinner a few nights ago. Lo and behold, Farmer Steve, our disappearing CSA farmer, out of the blue and after no contact from him for over a month, left an apologetic letter and a huge box of potatoes, green peppers, delicata squash, and some little yummy sugar pumpkins. First I was shocked, then felt bad for him, then pleased with the bounty before me, and then I realized there were three little perfect pumpkins right in front of me ...hmmm...didn't I have a recipe here that I've been dying to make from pumpkins? Yes!



Ilva's fabulous Risotto di Zucca e Taleggio...or Risotto with Pumpkin and Taleggio Cheese. You can find her recipe here. The recipes that Ilva posts on her blog, Lucullian delights, always make me drool incessently on my keyboard and her pictures of Tuscany are a welcome respite from the boring doldrums of a science lab where they play with fruit flies all day long (not me, just them). The recipe is simple, and delicious. I also had the pleasure of making my way to the cheese counter at my local supermarket to try and find this Italian cheese I'd never heard of before. Taleggio. Lucky for me, the cheese steward pointed me right to it and assuaged my fears that we wouldn't have it here. It was not what I was expecting at all - I think I had assumed it would be something like parmesan - hard and grateable. It's nothing like that! It's almost like a brie. When I got it home and unwrapped it, I was even more surprised...it smelled like dirty gym socks! "Slightly pungent," she says...Ha! I briefly considered grating out some parmesan, but the taste was actually very pleasant and mild, so I cut it into mushy cubes, and threw it in when the risotto was still slightly chewy.

My only advice would be to add the cheese a bit at a time, then taste, because when my temporary roommate, N., smelled it, she asked if she could have a bowl without cheese on the side. I acommodated her, but then I had too much cheese because I added it without accounting for the missing rice...so it was very, very creamy...but still tasty!


The second recipe is from Orangette, a blog I only recently found. It's her Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Ricotta, Orange Zest, and Bourbon . One word? YUM. These little jewels were devoured by everyone in the house within a day a half. They're sweet, but not too sweet, rich but not too rich, and dense, but light in the mouth. They're awesome. I made them to take to a potluck, but Loving Boyfriend, after tasting them, said we were picking up chips on the way because he didn't want to share. My biggest problem was that I only own a 6-cup muffin tin, and they take 30 minutes to bake, so it took me quite a while. Curiously, though, the second batch turned out the prettiest.

If you haven't been to either of these women's blogs, do so. See what they're up to, laugh at their ancedotes, and by all means, try one of their recipes. It's a great way to try something new without having to do any of the brain-work...and an ideal way to spend your time when you're not feeling up to homework or being creative, but get bored watching tv and have a headache too bad to read...basically my life these last few days from the cold I caught from LB. Thanks a lot, LB!