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Posts published in “Recipes”

Spicing-up take out: Chinese

Spicing-up take out: ChineseSee a quick sauce for Spicing up Chinese takeout From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

What's that one thing you really crave when a food craving hits? Pick your poison: savory or sweet. Maybe it's a really decadent chocolate dessert? Or a fresh, piping hot pizza with all of your favorite toppings?

You know that feeling of having a craving that just needs to be satisfied. A desire for something, you can practically taste whatever it is. Sometimes, the end result is amazing. Other times?

One of the worst food-related things that can probably happen in my opinion is having a craving for something, finally eating it, and having it be an epic fail. Talk about a letdown!

This happened to me recently with Chinese food. Dave and I try not to get take-out food too often, since it's expensive and not always the healthiest. But one night recently, neither of us felt like turning on a stove, firing up the grill, cutting seemingly endless amounts of produce, or doing anything for dinner other than picking up a fork (or chopsticks) and calling it a day. I ordered shrimp with broccoli, no sauce, and I couldn't wait to eat it after not having it in a while.  

Granted, it came without sauce, but on the first bite... something wasn't right. It didn't taste bad, i.e. spoiled, but it didn't hit the spot. Added a little soy—still not right. 

Then, the lightbulb went off in my head: make a quick sauce. Soy sauce needed some help from its friends ginger and garlic if there was any hope to save this dish.

The quest for a less-sweet lemon bar: The classic

The quest for a less-sweet lemon bar: The classicBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

Every time I make one of my all-time favorite desserts, lemon bars, I'm always reminded of the insane amount of refined sugar that most recipes require. I tell myself the next time I'll find a better recipe that uses less sugar. But when that next time comes, the same thing happens.

I mean, 3 cups of sugar for a filling? Lemon bars are supposed to be sweet, but... yuck...

For that reason, I adapted Ina Garten's recipe to create a less-sweet version that cuts out half of the sugar in the filling and half in the crust.

A “new normal” farmer’s market visit & Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

A “new normal” farmer’s market visit & Strawberry-Rhubarb CrispGet summer-ready with this Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

Farmers markets are a sign of springtime, one of my favorite things about the weather getting warmer and not to mention also a wonderful alternative to making a trip the grocery store—especially right now.

As I'm sure you've also experienced, grocery stores and super markets have been extra chaotic. Limited choices are available of produce, meats, dairy and other essentials unless you go to the store at specific times or on specific days. Masks, bandannas or some other kind of facial covering are required to enter the store—speaking for New Jersey, which mandated this at least three weeks ago, but now also Pennsylvania within the last week or two. And sometimes you need to wait your turn to enter the store because of restrictions put in place on the number of people allowed in at once, otherwise choose to come back at another time.

Visiting a farmers market, by contrast, is a nice break from making a now-normal grocery store visit, so this weekend Dave and I stopped at a farmers market we saw in a local strip mall parking lot. It was a very different experience when compared to visiting open air markets in seasons past .

Vegetarian Shepherds Pie

Vegetarian Shepherds PieBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

Vegetarian shepherds pie was a staple dinner for me all of those years that I was following a stricter ovo-lacto vegetarian diet. Especially when I was in college, I could make this recipe on a weekend and have it several times as leftovers for dinner when I got home from school late during the week. It's easy to make, very satisfying and comforting to eat.

Quick Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Quick Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip CookiesBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

Have you ever had a craving for baked goods in the middle of the summer, or any other time when you don't want to turn on the oven?

Me too. The struggle is real, isn't it?

It always opens up this debate in my mind:

Option A. Give in and turn on the oven, making the whole house hot and uncomfortable in the process, even worse for Dave and me since we don't have central air.

Option B. Forget about it, and "save" the calories.

Option C. Forget the calories, and go get ice cream.

Recently, the idea came to my mind to use my toaster oven to make a quick batch of cookies. I wouldn't call this a brilliant idea, since I should've thought of it much sooner: my toaster oven is, in fact, an oven. A convection oven, at that. One with a little fan in it to simulate faster cooking.

Then again, I suppose my girlish figure is glad that I didn't think of this sooner. A successful batch of chocolate peanut butter cookies later, I have now opened up Pandora's box of small-batch dessert-making in the toaster oven that I probably should have just left alone.

Since this was a small batch and I left the butter out overnight before cooking, I didn't bother with the mixer. It was super easy to make these cookies by hand in about 10 minutes or less. At the end of it, I had a plate of warm, fresh cookies, and only a few tools to clean up. Super win.

Menu Inspiration: Summer cocktail party

Menu Inspiration: Summer cocktail partySummer cocktail party menu inspo From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

Believe it or not, it's August. If you're gearing up for the long Labor Day weekend already or planning a casual end-of-summer party, here are some quick and easy entertaining ideas that will help you send the summer season off right.

Fresh, Mediterranean-inspired flavors highlight this menu, and for something sweet at the end that's still light: easy to make grilled peaches with honey-sweetened whipped cream. As a bonus, there's something for everyone: several recipes are vegetarian-friendly and could be made vegan with a few omissions or easy swaps.