The Kitchen is Back!

So the vacation lasted a little longer than I expected, but I suppose that's what happens when you go back to work! Amazing what you can get done and have the energy for when you're not in an office 40-50 hours per week!

But with the new year I'm going to try to post a least once a week with an update on what's happening in our kitchen. We are still committed to trying one new recipe per week and have been doing pretty well with that. This week it was a Shrimp and Sausage in a Creole Mustard Sauce courtesy of Bon Appetit. It turned out really good and is a keeper. My only regret with making dishes like this is that the leftovers don't last because of the shrimp. I am a leftovers-eater and hate to see them go to waste. Next time I'll cut the recipe by quite a bit so it's just enough for the two of us.

I also tried out a new recipe for Classic Tuscan Flatbread that I found on epicurious.com. The bread turned out alright, but the dough itself was very bland. I do think that it needed to bake a little bit longer, but I also think that next time I would add a little olive oil and salt directly to the dough to give it some additional flavor. The texture, however, was perfect. It's definitely a recipe that is worth trying to perfect to our tastes.

Actually, this was quite the week for new recipes because I also made Edamame Dumplings from Cooking Light. These were great! I made the whole recipe and froze half -- we'll see if this works. But the texture and flavor of the dumplings was very good and both Andrew and I liked them a lot.