#indulgent recipes

[wisdomfish]

The flesh would have us believe that it should be indulged for the sake of grace!

John Owen

[life-spire]

@ Ratni

See more delicious food | pancakes.

[mercerislandbooks]

The Return of Cookbook Book Club!

As many of you know, it has now been several years since our Cookbook Book Club has been able to meet. I wasn't in the area when it initially began, so I am thrilled to be able to participate in our first returning book club meeting next Thursday, February 16 at 6:30 PM. To whet our appetites, I interviewed Lisa Odegard, author of our featured cookbook and a long-time member of the book club! Cast Iron Desserts: Indulgent Recipes for the Modern Kitchen is her debut cookbook and full of delicious-looking recipes I cannot wait to try.

Becca: Laurie tells me that you are a long-time member of our Cookbook Book Club. What do you love most about it? Lisa: I love being part of Cookbook Club. A friend recommended it to me and I’m so glad I joined! I love Island Books' warm and cozy atmosphere, and it’s wonderful to meet other people that love food as much as I do.

Becca: What are you looking forward to the most with your cookbook being featured this month? Lisa: I love that my book is being featured, but I’m most excited to meet the cooks who are interested in cooking from this labor of love. Becca: I know my husband and I are really looking forward to making the strawberry peppercorn donuts, as well as several other recipes. How do you go about coming up with such unique flavor combinations?

Lisa: I adore desserts, but I lean more towards savory so trying new flavor combinations with a little bit of savory and sweet is my jam. For example, my marionberry pie has a subtle hint of rosemary. I grew up in the Willamette Valley so marrying these two flavors was second nature for me as I learned early on in my cooking career that what grows together, goes together. That rule applies to land and sea, which is why pinot noir is a perfect complement to wild salmon, and steel fermented sauvignon blanc is a fantastic foil for goat cheese and hazelnuts. The bright acidity in both applications compliment and cut through the richness of each pairing.

Becca: What set you on the path of writing your own cookbook, and why cast iron? Were there any other themes you tossed around?

Lisa: I’ve always loved cooking from as far back as I can remember. Often cooking with my mom, stuffing pasta shells, making lasagna, baklava, chicken cacciatore, Pasta e fagioli, homemade pizza and fried egg rolls. Food is the one thing that consistently interested me, so naturally, I graduated with a B.S. in Nutrition in Business and three years after college, I graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in New York. I knew I would eventually write a cookbook; it was just a matter of the right timing. 

I currently work for a cast iron company out of Portland and often while visiting my accounts, I’m asked the common question: what can I make in cast iron besides meat and eggs? There are so many things you can make, but that is when I discovered that desserts are often overlooked. I couldn’t find much past the standard apple crisp, Dutch baby pancake, or a cobbler. I stumbled into an underserved niche that I never would have noticed if I did not work with cast iron every day. Because I couldn’t find the kind of recipes that piqued my interest, I decided to make my own and that is how writing this book began.

Becca: I love that! And I've heard so many times that you ought to write the kind of book you want to read. What was the most challenging part of producing a cookbook? Lisa: The most challenging thing about writing the book was something that I didn’t see coming. Dealing with imposter syndrome and near crippling self-doubt. I initially brushed it off because a chef mentor of mine told me that if I wasn’t a little scared before dinner service, I was underprepared, so I let the uneasiness fester. I have 25 years of professional cooking experience and know that I’m fully qualified to write a cookbook. Throughout the writing process, I talked to other authors that are traditionally published and self-published. All of them told me that they fought the same internal battle, though most authors don’t acknowledge it publicly. Becca: I believe that. I'm honestly impressed by anyone who manages to get a book out into the world, since it is such a process, creatively, logistically and emotionally. Do you have a favorite recipe in the book, or is there a particular one that you're especially proud of? Lisa: My favorite recipes in Cast Iron Desserts are: Mexican Hot Chocolate Soufflé, English Cream Scones, Hazelnut Ba-Bombs, Yuzu Thyme Cookies, Strawberry and Pink Peppercorn Donut Holes, Pear and Ginger Coffee Cake, and Marionberry Pie w/ Rosemary. Becca: And was there anything that you loved that didn't make the cut? Lisa: Creme brûlée. For the life of me, I couldn’t get the right consistency. Becca: Having done it once (writing a cookbook), would you do it again? Lisa: Yes, I would absolutely write another cookbook. It was a great learning experience and I’m so thankful I pushed myself to finish it.

We're glad she finished it too, since everything inside sounds amazing. Lisa will be in attendance for the Cookbook Club meeting to chat with us and sign books while we sample some recipes from her book. If you haven't joined us before, visit the Cookbook Book Club page on our website to sign up! Pick up a copy of Cast Iron Desserts, make a recipe that catches your eye, and bring it to share. We can't wait to see you all again!

— Becca

[fullcravings]

Healthy (ish) Chocolate Granola

[dailykugisaki]

Day 223 | id in alt

Maki thinking some very unsorcererly things over a piece of damn cheesecake.

(Read from right to left💥)

[bodypositiviteaandcakes]

Y’all: I present spiced coffee

When making coffee, just add to the grounds before setting the coffee machine (this works best with drip or pour over)

1. Half a cinnamon stick

2. Like 5-6 cardamom pods

3. Two-three cloves

Pound lightly in a molcajete or on a course setting on spice grinder. Add to the top of your grounds. That’s it!

This goes especially good if you take your coffee with cream and/or sugar. I use condensed milk in place of both, and it’s FABULOUS! It’s basically a lazy masala chai with coffee instead of tea leaves.

[suosgirl]

Imagine going on a date with Kiryu to a tattoo shop to get piercings together, what are you getting and what is he getting?💕

oh my GOSH I'm screaming crying punching the wall because I just know it would be so cute ｡°(°.◜ᯅ◝°)°｡

I'd like to think this is our 3rd or 4th date - the 1st having been something super casual like maybe a coffee date or a breakfast place because he likes pancakes and I LIKE PANCAKES and he's the one who plans it but I'm the one who pays because I want him to know that I'm strong and independent and -

Anyways, 3rd or 4th date (in my mind) means that we text pretty casually now (but still aren't officially a couple) so I'm asking what he's wearing and I match to him and when we meet his eyes light up because he had thought I was just asking due to the weather. But no I'm wearing a color or two that matches with his shirt and it's so so obvious that I want to be his girlfriend but I completely breeze past the fact that we're matching and if he brings it up to tease me I'll just put on a total oblivious front but his eyes can't stop looking at the way we match so so well.

And ugh I've been wanting a lip ring so bad so I'd love to get that on the right side of my lips but I love the idea of Kiryu getting a cute little silver stud on the side of his nose!! And when he tells me this I'm internally screaming because what made you want a nose piercing huh? Perhaps me?

And when everything's all said and done, I can't stop looking at the jewelry glinting on his nose and then I realize that I can't stop looking at him so I'm a bumbling flustered mess when we leave. And he's really no different, his eyes just keep getting glued to how the lip ring just sits so pretty on my lips and how it only further accentuates my smile.

I, of course, have created a small little aftercare bag for him with all of the things he could need for the healing process. I know that he's already stocked on everything given the amount of piercings he already has but it's the thought and care that counts. And when I give it to him his eyes are so full of hearts because thoughtful gifts are the way to his heart.

And when he's walking me home, I tell him that my piercing hurts because for as much as he's a flirt, I am too, and I'm pointing at my lip and he takes that little hint and runs with it. Presses a chaste gentle kiss to the corner of my lips before saying, "Do you want me to kiss it better?"

[theloveinc]

cato u read my mind with the bnha barista au literally like meeting the boys cuz it’s next to ur college and you do ur homework there like sero n denki are fighting about who gets to make ur drink all while katsuki has it made with ur name written as nice as he can and he’s giving it to u averting ur eyes cuz he can’t make eye contact 😭😭😭 or kirishima in a apron makes me sob 😭😭

NO bc you get it...!!!

Bakugo having long lost cashier rights because he's so goddamn awful to customers, but when denki starts flirting with WHOEVER (usually you), he's so quick to take over and bump your drink to the top of the list just because he 1. doesn't want to witness any tomfoolery, and 2. gets to impress you...

(always doing special latte art or unnecessary sauce or spice toppers on your drinks. he says he "does that shit for everyone cuz he's damn good at it" but we all know he's a mf LIAR. goes bright red and silent when you compliment him too wahhh)

BUT IT'S SO FUNNY. Sero is def a good barista too so he gets big mad whenever Bakugo steals orders right from under him, even if he was spending 20 minutes trying to explain all the different blends to you.

Denki doesn't know wtf is going on with coffee, but he's at least better than todoroki bc he's good at anything blended. but you try to ask what's best or what he recommends and he's like: "idk it's all the same to me" STOP!!!!!!

And yeahhh, kiri in his apron and ponytail🥺🥺🥺 his latte art is always a little wonky but he's so cute it doesn't matter in the end (plus he does a damn good job at pulling shots and brewing). He's so smiley and nice, everyone LOVES him and you end up being the jealous one. but tbh, he's always the one who ends up being put on Rude Customer duty just bc he's the biggest too asdkfhasdj.

Just all your little moments together, esp late at night when they're getting ready to close. Bakugo making you all these lovely drinks for free without even saying anything and denki making you laugh on all your study breaks and kiri offering to walk you home, i'm so AHHHHH!!!!!!

[potatobugz]

ok. hear me out. bear with me. ive been struck with an idea for a kny au in which basically genya and kanao become main characters.

keeping in line with the whole "5 senses" theme, genya would have a heightened sense of taste and kanao would have good eyesight. :)

[stormdistrict]

Flourless Dark Chocolate Brownie Cookies https://www.yammiesnoshery.com/2017/09/flourless-dark-chocolate-brownie-cookies.html?m=1

[mad-hunts]

just imagining one of the doctors from arkham trying to get through to barton by calling an unprompted, sort of intervention-like therapy session even though he has been TOTALLY uncooperative even during the previous normal one's he's had with them and this doctor telling him something like ' you know, you can't just keep on fighting people who said something you don't like / did something you don't like towards you. you've got to communicate with them that you didn't like it ' while they're just staring at a barton who has like. the BIGGEST shiner on his face and dried blood underneath his nose from fighting someone that day is 💀 idk but for some reason, it's making me cackle JSJSJ he is so bad and for what reasonnn

[toasteaa]

Hmmm...Diluc making stew...he already knows choice cuts and the best vegetables that go well with a meal. He doesn't like drinking wine, but he knows how to use it to his advantage when cooking steak tips. The whole manor smells of roasted garlic and tender onions, simmering autumn vegetables and potatoes, and a taste of pepper tickles the air.

He's modest with accepting praise when it comes to his cooking skills, but he won't be able to stop a small smile whenever he thinks about how good of a cook you think he is. As a matter of fact, it just makes him want to cook a bit more.

[asliceofpai]

Tiramisù

Ingredients:

3 eggs

100g sugar

500g mascarpone cheese

1 lemon (zest)

15cl strong coffee

3 tbsp Marsala wine (optional)

250 ladyfinger biscuits (savoiardi)

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions:

Brew a strong coffee and let it cool down to room temperature. You can add the Marsala wine to the coffee for extra flavor, if desired.

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Place the egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Add sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until the mixture becomes pale and creamy. Add the mascarpone cheese to the egg yolk mixture and mix until smooth and well combined. Zest the lemon and add it to the mascarpone mixture. Mix well. In a separate clean bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Combine Mixtures: Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the mascarpone mixture until fully incorporated. Be careful not to deflate the egg whites.

Assemble the Tiramisu:

Dip each ladyfinger biscuit into the coffee mixture for a few seconds, making sure they are soaked but not soggy.

Arrange a layer of soaked biscuits in the bottom of a serving dish or individual glasses.

Spread a layer of the mascarpone mixture over the biscuits, smoothing it out with a spatula.

Repeat the layers of soaked biscuits and mascarpone mixture until all ingredients are used, ending with a layer of mascarpone mixture on top.

Chill and Serve:

Cover the tiramisu with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, to allow the flavors to meld together and the dessert to set.

Before serving, dust the top of the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine sieve.

[singsweetmelodies]

🍪

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I would give almost anything to have a plate of these cookies right now

[braisedhoney]

sometimes i feel like a part of me never really grew out of that one trope where all your favorite characters get thrown in one big house and chill out together w/you. i have a ton of hilarious memories of stories like that, but i'd be lying if i said it isn't something i revisit now and then. literal years and yet...