Executive dysfunction? Feed thyself.

[Baking] Blueberry Drop Biscuits

Did you know there is a New York Times Cooking subreddit. Oh yes! There is a subreddit for everything. My library provides us with a subscription to the New York Times Cooking section and I generally find most things there to be far more ingredients and steps than my brain could handle, but some absolutely wonderful soul on the subreddit converted the Strawberry Drop Biscuits recipe by Andrew Purcell into something much more executive dysfunction friendly.

No rolling. No cutting. One bowl. You can use salted butter - which is what you have on hand, anyway, because it is the best bread butter. And to incorporate the butter it is fun sensory play; plus you don't have to keep the butter cold.

And they taste like BoBerry Biscuits. Plus they freeze well.

Continue reading...

[Instant Pot] Mujadara 2.0 - More Dump, Fewer Bowls

I have an earlier version of this recipe kicking around and wanted to update now that I've got executive dysfunction AND a toddler. That's double not able to attend to my cooking, so I shifted things around and made this more of a dump-and-go recipe.

Mujadara is a vegan, middle-eastern dish of spiced lentils. It's name means "pockmarked" which is in reference to the rice looking pockmarked by the lentils. The spice profile used here is lebanese because yum. In the Notes section, I'll offer other sources of other spice profiles from other countries and cultures.

Continue reading...

[Instant Pot] Caramelized Onions

Once, many years ago, I heard a rumor that it was possible to make caramelized onions using a slow cooker. I dutifully followed the directions and ... no. I got soft, sautéed onions, but not caramelized like I wanted.

Then came a long series of Reddit rabbit holes which ended up with me checking out The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook from the library (How much do we love our libraries?) and reading the recipe for Caramelized Onion Jam (page 61). Wait a minute, caramelized onions? Hmmm. Can Instant Pot do what the slow cooker couldn't?

Continue reading...

[Instant Pot] Fancy Dinner Macaroni and Cheese

When The Mister and I were courting, we weren't well off enough to afford restaurant dates. So, we would have "Fancy Dinner" which is where we cooked something we would otherwise purchase at a restaurant, but for below-restaurant prices at home. This macaroni and cheese recipe qualifies. It is more expensive to make than a sub-$1 box of store brand, however every extra penny is worth it in the taste department.

Continue reading...

Taco Seasoning

I love a good make-ahead spice mix. It helps in terms of economizing if you can make it in a large enough batch and/or have multiple people to part it out between. Much as we did with the makhani spice mix, here's the recipe to replicate a packet of taco seasoning.

Continue reading...