Homemade Flour Tortillas, revisited

November 01, 2019 by Sophie Barrows in cooking, sophie

Shortly after we started the blog, I posted my recipe for homemade flour tortillas. I continue to make them whenever we’d like to have tortillas at a meal. They simply taste so, so much yummier than typical grocery store brands. Having made them many more times since originally posting, I thought could refresh my recipe with tips and notes I’ve picked up along the way. I’ve definitely found ways to make them turn out more regularly shaped and to roll out nice and thin, but also stay soft enough to wrap and fill. The more I make them, the less work they seem too! For your first time making them, however, plan for them to take an hour or more.

Coconut Chocolate Coffee Sourdough (with regular yeast variation)

May 31, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

As promised, here is a sweet sourdough bread recipe: coconut, chocolate chips, and coffee all come together for a yummy treat. Special enough to make me smile when we have some for breakfast, but not too sweet to make you feel like you're making an excuse to eat dessert (I'm not the only one, right?).

Make yogurt at home!

May 22, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, cooking

Did you know you can make yogurt at home? And that it's really easy? You basically need a pot and milk and you're set. I started making my own yogurt when we were on a very tight grocery budget - when, yes, the $2 per week that it saved was significant. And even though we're not strapped for those few bucks anymore, I've kept it up. OK, to be completely honest, I still try to save here and there if I can - it adds up, after all! But really, I just find it satisfying to produce some of the things I enjoy in my daily life. I remember the first couple of times I made it, it was almost like magic. I still find it kind of marvelous, kind of like every time I take a loaf of bread out of the oven I'm amazed all over at the process.

Flexible Dinner: Galette

May 11, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in cooking, sophie

I love this dinner. If I were planning to host a fancy dinner, I'd choose this in a heartbeat. It's unfailingly delicious. It can be vegetarian or meat filled. It isn't technical, yet it looks incredibly elegant. Plus, you can easily make almost all of the components ahead of time and simply assemble and bake an hour before hosting.

homemade teething toast (zwieback)

April 11, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, baking

Not gonna lie, I'm not a huge fan of the rice teething crackers that fill the baby aisles these days. They're sort of flavorless, insubstantial wafers that break down into a soggy mess and, once hardened, are impossible to clean up. Years ago, I remember seeing zwieback toast packaged and marketed as teething biscuits, but after looking around, it seems that both brands I recall have discontinued the product. Bummer! But then again, perhaps not. In my online quest, I discovered many recipes for making zwieback from scratch at home. I decided to give it a try.

Easter Candy

March 31, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

For the past three years, my younger sister-in-law and I have been trying to make the bulk of the Easter basket candy ourselves. We have a lot of fun doing it, and the candy is all the more special. Here are the recipes we've used, if you'd like to give it a shot too!

Family Recipes: Eggplant Parmesan

February 08, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in sophie, cooking

This recipe, like the Fettuccine Alfredo, was one of the first Italian meals I had from Philip's family and fell in love with. I still remember the first night I had it. I was dating Philip and visiting his family over break. I was seated at the table closest to the family room. I had on my blush pink cropped sweater. (Am I the only one on whom food makes such an impression?) I most certainly had seconds, if not thirds and fourths. I am fairly certain it was the first recipe I requested from Mom Barrows. I don't know what it is about it. It's not mind-blowing. It's actually fairly humble and simple. But, it's delicious. It's complete comfort food for me.

BBQ Beef Sandwich

February 01, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in sophie, cooking

When we lived in Massachusetts, there was this great local butcher shop. They prided themselves on being known only by word of mouth. Living on a tight newly-wed budget, we would buy one of their "budget stretcher plans" every month or two. Basically, the plans offered a box package of a variety of meats and cuts for a set, discounted price. Not only did the plans save us money, but they also introduced me to new cuts of meat. "London broil? Okay, will look up how to use that." (It is delicious, by the way. Steak for almost nothing.) But most often, I'd think: "Gosh. More beef cubes." Which led to, "Is there anything else I can do with these besides making stew?"

giant Sausage Roll

January 30, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in cooking, sophie

Shortly after becoming pregnant with Edith, my mom visited our then apartment in Massachusetts. During that visit, she gifted me Jamie Oliver's cookbook Comfort Food. She had seen a recipe in the Wall Street Journal for his shepherd's pie where the potatoes are mixed with cheddar cheese and don't just top the dish -- they line the bottom of the pan as well! Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, he grates more cheddar cheese on top and finishes it all off with bread crumbs and a drizzle of oil. My mother knows me.

Quick & Easy Biscuits

January 18, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

Few things surpass a buttery, perfectly flaky, multi-layered biscuit. They are well worth the effort of thorough prepping -- freezing small-sized pieces of butter (perhaps even the flour as well), ensuring the liquid ingredients are sufficiently chilled, meticulously avoiding overworking the dough, using a razor sharp cutter, and only rolling the dough out once.

But.....

St. Nicholas' day

December 07, 2017 by Sophie Barrows in sophie, food

Whenever I think about family traditions, I realize some of my strongest and most beloved center around food. Christmas and Easter strongly evoke a Polish breakfast feast (my paternal grandmother is 100%) consisting of Kielbasa, horseradish, babka, and pierogi. Christmas also brings to mind halvah, marzipan, sesame honey candies, and pepperoni sticks -- our stocking staples. On any given birthday, it was an absolute given that the celebrated person got to decide what special breakfast, dinner, and cake that they'd like. Saturdays and Sundays always began with either pancakes, waffles, or crepes. In fact, we never let a special day or occasion (sometimes, even just a hint of one) slip by without ensuring it was punctuated by suitably festive bakes and makes.

Family Recipes: road trip & hiking snacks

November 15, 2017 by Sophie Barrows in sophie, baking, life

As I mentioned in my last post, we recently took a family vacation up north to New Hampshire. The White Mountains specifically were my family's vacationing destination growing up. We went there every summer we could. A couple years, we did winter vacations instead. Philip and I went by ourselves in October when expecting Edith, right at the start of gorgeous autumn foliage. But going in November was quite a different experience.

Family Recipes: Fresh Pasta

October 25, 2017 by Sophie Barrows in cooking, sophie

As promised, here is the family recipe for fresh pasta. It comes from a little cookbook of recipes from Southern Italy, specifically the town of Roseto in the Province of Foggia. Many Italians immigrated from this town and established a sister town of Roseto, Pennsylvania. This cookbook was created to preserve traditions and recipes for the immigrant relatives and families. In the preface to the cookbook, it says how important Rosetans held their culture to be. Homemade food "prepared in the peasant tradition, yet "fit for a king'" was a dominant part of this.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

October 09, 2017 by Sophie Barrows in sophie, cooking

Mexican meals are a staple in our household. I mean, when don't they satisfy? Give me a bowl of rice and beans any night, and I'm a happy camper. Having deliciously seasoned meat, cheddar cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and other toppings are all pluses, but honestly, I could do without most of them.