This has always been one of my favorite soups, but a few of the ingredients are fairly hard to come by, namely the dried mushrooms. But after finally just ordering some from Amazon, I was able to make it myself at home.

A great, easy accompaniment to turn [Fried Rice]() and [Lo Mein]() into a full meal.

Pad Thai is traditionally made with rice noodles, but I need something with a lot fewer carbs and calories, at the moment. So, this is my current incarnation that I plan to tweak over time. Authentic it is not, but it takes care of the craving adequately.

I ran into this at a Halloween pot luck and loved it so much I practically demanded the recipe. It has become one of my favorite desserts.

When I began making my own gyros, I decided that I couldn’t put up with the store bought pitas for them anymore. After trying a few different recipes online, this is the one I landed on. This, along with [tzatziki sauce]() and store-bought gyros slices makes a really good combination.

The remaining gyros place in town seems to have closed, so I needed to find some other way to get my Greek American food fix. Luckily, my grocery store sells gyros slices, but they don’t sell the classic sauce that goes with it. So here’s a version that I can make up in small batches, as I’m the only one that eats it.

I’ve been making [Spanish Rice in the Instant Pot]() for a few years, but I liked how easy the [Oven Fried Rice]() was to make, so I modified this to use the same technique.

I’ve kept fried rice on the menu rotation for a couple of years now, but making it from scratch just wasn’t worth the time and effort. Which is to say, I’ve been buying it from the freezer section. However, I recently came across [this method from Chef John](https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2019/03/baked-fried-rice-once-cooked.html) that made me reevaluate making it at home. It turned out wonderfully for reasonable effort. Here’s my variation.

I needed something to punch up my oven fried rice a bit, so I thought of Chinese five spice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it in any of my local grocery stores. Rather than just order it directly, I figured I’d make my own. However, I _did_ end up having to order one of the ingredients from Amazon: Szechuan peppercorns.

The whole family loves these with mashed potatoes, even though I'm too lazy to make the meatballs from scratch.

My local state fair calls these "tiger ears" for some reason, but they're known as "elephant ears" nearly everywhere else. Really, they're very similar to the "Indian fry bread" I used to get in Arizona and the sopaipillas I've occasionally come across in Mexican restaurants. It's really just fried bread dough.

Something like a liquid cheesecake, I love this filling in [crepes]() with fresh berries.

When I want _good_ salsa to go with tortilla chips, this is the recipe.

This is our go-to recipe for basic cookies.

Another new addition to our menu, it's one of the few ways that I still like to eat a decent amount of vegetables. We frequently have it with [Jeera Rice]() and [Kheema Matar]().

This is a new addition to our menu. Rachel and I love it, while the kids won't touch it. It comes very close to what we're used to in an Indian restaurant, while still being simple and cheap. It would probably be even better with ground lamb, and I'm sure it would work great with ground turkey as well. We like to pair it with [Jeera Rice]() and [Vegetable Korma]().

When I have more time than money, I make this cheesecake instead of just buying one at the store.

This is a cut down batch that makes only 2 crepes, which is how many I typically want. I typically fill them with [cream cheese filling]() and fresh berries.

This is by far my favorite way to use up overripe bananas. If you have a 13x18" baking sheet, you can double this recipe to use it.

I finally decided that I wanted decent pizza crust enough to make it myself, but not enough to actually maintain a sourdough starter. Or knead it repeatedly. This recipe yields a great flavor and wonderful texture, and there's no real kneading to speak of. It does however take about 24 hours, so you have to think ahead.