July 2011

The Weekend Dish: 7/30/2011

July 30, 2011 |

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Happy Saturday everyone! Today is not just any Saturday, but it’s National Cheesecake Day! I’m not sure who creates or assigns these foodie holidays, but they sure make a great excuse to enjoy some of my favorite treats. Most of you know that cheesecake is pretty much my favorite thing ever, so I have a [...]

Buttermilk Doughnuts

July 29, 2011 |

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Well, I told you earlier this week that when I made the Easy Homemade French Fries it was my first jump into the world of deep frying, and these doughnuts would be my second dip. I have lost all fear of frying and am now on a furious search for the next thing to throw [...]

Homemade Primanti Bros. Sandwich

July 28, 2011 |

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Primanti Bros. sandwiches are a Pittsburgh classic. I talked about them last year in my post ‘Pittsburgh, in a Sandwich‘ – as a refresher (and as you can see above), they make a nontraditional sandwich that is topped with French fries and coleslaw. If you’re a Pittsburgher and you have out-of-town visitors, it’s pretty much [...]

Oil and Vinegar Coleslaw

July 27, 2011 |

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I’ve talked at great length this summer about my aversion to mayonnaise-based salads and side dishes. I have even recreated some of those – egg salad, potato salad and macaroni salad – with lighter amounts of mayonnaise to suit my picky tastes. I have always been a huge fan of coleslaw, but like many of [...]

Easy Homemade French Fries

July 26, 2011 |

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Before making these French fries, I had never deep-fried anything in my life. Sure, I had watched my and grandma fry calamari for Christmas Eve dinners, and the lingering smell of fried fish in my hair and on my clothes was proof that I had witnessed the frying, but I had never taken any frying [...]

Top 10 List: Favorite Pie & Tart Recipes

July 25, 2011 |

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One thing that many people enjoy during the summer is going out to orchards or local farms and picking fresh fruit – berries and rhubarb in the summer, and then lots of apples as the weather starts to cool and summer turns to fall. And what better way to use up all that wonderful fruit [...]

The Weekend Dish: 7/23/2011

July 23, 2011 |

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I can’t believe it’s already closing in on the end of July; where has the summer gone?! I enjoyed a ball game at sold-out PNC Park last night; although we lost it was so much fun to see so many people in the stands. Also, if you’re from around Pittsburgh and a beer drinker, you [...]

Everything Bagels

July 22, 2011 |

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I absolutely love, love, love bagels. Bagels in all forms – savory bagels, sweet bagels. I’ll eat a bagel for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Always with cream cheese. Mostly toasted, sometimes untoasted. As you can see, I’m not very picky! After discovering Peter Reinhart’s recipe for homemade bagels a few years ago, I can count [...]

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

July 21, 2011 |

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Brownies are sort of like cheesecake, aren’t they? There’s nothing better than the perfect dense, fudgy brownie, just like not much can beat a classic piece of creamy cheesecake. Yet with both of these desserts we’re always fiddling around with different versions, swirling things in and layering things on the top and the bottom (incidentally, [...]

Frozen Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie

July 20, 2011 |

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I simply cannot resist any dessert that has even the slightest thing to do with peanut butter. If Oreos and cream cheese are involved, all the better. Which is why as soon as I laid eyes on this dessert I knew I had to have it. It wasn’t a question of if, it was a [...]