Cooking with BS's 2-Year-Anniversary Post!

It's already been 2 years since Katy and I started Cooking with B.S.! Since there's no way we could top last year's anniversary post of Skip's Scramble, so I thought it would be a good idea to host a dinner party and invite a few of our friends over.

For this late-spring dinner I wanted to represent the beginning of summer and meals to come in the summer months. I made Arnold Palmers with mint and bourbon, a fancy beet salad, grilled burgers and angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. 

No those aren't black olives. They're purple potatoes from my garden! Lightly sauteed. 

Kimchi Shepherd's Pie

Kimchi. That deliciously aged spicy cabbage, first created in Korean then used to make this unholy fusion. Kimchi tends to scare a lot of people away at least in America. I think it should be embraced and added to recipes that often call for cabbage for some extra spice. I mean what's more boring than shepard's pie? It's just meat and potatoes. That's why I wanted to try this combination and believe me it definitely paid off. The sweetness of the Japanese yams combined with the beef and tangy kimchi works perfectly together. If you're curious about kimchi and want to branch out I recommend starting with this recipe and then exploring more kimchi opportunities until you start putting it on everything.

Savory Avocado Cream Puffs

Behold the next level of party snacks! The Savory Avocado Cream Puff stuffed with avocado cream cheese and topped with smoked peanuts and radish sprouts! These creamy puffs of perfection are what party snacks should be. They're filling, but still surprisingly light. Even your vegetarian friends will like them, because unlike most of my dishes these contain no meat! I know! I'm as surprised as you are. Even though I made these look fancy, I recommend taking a page out of The Oatmeal's book and drench these things in Sriracha.

I don't have much to say about these puffs, besides the fact that you need to make them for the next party you attend or throw. I'm just going to let these photos that Katy Weaver took do most of the speaking. 

Savory Avocado Cream Puffs

Spicy Maple Gruyere Stuffed Chicken Breasts

The thing about Asian fusion is that as soon as lime juice and ginger comes into play it turns any dish into Asian fusion. I didn't set out to make this Spicy Maple Gruyere Stuffed Chicken Breast an Asian fusion dish, but I needed something to contrast the sweet chicken. An acidic slaw seemed like the obvious counterpart, and I happened to have lime and ginger. Next thing you know a delicious pear and ginger slaw appeared. Okay, it did take a little work, but every part seemed to work beautifully together just like a 90's boy band. I recommend making this dish if you like delicious food and want a little bit of a challenge. 

Spicy Maple Gruyere Stuffed Chicken Breasts

2 servings

Capri Sun Vodka Cooler

If you're looking for the perfect summer drink this is it. The Capri Sun Vodka Cooler is refreshing, light and crisp. Most importantly though it taste like getting drunk off your childhood. Here's a tip for any soccer moms out there, these Capri Sun Coolers make the pain of losing the big game hurt, a little less. So I suggest handing these out after the next soccer match. 

Corn Flake Macaroons

As vintage month comes to end I thought I would adapt an old recipe I found in a Searchlight Recipe Book printed in 1944, sidenote: this book also contains several recipes for squirrel (perfect for wedding receptions). Corn flake macaroons just sounded olde tyme to me. Sure adding cereal to a dessert is pretty normal just ask Snap, Crackle or Pop. But corn flakes? They're one of the oldest types of cold cereal. Honestly I think they should be added to more recipes. It adds just enough of a crunch. 

Corn Flake Macaroons remind me a lot of rice crispy treats. They're both crispy and sweet, but these macaroons have a bit more depth to them, thanks to the coconut and chocolate. So if you're ready to step up your dessert game and impress everyone at the next family event. Let the kids make the rice crispy treats and make an adult dessert instead. 

Pretzel Topped Tuna Casserole

It's week three of vintage month and it's about time I made a casserole. Tuna Casserole has alway been a weird dish, I mean hot tuna? You could not have made me eat this when I was younger, but the first time I tried tuna casserole I was shocked at how good it was! For a dish that has been reduced to pre-made mixes in the grocery store, tuna casserole can impress when made from scratch. It's surprisingly easy to make! I used pretzels to top mine because I always have to be a little different. Go ahead and make this easy to prepare meal, it's sort of healthy!

Pot Roast

It's week two of vintage month on Cooking with B.S.! And we're featuring the most the oldest recipe ever, cooked meat. There is something appealing about simplicity. Maybe it's having fewer dishes to clean up after the meal is cooked or perhaps it's when you don't muddle the meat with every spice under the sun its true flavor comes out. Or perhaps these vintage recipes remind us of a simpler time, a better time, a time before quinoa.

Classic Potato Salad

No this potato salad doesn't have anything weird or crazy in it. No I didn't use some insane method of cooking these regular ol' potatoes. This is straightforward potato salad, though it does identify as egg salad on a few documents. 

I know last week I said this blog doesn't pander to the Pinterest people and that I wanted to move the culinary arts forward. The best way to move forward is to look to the past. That's why all month long on Cooking with B.S. we're bringing you classic-vintage recipes! 

Yes I know potato salad isn't exactly a culinary tentpole, but it's an American classic! Just try having a family picnic without potato salad. It doesn't work! Uncle Frank just spends the whole day asking, "Where's the potato salad?" Then Aunt Sally chimes in, "Frank you shouldn't be eating that anyway. Cause of the cholesterol." Next thing you know their martial banter turns into a full blown food fight and your quinoa-kale salad is on the ground. Where it belongs! The dog won't even eat it. All while you're quietly drinking a beer in the corner and telling yourself that you're definitely doing your own thing for Thanksgiving.

So yeah. Don't let that happen and just make this potato salad. 

Classy Joes (Sloppy Joes)

If you're a regular visitor of this blog you know that I tend to make recipes that are a little more on the creative side. This has never been and never will be a Pinterest baking blog filled with quinoa and Oreo filled recipes. Instead of appealing to the masses I would rather move the culinary arts forward and present my reimagining of a school cafeteria staple, the Classy Joe. Sure the Classy Joe seems like a twisted pipe dream of a hairy lunch lady with aspirations of getting a Michelin Star.

Fun fact! When fried purple potatoes turn brown!

Gettin' saucy!

Espresso Hazelnut Crème Brûlée

I don't mean to brag, but this is the best Crème Brûlée ever, so suck it France! Crème Brûlée is one of the most elegant desserts you can make. Maybe it's the simplicity of its ingredients or the crunch of the burnt sugar that gives way to the creaminess inside. Or it could be that infusing flavors into this classic dessert is like painting on a blank canvas. That, or it might just be that the French know their way around desserts, but that seems unlikely.

Quick shoutout to Oregon hazelnuts!! What what!! That is all. Carry on.

Split Pea Soup with Fish & Mint Meringues

If you're a fan of this blog then you know that unusual combinations are sort of a running theme and this post is no different. The idea for fish meringues sprouted in my mind after a trip to the local Asian grocery store. It seemed too weird to be terrible. The fish meringues are like little pillows swimming atop a sea of green. The two work together to create a surprising perfect early spring dish. 

I don't have anything funny to say about this post. But I do have a warning: if you decide to eat more than two servings of this split pea soup in one day, prepare for some green poops. Just accept it and own it. Maybe you can eat a bunch of this soup on March 16th then everything about you can be festive for St. Patricks day!