The first time I tried sushi I was 22 years old. Considering I had decided I wanted to be a chef at the age of 16, this is surprising, right?. Do they even let people into culinary arts school that have never had sushi? I can just hear Gordon Ramsay now, “You’ve NEVER had SUSHI!?!?! The delectable culinary masterpiece of Japan?!? And you want to be a CHEF??! That’s preposterous – GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN!!!” Because even if Gordon Ramsay actually had a culinary arts school, I could get into it in maybe a million years. If I was lucky. Ha!
On this Easter Eve, chances are pretty good that you have a fridge full of hard boiled eggs. Whether the kids in your family share a dozen to dye or each get their own individual dozen (yes this really happens in my family!), you (presumably the adult in this situation) are not only in charge of figuring out how to get a vinegary robin egg blue stain off your white counter top but also how to consume the evening’s fun art project that is indeed edible.
What you’re looking at right here is a Plan B. Not that there’s anything wrong with a Plan B, it’s just not a Plan A. Plan A was going to be BEA-U-TI-FUL!! It was going to be delicate and pastel-colored and bursting with so much Easter cheer that you just couldn’t help but take the giant project on of actually producing one yourself. Giant project yes, and also a giant flop. Sigh… So I had to come up with a Plan B. While I was cleaning up the also giant mess of Plan A, I could only think of one thing – SIMPLIFY.
Yeah sure, the goal for Plan A was to break Instagram with the millions of likes I would get (ha!), but I’m not sure anyone would realistically make Plan A. I probably wouldn’t. So here’s Plan B. It’s delicate and delicious, has a pop of color, and is, most importantly, simplified. You could make this. Easily. I promise.
I’m going to keep this fairly simple because these almonds are fairly simple. They don’t really need my fancy words to talk them up to convince you to make them. I figure they do this all on their own with that beautifully bronzed coating of crispy caramel you see up there. You can hear them crunch just by looking at the picture!!
Are calzones authentic? I know I could just google this and probably find out from a surprisingly-factual wikipedia page, but I’m curious if anyone knows off the top of their head? No? I definitely know pizza is Italian (duh), and there are definitely rules to make correct Italian pizza. Then the Americans came in and started changing those rules, and we ended up with New York-style pizza, Chicago deep dish pizza, thin and crispy pizza, California Pizza Kitchen, and probably asparagus calzones. I guess I should look it up.
So why didn’t I just make asparagus pizza bursting with spring flavor instead of these? Because look at that CALZONE up there! That glowing golden brown with a slight salt and pepper crust? Pizza can do a lot of things, but it can’t have that beautiful top crust that you’re looking at up there. And I think calzones are fun – they’re dip-able and fairly portable. They also reheat really well. And Nathan likes calzones, so me being the nice wife that I am, you get calzones today instead of pizza.
I realize I’m a little late with this, but here it is anyway… Happy Spring! It’s been a while. My parents came to visit for a few days, and like the fabulous planner that I am (ha!), I had set aside the entire day before they came to shoot photos for two new posts. Where are these posts, you ask? Ugh.
The first recipe was a total flop – inedible, I couldn’t even eat it. The next recipe was a much beloved favorite of ours that I’ve been excited to share. It involves a rainbow of root vegetables, a hot oven, and cozy comforting herbs like thyme and rosemary. All good things for sure, but decidedly not spring-y. The opposite actually. Turns out this day was the first official day of spring. Of course. Even better. Nobody wants to turn their oven on to roast squash on the first day of spring, Jill. Needless to say, the roots never got published, though they have a very firm rain check come mid-October, and I’ve been absent for over a week.
I’m going to call it now… this blog could potentially end up with a lot of Mexican food on it. Why is this, you ask? Well long story not too short my husband and I grew up together in small-town Wyoming. We dated all through high school (yes, we are high school sweethearts), then my husband (then boyfriend) left on a church mission for two years to Mexico. Once he came home, he was pretty much a Mexican – he spoke Spanish like a Mexican (and still can!), had Mexican mannerisms, and wanted Mexican food endlessly. Me being the supportive girlfriend that I was at the time was happy to go along with it. I ate sopes, tacos, tortas, tacos, enchiladas, conchas, tacos, tacos, etc. because that’s what my newly returned boyfriend wanted.
After gushing about sandwiches last time, I figured next up on the list of “Getting to Know Jillian” should be that I enjoy meal planning. I know I’m in the minority here, but my dietitian nerd brain goes wild with the weekly meal plan challenge. It’s a balancing act: not too much meat but enough that my husband won’t complain, a good mix of light, lighter, and heavy-ish meals, and exactly how many times is too many times to have pizza? Big questions here.
I love sandwiches. Not the kind made out of Wonder Bread with a squirt of mayo, a few sad slices of pre-packaged deli turkey, and a piece of yellow-ish cheese. No, I love GOOD sandwiches. When we go out for dinner with my in-laws, my father-in-law will inevitably shake his head when I order a sandwich. Why on earth would I order a lame sandwich when I could have an incredible steak because, well, he’s footing the bill. I order the sandwich because I truly enjoy a good sandwich. Sandwiches made with toasty bread and flavor-packed individual ingredients married together with some top-notch condiments. I’m all about the sauce… a good sandwich is NOT dry. This sandwich is all of this + more.
Hello and welcome to From Her Kitchen! I’ve read numerous first posts on numerous other food blogs, and it feels a bit surreal to actually be writing my own. This post is most definitely going to end in some delicious cookies, so stick around while I put myself out there for a little bit first. They’re worth it, I promise.
First things first – I’m Jillian. Full-time mom, Registered Dietitian, avid home cook, food blog stalker, and lover of all things Disneyland. I’ve loved food and cooking since I was young. Most kids came home from school and watched Hey Arnold or That’s So Raven. Not me. I watched the Food Network. I wanted to be a chef for a while but decided that being a really great home cook would be even better.
My first (and still favorite!) food blog to discover was Smitten Kitchen. I don’t know Deb personally, but I feel like I do. She’s good. Really good. After I binge read every post she had written up to that point (clear back in 2009), I worked my way through a few other blogs. I was hooked and still am. I sincerely believe that anyone can learn to cook really well from the internet thanks to some seriously amazing food blogs that are out there.
So why am I here? Why did I finally decide to throw my hat into the blogging arena? A couple things…
Mostly I need this blog. I’m a new mom, which I truly love, but I NEEDED something else. I needed a creative outlet like crazy. I’ve been considering starting a blog of my own for ages but then all the doubts set in – I have no clue how to start, I have nothing new to contribute to the blog world, food photography… YIKES, nobody is going to read it, etc. etc. etc. These doubts are mostly still there but here we go anyway!
