This is the good stuff.

Good as in: takes 20 minutes and just a handful ingredients to create a culinary taste-explosion.  Well, explosion might be strong.  But oh my this salad is good.  Remember when I mentioned this salad, how frequently I make it, and explained that enough toppings allow this to be a whole dinner in itself, filling up the hungriest husband?  It's true.  Plus, the way I pan-roasted this salmon is hands down my favorite way to cook salmon.


Shocking revelation: it uses the cast iron skillet.  If you haven't procured one yet, here it is.  For less than $20.  Need I repeat: does not necessitate cleaning?

But again, a big thanks to the Bon Appetit pan-roasting article.  Before this, I usually cooked salmon in the oven, either on broil or just a hot temp.  That totally works, but I think the timing is just better this way.  That and I realized that salmon is meant to be eaten medium or medium-rare.  This isn't chicken, people, bright pink inside is good.

I think we've established that I am pretty into cooking with my cast iron skillet.  The amount of flavors and tasty oily bits is overwhelming.

And when those flavors and oily bits come from this.  Oh man.  Yes.  Those are two New York strips being basted in rosemary and thyme and butter.  So many good decisions happening.

This recipe comes from Bon Appetit, and once I read their section on pan-roasting, I was hooked.  I love the idea of employing the ol' cast iron, getting a fabulous sear, then allowing the meat to cook in its own juices in the oven.  And as it was frigid here when we made these, I wasn't about to demand that Mr. S&S hop outside and grill.  Plus, I've always heard that steak restaurants pan-roast their steaks {in butta} and that creates the fabulousness.  {Don'tdon'tdon't forget about the butta}


You start with a flavorful rub that soaks into the steak as it sits on the counter.  Steak needs to sit out to come to room temperature before being cooked, or else it doesn't cook evenly and gets that grey, unappetizing color.  blech.  But we both know that you'll wait and get these beautiful brown steaks.


Have I mentioned that I'm not a vegetarian?  I think with steak pictures this big, it just needs to be emphasized.  Although we eat mostly chicken and fish around here.  Red meat only happens every couple of weeks.  Mr. S&S loves when those days come around.  I think he could eat a pound of red meat every day and be happy.

These steaks go very nicely with some spinach sauteed down with garlic and olive oil.  A super easy, lovely way to get your green veggies!



Pan-Roasted Steaks
Serves two hungries, adapted from Bon Appetit

For the rub:
2 tablespoons ground coffee
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
3/4 teaspoon chili powder

The rest:
2 10oz New York Strip steaks (or similar)
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons thyme
1 teaspoon rosemary
sea salt

Mix the rub ingredients together and press into steaks.  Allow steaks to sit at room temperature for at least one hour.  Preheat oven to 400.  Then, heat a cast iron skillet with 1 tablespoon oil until oil becomes shimmery and hot.  Place steaks in skillet for one minute.  Remove and wipe excess rub/oil out of pan.  Pour the remaning 1 tablespoon oil into the skillet and allow to heat.  When oil is hot, place steaks back in the pan (on their uncooked side) for another minute.  Then add the three tablespoons of butter, garlic, and herbs.  Allow butter to melt.  When butter is melted, begin to baste the steaks in butter/herb mixture for about 1 minute per side.  Then, place the skillet in the oven for about 8 minutes (for medium rare).  Remove and check steaks to ensure their cookedness to your liking, then allow them to rest for at least 10 minutes.

Sauteed Spinach
Serves 2

3 large handfuls of spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat a non-stick pan with oil.  When oil is fairly hot, tear spinach leaves up into the pan.  Add the garlic.  Stir spinach occasionally until it wilts (about 3-5 minutes).  Serve immediately.

More pan-roasting to come!

You know those tastes from your childhood?  Not the perfect {velveeta} macaroni and cheese or homemade ice cream pie that your mother labored over, but the tastes that she intentionally tried to steer you away from and then eventually gave up and bought mass quantities of.

Tomorrow is Saturday, which means tomorrow you should have brunch.

 Or Sunday.  Whichever weekend day is your brunch jam.  Regardless of the day, your brunch should include quiche.  Specifically this caramelized onion, sausage, cherry tomato quiche (with goat cheese and parmesan, of course).  Why?  Because sometimes scrambled eggs are just tired.  And they don't include caramelized onions.  Ok, sweeping declaration: onions should always be caramelized.



Sausage, Caramelized Onion, and Cherry Tomato Quiche
Serves 4

1 pie crust, I use pillsbury
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved depending on size
3/4 pound of sausage, I always use spicy (I also cook the whole pound, because that's how it's usually packaged, then save the rest for scrambled eggs later)
1 whole onion, sliced
1 tablespoon rosemary
3 tablespoons goat cheese
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
3 eggs and milk to make 1 3/4 cups when measured with the eggs

Preheat the oven to 375 and roll the pie crust out into a pie pan.  Bring a cast iron skillet (or other pan) to medium heat with oil and begin to caramelized the onions.  Stir onions frequently to prevent burning.  When the onions are mostly cooked (about 10 minutes, when they are light brown and slightly wiggly), add in the sausage and rosemary and brown.  When everything is cooked, pour onions and sausage into the pie crust.  Then evenly distribute the tomatoes and goat cheese ove the top.  Crack the eggs into a 2 cup measuring cup and mix into a scramble.  Add milk to the measuring cup until the mixture measures 1 3/4 cup.  Stir again.  Pour egg/milk mixture over the ingredients in the pie pan.  Sprinkle parmesan on top.  Bake for 45 minutes or until the eggs are set and crust is brown.


Mmmm, brunchbruchbrunch.  Is it Saturday yet?

I might have mentioned that I'm in my last semester of graduate school for counseling.  Graduation is near, thank goodness, but also near: Quit Day.

This last semester of mine includes an addictions class, in which we must Quit something.  Something meaningful, something tough, something that makes us realize {in some small way} how rough it is for our clients.  Oh, and did I mention, it's for THREE months.  This isn't just lent-giving-up-something-small, this is Quitting {with a capital Q} and having a sponsor {classmate} whom I will inevitably text pictures of baked goods to in the middle of the night.  Because yes, I have chosen to quit sugar.  The thought process was long, since I rather enjoy all of my vices: caffeine, carbs, alcohol, and online television {Netflix, I could never quit you}.  So sugar it is, in hopes that it will help me be healthier and make better food decisions {like not eating random donuts just because they're sitting on a table near me} {oh no, donuts, I miss you already}.  I'm allowing myself honey to sweeten things, and I'm not going crazy with small amounts of sugar in restaurant food {who really knows what's in there anyway} and packaged food.  I'm allowing packaged things if sugar is not in one of the first 2-3 ingredients.

Needless to say, my last few days before Quit day included chocolate fondue, very sweet tea, and eating most of my chocolate stash in the pantry.  I am the picture of self-control.  ha.  But along this process, I hope to let you know once or twice how it's going {just for research sake}, and I hope to give you a few examples of desserts that don't include sugar.  Don't worry, I already found these that I'll be trying out soon.  Medjool dates, you sound lovely and exotic, let's be friends.  So please don't quit ol' Sparkle & Stir in her earliest stages, because butter and cheese are definitely still allowed.

There's a deep part of me that longs for the days when meal times were more formal, when people got dressed up for dinner (instead of changing out of work clothes into leggings and a husband shirt.  guilty.) and when there were extra food gatherings.  An era when events like tea time and cocktail hour still happened!  I guess to make that really work, I'd need more servants.  At least that's what Downton has taught me.

But in the evenings when I like to pretend we still live in that time, I round up Mr. S&S, put a tasty drink in his hand and present a unique hor d'oeuvre (or, let's be real, a bowl of cashews).  Something like this very fancy sounding gougére.

They're really just french cheese puffs.

But light and airy cheese puffs, perfect with white wine, champagne, or sparkling water.


To make a batch takes only 10 minutes, and then you can freeze all the extras.  They go straight from the freezer to the oven and take about 25 minutes to bake.  How impressed would your impromptu guests (Lord and Lady Grantham, of course) be to see a lovely arrangement of warm, buttery puffs?  Probably just as impressed as Mr. S&S is when I obnoxiously over-pronounce gougéres.  I would also bet that I'm not even pronouncing it correctly.  But when in doubt, just say it louder!


Of course with a leisurely cocktail hour and beautiful hor d'oeuvre, I'm off the hook for a dinner taking any longer than 30 minutes to prepare.  Salad it is!

But tote these along to your next potluck occasion, and I can guarantee you'll get impressed looks.  Also guaranteed are a lot of questions about whether these are like Red Lobster cheddar biscuits.  The answer: only if you need them to be.

Gougéres aka French Cheese Puffs
Makes about 30 puffs, more if you make them smaller than I did
From Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated cheese (Gruyére or sharp cheddar)

Preheat the oven to 375 and line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.  Bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a rapid boil in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low, and immediately start stirring.  The dough will come together.  Keep stirring (with vigor) for another minute or two to dry the dough.

Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a bowl you can mix with a wooden spoon or hand mixer).  Let the dough sit for a minute to cool, then add the eggs one by one, allowing each one to be incorporated into the dough before adding the next.  Then beat in the cheese.  Once the dough is made, it should be spooned out immediately onto baking sheets, about 1 tablespoon of dough per puff. If you would like to freeze some, place the baking sheet in the freezer, then later place the frozen puffs into a freezer bag. Frozen gougéres just need a minute or two more in the oven, and no defrosting!

Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 12-15 minutes until the gougéres are golden, firm, and puffed.  Serve warm.

First, I post my meal successes here.  But on the days we're not eating beautiful fajitas or pan-roasted New York strips (oh yeah, get ready), we eat hot dogs or popcorn or whatever I can make out of the scraps in the fridge.  Those are usually loosely called "Asian" because I cover it in soy sauce and sriracha (which took me five minutes to spell and will take a lifetime to pronounce).  Basically, half the nights of the week I'm stretched out on the couch after work completely unmotivated except that I already meal planned!  So I have to use the ingredients!  Whew.


That being said, I try to plan meals for at least 4 nights at one time.  Ideally I'll plan a whole week and shop all at once and not again, but things aren't always so picturesque.  But having that meal plan when I'm exhausted after a long day saves us from eating pasta every night.


I start by checking out the specials from the grocery stores I frequent.  I shop mainly at Harris Teeter, then at Trader Joe's and Fresh Market.  I much prefer the latter two, but real life means more groceries that TJ's carries and less costly than FM.  Harris Teeter sends out their weekly specials in an email, which I scour for seafood/poultry and produce that looks tasty and like a good deal.  I base most of our meals around those specials, for instance this week wild salmon and tilapia were on sale, so we had salmon spinach salads and fish tacos for two of our dinners.  We only eat red meat occasionally, and I try to buy it all at Fresh Market since it tastes SO much better.  FM also sends out specials each Tuesday and now Saturday- so I plan around those as well.  Trader Joe's also has some great frozen items that are fantastic in a pinch: I get their frozen mahi mahi in soy ginger marinade and put it over quinoa with sauteed spinach or roasted asparagus, and it's great!  Quick, too.  I can get behind some three ingredient meals.


After I check out the ingredient options, I usually go to Tasty Kitchen and search the recipes by the ingredient I like and their rating system.  I also read quite a few food blogs that inspire me (check out the blogroll!), so between the two I get an idea of what we might eat.  Mr. S&S gets to make requests, too, but they don't always make the cut...  If he got to pick, we'd eat almost entirely foods that don't have to be chewed: mashed potatoes, creamed corn, pot pie... :)  I also try to incorporate two veggies in each meal, with at least one being green: spinach, brussels sprouts, and asparagus are a couple favorites.

Here are a few ideas of basics that I change up and make pretty frequently:

• Spinach salad with chicken or salmon, cheese, nuts, fruit, and balsamic vinaigrette (enough toppings and it fills up even the hungriest husband)
• Tacos!  Not the tacos of my childhood with the taco kit and hard shells (one was inevitably broken and therefore threw off all the shells per person ratios. fights ensued.) and ground beef with packet seasoning, but with fish or chicken and a plethora of toppings like avocado, sliced radishes, feta or goat cheese, homemade salsa, and black beans
• Pizza: wheat crust with veggies, fruit, different meats, and cheese- red sauce optional, because olive oil compliments pizzas with unusual toppings like fruit
• Grain bowls: quinoa, brown rice, or another grain with veggies, a good sauce, and a meat
• Fish, roasted green veggie, and roasted sweet potatoes or other grain

All said, I can have our week of meals planned in 30-45 minutes, which sounds like a long time, but can totally be done while watching the bachelor.  But not while watching Downton {looking at your no commercials, PBS} Hopefully I'll be sharing more easy, tasty meals with you on Sparkle & Stir, but for now I wanted to give you an idea of my meal planning thought process!

What do you think?  How do you plan meals?  Are you a compulsive, spreadsheet planner or a spontaneous, day-of inspiration cook?  I'd love to hear!

This is how.

If you're up on your food blogs, you'll have seen brown butter everywhere: in pasta, cakes, pulled pork, and a host of other places it only questionably belongs.  But it absolutely belongs here.

Browning butter is a pretty simple activity, though it requires some watchfulness.  Basically, you melt butter and whisk it around while it looks like above.  After about 2 minutes, it begins to develop a brown... fuzz.  Or particles.  Yeah, that sounds gross.  Something like this:



You deserve these.  Right, friend?

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 24-30, but is easily doubled for maximum friend-making
Adapted from Tollhouse 

1 stick of butter, browned (also a great tutorial here)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 1/8 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
A couple of pinches sea salt for topping (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 and brown butter according to directions.  Set butter aside to let cool, and mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, mix together butter, the sugars, and vanilla.  Beat in the egg.  Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and combine.  Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.

Using about 1-2 tablespoons batter per cookie, scoop dough onto cookie sheets.  Sprinkle a tiny bit of sea salt over each dough ball.  Bake for 9-11 minutes.  Let cookies rest on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to cooling rack.


You're also your own friend.  Remember that.

Like how in my recipes folder I have saved three different banana bread recipes as "Go to banana bread," "best banana bread," and "better banana bread."  Is the best one better than the better one?  Is the go to one better than both?  Or is "best banana bread" actually the best?  Gaaaa.


I also might have washed a load of laundry, switched it to the dryer, then forgotten about the clean, dry clothes for THREE DAYS.  And then when I remembered and opened the dryer, I was all mad at the clothes like it was their fault for being so wrinkled.  Someone, help.  Maybe I need to hire that personal organizer contestant on the Bachelor.  I'm sure she's super sane.  No control issues there.



After debating for 10 full minutes about which banana bread recipe was probably the most wonderfulest, I landed on the go to one.  Probably because you only use one bowl to make it.  And then I turned it into a cake.  Topped with caramelized bananas based on bananas foster.  Whoa, girl.



I used my springform pan for this cake because I love that a) it is a happy green b) it makes the cake so easy to remove, and c) it is theoretically easier to wash... or to stare at contemplating washing and then walking away like something really important elsewhere in the house needs to get done.  Like ignoring laundry.  However, you can use a regular cake pan, just increase the baking time a bit if you use an 8in round rather than a 9in, which my springform is.


Yep, it's that good.

1. Bodum Bamboo Utensil Set
I love these bamboo guys.  These are practically the only utensils I use when I cook.  They are light and a smooth texture to hold, clean easily, and can be used on non-stick pans.  I think the whole set is $20, and it's so worth it!  Bamboo is also a very eco-friendly wood :)

2. Lemon juicer
This tool seems to fly in the face of my "no one use items" policy.  But I cook with lots of lemon and lime juice.  Tons of it.  And this juicer is very easy to use.

3. Microplane zester
This tool is not just a zester (along I love a good bit of lemon or orange zest in salad dressings).  It will also finely grate cheese, and my personal favorite function: mince garlic.  For recipes that call for fresh minced garlic (like brushetta) this guy does an amazing job.  The garlic gets minced so finely that there are no huge offending chunks, just the breath-destroying garlic essence.

4. Measuring cups
Essential for baking.  Or measuring your dog's food. Don't forget about teaspoon/tablespoon measuring spoons, too.

5. Oxo angled measuring cups
These angled cups are so helpful when measuring liquids.  I have multiple sizes of glass and plastic measuring cups, and I use them all.  Especially that little one.  It measures in tablespoons and ounces, which is fantastic for marinades, sauces, and salad dressing measuring.

6. Tongs
These are great for cooking meat and scooping veggies.  Very basic, but very helpful

7. Plastic spatula
Again, super basic.  I probably only really use one, but having a tiny version is also nice for getting little bits out of small containers.  It's also nice to have one that can withstand very high heats for use in cooking.

8. Metal spatula (fish spatula)
If you enjoy cooking fish, this tool is so handy.  But it also helps for jobs like removing cookies from a baking sheet.

9. Ladle
Very necessary for soup serving.

10.  Pasta scoop
Very necessary for pasta serving.

11. Flat slotted plastic spatula
I use this spatula for cooking pancakes, frying eggs, serving roasted veggies and much more.  Plastic means it can be used on non-stick pots and pans.

Several items are omitted because I use them less frequently, but also think about adding: a can opener, pizza cutter, wine opener, peeler, potato masher, and whisk.  Knives will come in their own post.

Please let me know what you think of the lists or if you have any specific questions!  More to come!

On this blogging journey, I've already learned so much.  Playing with templates, figuring out aggregate websites, developing my photography, and best of all- creating recipes!  As I twirl around the kitchen in search of the perfect spice or addition to a dish, I smile to myself.  This is joy.

Thankfully, brussels sprouts are already beautiful.  Though these naked ones cannot hold a candle in tastiness to their "after" selves...


Believe me, these are not your Grandma's boiled sprouts.  No, sir.  You're going to want to add these brussels to every dinner menu.

Check it out.

Balsamic Brussels Sprouts
Serves 2 brussels sprouts lovers (or 3 regular people)

1 pound brussels sprouts
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 clove garlic

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Slice the nubby ends (technical term) off of the sprouts, then slice sprouts in half.  Toss uncooked sprouts in 1 tablespoon olive oil and spread on a baking sheet.  Cook in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, tossing once.  Remove when sprouts are beginning to brown. Mix balsamic, mustard, olive oil, and thyme.  Mince or zest garlic (my personal favorite is using a zester to get a fine zest) and add to sauce.  Toss cooked brussels sprouts in sauce and serve!


Do me a favor- just try them.