Ingredients, methods and measurements.

In my brain, it is a continuous stream of ingredients, methods and measurements. Measurements like deciding to add 1 more tablespoon of cornstarch to the sweet and sour sauce for the baked sweet and sour pork chops. Ingredients like sour cream being added to the vanilla cupcake batter so that the cupcakes are moist and soft. And methods like searing the herb and cheese stuffed flank steak before braising it in marinara sauce. I am feeling really good about the recipes I am producing. I am seeing a lot of myself in them. The way I cook, my own techniques and my favorite flavors. I have never been more excited about "The Family Flavor".

I have finished editing 85 recipes and have 40 left to go! Now that the bulk of the editing is done, I have a bit more testing to do, just to be sure I am pleased with what I am writing and developing. Since I decided to slow down recipe development and photography to focus more on editing, I am so much more inspired. Certain restaurant dishes are catching my eye. Ingredient combos are piquing my interest (peach and mint? I know it could be delicious.). It is getting so fun!

Today I finished the recipe development for the vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream. A simple cupcake recipe that everyone should have in their recipe repertoire. I made the cupcakes for my daughter's 2nd birthday. I can't wait to light the candle on top, sing to my sweet little girl and then enjoy my creation.  Writing recipes and eating them after is the most fun in all the world.

Still here!

Guess what, I am still here! I will bet you got so nervous about me no longer writing my cookbook that you were losing sleep. But rest easy, all is well.

What are the latest things with "The Family Flavor"? Editing, editing, editing. A few weeks ago, I decided to quit rushing my book and allow the proper time for editing and perfecting. I wrote a post about it on my personal blog. 

It is so important to me that I put out a good product. Each recipe needs it's due process. A rushed cookbook is a crappy cookbook. To be able to focus on the recipes and their editing, I stopped all new recipe development and started going over each recipe from the beginning. And Sheena and I have suspended photography for the moment. So I have no beautiful pictures to include in this post! But if you are a sucker for beautiful food photography, Sheena's blog is full of great stuff.

Sky-High Buttermilk Biscuits!!!

 Biscuits. Oh biscuits. What is not to love about a perfect biscuit? Fluffy, buttery and a canvas for many a topping. Butter, honey, jam, gravy. These babies are the ideal biscuit. I almost can't believe I got them to look the way they do.

I mean, come on. Just take a look at that big fatty biscuit! Sheena captured this work of art perfect. I love the height of the biscuit and that color of the blackberry jam. I think I might be making biscuits tomorrow for breakfast just because of this image.