My Madison Bistro

I try to make an effort to cook recipe-less meals on a regular basis. Some weeks I’ll find myself doing this nightly, other weeks…not so much. But as someone who thinks of herself more as a baker than a cook, it’s important to me to keep experimenting in the kitchen (aside from the baked goods).

This particular meal came about when I had absolutely nothing planned to make, and I wasn’t allowing myself to get take-out. Instead, I raided my pantry and freezer, and the result was really quite tasty. There aren’t a lot of pictures, because it didn’t occur to me at first that anyone might be interested in reading about my quick meal. But then I thought, don’t we all want some fast, simple dishes to make during the week?

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Tags: pasta, Seafood

By now it probably appears that I am obsessed with cupcakes. Maybe I am. Cupcakes are already pre-portioned, everyone loves them, and they are much easier to serve at a party than your standard cake. At least, that was my reasoning when I made these for a party last week.

In my post for Double Vanilla Cupcakes I mentioned that I’ve been searching for the perfect vanilla cupcake. Though the frosting from that recipe is perfection, I still was not completely satisfied with the cake. And so my journey continued.

Until now.

These are by far the best vanilla cupcakes I’ve ever had in my life. They are light, tender, moist, and bursting with flavor. Three days later, they were still absolutely delicious. And though I’ve never actually had a *real* Sprinkles cupcake (only from the mix), I would like to think these cakes could give Sprinkles a run for their money.

You have to make these cupcakes. If you’re not a fan of an Italian buttercream, use any icing you like; the cake is the star here.

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Tags: cupcakes, vanilla, white chocolate

Homemade cinnamon rolls and sticky buns are the best. But wouldn’t a little shortcut be nice now and then?

This particular recipe is really a nice treat if you’re looking for a small batch of cinnamon rolls or sticky buns (I cut the original recipe in half), and it’s much, much faster than making a yeast dough. The prep time for this recipe is all of five minutes, provided you remember to take the puff pastry out of the freezer the night before.

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Tags: Barefoot Contessa

What’s more comforting than a pot of soup cooking on the stove? Making soup used to intimidate me, and the thought of making soup stock made me want to run away from my kitchen. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that both are quite easy. If you’ve ever roasted a chicken, you may as well make your own chicken stock, as the process is incredibly simple.

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