Orange-glazed tofu and cous-cous salad

I often plan my meals to use the fewest pans as possible.  While this tabbouleh-inspired cous-cous salad takes a little prep work, it is nice to be able to throw it all into one dish.  The orange-glazed tofu is really delicious, with ginger and garlic and orange creating a really flavorful sauce.  A great thing about this sort of salad is you can throw in whatever vegetables are fresh and it makes a hearty side dish.

Maple Hazelnut Cookies

One of the nice things about cookies is once you've learned a few basic recipes (shortbread, spice, chocolate chip etc) most other recipes are just variations on that theme. Without spending a lot of time becoming a baking expert, you're able to quickly start modifying your own recipes. You get to be creative and almost always the results are totally delicious.

Broccoli Salad

First off, it has been forever since I've posted. I've really no excuse; I have several things I've cooked and just haven't gotten around to posting yet. I started an awesome new job two weeks ago, so that has been taking up some time. I'm starting to get adjusted now, so hopefully I'll be less of a slacker when it comes to posting. This is a quick post; I promise more are coming.

Fig Frangipane Tart

I spent last week visiting my aunt and uncle (I also got to see my brother and sister-in-law). It was really fun! It gave me opportunity to bake lots of delicious things. I had fun going through my aunt's recipes. She saves recipes from magazines and newspapers which is different since I get most of my recipes online. She had this one from Aug 2009 in the LA Times. Frangipane is used most often to refer to an almond custard (either with almonds or almond flavor). We got figs at the farmer's market (along with some amazing cherry tomatoes). Fig season is in the early fall, so you should be able to find some fresh ones.

Bagels

This is my uncle Charlie. He went to Alaska and caught a lot of salmon. He had a bunch of it made into lox. I went and visited and I made bagels to go with the lox. It was absolutely delicious.

Brownie Cookies

This recipe combines all that is great about cookies and brownies.

 You may be asking, like my older brother who loves brownies and whose favorite birthday cake is (or at least was) brownie-ice cream cake, what possible improvement cookies have over brownies.  I know it is hard to imagine but it is the edges.  At least in my opinion the best brownies are the edges which have a little bit of crispness but are still chewy and soft in the middle.  Given the option, I would basically just eat the edges of a pan of brownies and leave the rest.  But with brownie cookies each cookie has a perfect edge and the chewy fudginess of brownies.