Optional Kitchen

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A rhubarb buttermilk scone, split in half, rests on a small plate, small pats of butter melting on each upturned face. A pale pink syrup is drizzled over both halves. In the background, we see the rest of the pan of scones, waiting.

Rhubarb buttermilk scones

May 27, 2016by Mike Bierschenk 2 Comments

For breakfast, tea, or midnight snack, these treats pair spring’s earliest fruit with buttery, biscuitlike scone. Quick, easy, and delightful.

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Breakfast, Desserts/Sweet Things
Pale yellow bay leaf rice, served in a small white bowl sitting on a wooden countertop. An olive-colored cooked bay leaf is tucked in along the edge of the bowl.

Bay leaf rice

April 21, 2016by Mike Bierschenk 2 Comments

Bay leaves usually play a supporting role, lending complexity to more complex dishes. In this rice, though, they step into the spotlight, infusing plain white rice with a heady perfume.

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Grains, Veg*n or veg*n-possible
Cardamom coffee in a mug whose handle is modeled after a human vertebra. A layer of bubbly froth covers the top of the mug, with a warm brown smudge in the center where the coffee was poured.

Cardamom coffee

February 11, 2016by Mike Bierschenk 14 Comments

Whether you’re having a relaxing weekend morning, catching a break from a busy week, or just looking to try something different for your morning joe, this’ll be sure to bring you a smile.

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Breakfast, Drinks
A bowl of basic lentil soup sits on a yellow napkin, along with a shiny spoon and a piece of thickly buttered bread

Basic lentil soup

February 4, 2016by Mike Bierschenk 5 Comments

This is one of those recipes that every home cook should keep in their back pocket. With cheap, common ingredients and a cook time of barely more than a half-hour, lentil soup has saved dinner in my house more times than I count.

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Soups, Veg*n or veg*n-possible
A small white bowl of spicy roasted cauliflower, with a pair of chopsticks balanced on its edge. In the background we see the edges of bottles of chile paste, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Spicy roasted cauliflower

January 21, 2016by Mike Bierschenk Leave a comment

If you think you don’t like cauliflower, this may well be the recipe that proves you wrong. The cauliflower undergoes a sort of alchemy in the oven, transforming from a sad crunchy mutant into a show-stopper snack or side dish.

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Appetizers/Snacks, Side Dishes, Veg*n or veg*n-possible
Cilantro chicken pinwheels: closeup showing finely chopped, green-tinted chicken, studded with tiny squares of red pepper, all within a spiral of flour tortilla

Cilantro chicken pinwheels

October 26, 2015by Mike Bierschenk 3 Comments

Bright, green-flecked spirals of spicy chicken salad are a party show-stopper, but take almost no time to throw together. Better make two trays.

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Appetizers/Snacks, Veg*n or veg*n-possible

Texas sheet cake (‘chocolate sheath cake’)

August 6, 2015by Mike Bierschenk 8 Comments

This has been my birthday cake for almost a decade: it’s simple, quick, and utterly delicious. The fudgy cocoa-and-cinnamon cake combines with a thin, crackly icing studded with chopped pecans, and it takes only 20 minutes in the oven

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Desserts/Sweet Things

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Shredded chickenThose peppers are just so redBroccoli MountainAlarmingly giant spoon handleLet’s just pretend that’s a snowscape, not a blown-out car windshield
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All text and photos © Mike Bierschenk, 2014-2016
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