Amy's Cooking Adventures

Caprese Pasta Salad

2026-06-07T00:30:00.000-05:00

Pasta salads are one of my favorite things to serve as a side whenever I’m grilling or on a picnic. Pasta salads are so versatile and portable, I just love it!

This particular salad takes some of my very favorite summer flavors mixed together into a hearty salad. Happy summer!

Edible Gelatin Sugar Lace and Sunflower Cake

2026-06-03T00:30:00.000-05:00

Over the winter, I was watching a cooking show and one of the contestants decorated a cake with gelatin lace. Well, color me curious! I love decorating cakes creatively and I also love learning new decorating techniques.

I’ve used a lace texture a couple times before in decorating. On this one, I used a stencil to scrape a thin layer of royal icing over a fondant covered cake, while on this one I hand-piped a larger lace using royal icing and gumpaste.

I was able to find a mold on amazon pretty easily, but the actual recipe for the lace was more of a challenge. Luckily I’m tenacious and was able to find something close to what I needed.

Roasted Carrots with Burrata

2026-05-31T00:30:00.000-05:00

Well, here’s the recipe that sent me down the rabbit hole to make my own burrata cheese.

I was looking for unique carrot recipes and found some topped with cheese )that turned out to be burrata). Having never seen burrata for sale (maybe I wasn’t looking in the right places), and realizing that it was basically a version of mozzarella had me making my own, then roasting carrots to top with the burrata. Super delicious!

Roses and Damask Cake

2026-05-29T00:30:00.000-05:00

This post first appeared on my other blog in 2016, but since I no longer maintain that one, I'm reposting some of my favorites here!

This stunning cake was for a princess themed birthday party. The only request was that the cake big and pink and frilly.

I took the opportunity to practice my buttercream roses AND to try stenciling on a cake for the first time!

I bought a stencil online. I had some royal icing leftover from my Thanksgiving and Dia de los Muetros cookies, so I watched a bunch of YouTube videos, covered my cakes in fondant, stenciled and this is the result!

Homemade Burrata Cheese

2026-05-27T00:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I launched myself down a rabbit hole again. I found a recipe I wanted to make that called for burrata cheese. And while I’d heard of it and knew it was a creamy cheese, that’s as far as my knowledge went. I decided that I’d probably just use mozzarella in the recipe, but then decided to dig a little deeper to make sure mozzarella would be the best substitute for burrata.

And that’s when I found out the burrata is essentially mozzarella with more mozzarella inside of it.

Okay, it’s a bit more than that but not much. Basically, fresh mozzarella ends up stuffed with Stracciatella, which is torn up fresh mozzarella mixed with cream. Sooooo…..mozzarella stuffed with mozzarella.

Mediterranean Salad

2026-05-24T00:30:00.002-05:00

I love an easy salad, packed full of flavor for a summer lunch. This salad is a great side of topping for a lettuce salad with the added bonus of being vegan - perfect for large gatherings.

Mesquite Marinade for Pork or Chicken

2026-05-20T00:30:00.002-05:00

Yay! It’s grilling season! This recipe has been my go-to for the last couple summers.

Vanilla Cheesecake with Strawberry Curd Topping

2026-05-17T00:30:00.003-05:00

I love cheesecake. It’s delicious on its own and then there are so many variations! The possibilities are endless!

After I learned that I could make strawberry curd in the microwave, I knew that I wanted to use it on cheesecake! It was an absolute luscious topping and a new favorite!

Strawberry Curd

2026-05-13T00:30:00.000-05:00

A couple years ago, I learned how to make lemon curd in the microwave. It was so easy and so delicious!

Then I learned I could use the same concept with strawberries! Yes!!!

Pa Amb Tomaquet

2026-05-10T00:30:00.007-05:00

I’m hosting this month’s Eat the World Challenge after reading the Cook the Books Club choice this month, Call of the Camino. Here is my Goodreads Review.

Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a sweet story of self discovery that follows two timelines, 1997 & 2024. Isabella and her faith were a wonderful surprise and so refreshing to read. Reine fell a little flat for me , but her character development helped me endear her to me a bit by the end.

I especially enjoyed the authors note after the story as she shares her inspiration for the characters and plot points in the novel. This almost makes me want to hike the Camino, but I think I’ll be sticking to day hikes for the foreseeable future.

View all my reviews

Cheesy Broccoli & Bacon Pierogi

2026-05-06T00:30:00.002-05:00

I recently made homemade pierogi, not realizing that it made an absolutely enormous batch, until I had already boiled them all (silliness). And while I knew they would (probably) get eaten eventually, it would mostly be me and Hubs and while we loved the pierogi, we didn’t need to carb load quite that much in a week.

General Grievous Cake

2026-05-04T00:30:00.010-05:00

Happy May the 4th!

I’m celebrating this year’s Star Wars Day by sharing the cake I made for my son’s 15th birthday. He was feeling pretty indecisive about his cake this year, but had recently been playing a Star Wars video game and I bet you can guess who his favorite character is.

Crackers with Salami & Pepperoni Rosettes

2026-05-03T00:30:00.014-05:00

Mother’s Day is right around the corner, so it’s time to break out those pretty appetizers for mom!

Now, I have to be honest, I live too far away from my mom to spoil her on Mother’s Day, and I hate going out to overcrowded restaurants, so I usually cook for myself on Mother’s Day. But I really don’t mind it because I truly enjoy cooking and I can make what I want.

Ladies' Hat Cake

2026-05-01T00:30:00.009-05:00

This post first appeared on my other blog in 2013, but since I no longer maintain that one, I'm reposting some of my favorites here!

My grandma has always loved hats. So when she turned 85 this past summer, I just knew that I wanted to make her a hat cake!

The cake was a white almond sour cream cake with raspberry jam and chocolate fudge filling.

Short Rib Tacos

2026-04-29T00:30:00.031-05:00

One of my favorite summertime recipes to make is Steak Tacos, also know by Hubs and I as “Honeymoon Tacos”...more about the name on that post. Since we live in an area where snow is measured in feet and temperatures can dip into the sub-zero range for weeks at a time, grilling outdoors is simply not a year-round method of cooking.

But since those tacos are a favorite, I’ve been working on converting the recipe to a stovetop version.

The first few times, I tried simply braising the recipe as it was, but I clearly didn’t braise long enough as the meat was tough and the flavor profile just wasn’t where I wanted it.

Potato, Cottage Cheese, & Caramelized Onion Pierogi

2026-04-26T00:30:00.024-05:00

I love making pierogi, but I don’t actually make them often because they’re quite time consuming. But they’re so good. And I recently spotted a recipe that suggested using cottage cheese (instead of the cheddar I’ve used in the past). According to the recipe I read, these could be slightly closer to an authentic pierogi, so I decided to give them a shot!

Parmesan Crusted Asparagus

2026-04-22T00:30:00.002-05:00

I love asparagus.

My kids hate asparagus.

Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. Dude tolerates asparagus. It is still the bane of Spud’s existence.

This does not stop me from buying asparagus and serving it for dinner, but I do occasionally try a different preparation in case Spud will finally come around.

Ham & Baby Lima Bean Soup

2026-04-19T00:30:00.018-05:00

I absolutely love a great Ham & Bean soup. Typically, I use mixed beans, but since the Sunday Funday theme was lima beans today, I decided to swap out the beans for limas!

I wasn’t able to easily find dry lima beans when I looked, but I did find frozen baby lima beans and decided to give them a whirl!

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

2026-04-15T00:30:00.002-05:00

We’ve all seen Cookie Monster Cupcakes, I’m sure, but here’s my take on the classic!

For these, I messily piped royal blue frosting over the tops of the cupcakes, added sugar eyes (I wish I’d had the larger ones, but I had to use what I had on hand).

Vegetarian Ramen Bowls

2026-04-12T00:30:00.019-05:00

This week’s Sunday Funday is all about sprouts of any kind. This was a theme a few years ago and it was summer and I had time to be really extra, so I sprouted my own wheat and made sprouted wheat bread.

This year, the theme fell during Lent, so I decided to make a vegetarian dish using bean sprouts. I had hoped to buy fresh sprouts but in the winter, the ones available were pretty scary looking.

I seriously contemplated buying bean seed and sprouting my own, but ultimately decided to give the canned version another try. The key, I decided, was to give the sprouts a good rinse before using to remove the briny flavor and it definitely helped.

Khobz El Koucha (Algerian Bread)

2026-04-10T00:30:00.025-05:00

Eat the World is headed to the North African country of Algeria this month.

As always, I was digging around looking for recipes and had a list, when suddenly I found a recipe for the most gorgeous looking bread. And I absolutely love making bread, so it was a no brainer!

Face-Sized Chocolate Chip Sprinkle Cookies

2026-04-08T00:30:00.001-05:00

I never thought I'd have a reason to make cookies the size of my face, but here we are.

I’m typically in the “have some moderation, you only need 1 cookie”-camp, so let me to you back and give you some context on the why of a single cookie that is the equivalent of 4 regular cookies!

It’s February, we’ve already had 4 snow days this year and there’s another winter storm on the horizon. Two members of my family have what is most likely influenza. I’m exhausted having just finished a very challenging week of substitute teaching and I’m running the school’s book fair this week. Oh, and I committed to bringing treats for a bake sale.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

2026-04-05T00:30:00.004-05:00

Do you ever buy something and think, “I could make this!” That’s how I felt the first time Hubs brought home a bag of Dot’s Cinnamon-Sugar Pretzels.

Well first I was skeptical. I love the original Dot’s and just wasn’t convinced with this version. Hubs talked me into trying them and I was hooked! These are the perfect balance of salty-sweet and almost give off a churro vibe. So delicious.

And yet…

I mean it’s a cinnamon-sugar pretzel, surely I could make these at home, right?

Rosette Carrot Cake Cheesecake

2026-04-03T00:30:00.002-05:00

Often, when I make desserts, it’s just for my little family of 4. Last year, after I shared my Carrot Cake Cheesecake, my mom saw it and expressed how much she’d like to try it.

As luck would have it, the boys’ spring band concert ended up on her birthday, so she was in town! I decided to make the Carrot Cake Cheesecake again, but glam it up a bit as a birthday cake and I loved the glammed up version even more than the original!

"Bacon & Eggs"

2026-04-01T00:30:00.003-05:00

Today's recipe is a fun little treat and they’re super easy. It can be a mini April Fool when you tell the kids you’re serving bacon and eggs and then put these out.