Sarah's Test Kitchen

Today I spent much of the day in the quaint little town of Mt. Laurel where my good friend Laura and her husband Mark live. Mt. Laurel has a farmer's market every Saturday (Farmer's markets are another thing that says "summer" to me!). I love the bright colors of vegetables and the amazing shapes and sizes of home-grown veggies. Among my typical tomato purchases, I decided to branch out and get some tiny eggplant. I don't typically like eggplant but these were just too cute to pass up. I came home and found this recipe. First I'll say that I learned after the fact that the ones I bought were actually not considered "baby" but of the "fairy tale" variety. Quite a difference. In this image  I found online, the fairy tale eggplant is on the left and baby squash is on the right. The ones I had bought were so much smaller, that the seasoning the recipe called for was too much. Also, since they were small, you can actually eat the skin and all ...

OK back to the healthy meals! I discovered this recipe when I was doing a keto diet some years ago. It has become not only my favorite keto meal but one of my favorite meals overall. It is low carb and low calorie because not only does it replace pasta with zucchini noodles but also ricotta with cottage cheese. You can also use ground turkey instead of ground chicken.  It takes a while at the front end because you have to prep and grill the zucchini slices. I went ahead and invested in a mandoline for easy and even slicing. Also, I typically use my gas grill instead of a grill pan or panini press.  There are a lot of slices so I found the outdoor grill afforded me more space so I could grill them all at once.  As for the sauce, I am still working on that balance. I guess you could just use regular pasta sauce and be done with it; but, if you make your own it can tend to be runny so I try to thicken it up with tomato paste and some flour. But as you can see in the final ...

So my last post was about healthy food and this one, well, is not so much! But it's such a popular dessert I had never made, that I decided this was my opportunity. This weekend is Family Reunion weekend and my husband's extended family is quite extensive! Lots of people. Lots of food. So why make chess squares? Well, first of all, I am sure they will all be eaten so fewer calories for me lol. Secondly, I have been wanting to try them because some time ago my sister-in-law made some and my youngest step-daughter raved about them. So, this post is dedicated to Molly!  Three things I know that Molly likes are butter, sugar, and cheese! This recipe is a creative combination of those ingredients plus just 2 more. Super easy. Mine didn't look ready after even 50 minutes so I put them under a low broil for a couple of minutes to get the browning on the top. I let them cool overnight and cut them with a plastic knife. These don't have to be refrigerated and can stay in an airt...

Typically around this time of year I look for low-carb recipes to help reign in my eating habits so I can fit in my school-teacher clothes again! Recently I got really inspired and bought a subscription Eating Well magazine. This year I turn the big 5-0 so I'm thinking of my overall health more now than ever. This recipe is from Eating Well. It caught my attention because it was simple, the ingredients could be prepared ahead of time, and it's super fun to make "egg tortillas"! 😄 First, the recipe says to use a "medium" size skillet - so I used a 10-in. You could easily use an 8" omelet pan and the tortilla will be thicker or you can add more milk and make 2, and adjust the other ingredients accordingly. Today I substituted zuchinni for the broccoli because I had it on hand. I just added salt and pepper to the mixture and it works great. I had made guacamole dip yesterday so I added that as a garnish. Oh, and the recipe says to flip the tortilla s...

My love for tomatoes has been a thing for as long as I can remember. My parents didn't grow up southern and didn't cook that way, so I was ignorant of  uniquely southern cuisine until later in my life (i.e. I had to have a high school friend explain to me what a "grit" was 🤣). So when I learned that you could make a pie full of tomatoes it made my heart sing!  Many recipes are simple and include lots of cheese and mayo resulting in a runny (yet yummy) substance on your plate. I saw this recipe in Southern Living magazine and the picture lured me in. The main difference I believe is the addition of bacon and an egg.  Bacon can makes it "dinner worthy" because it's a meat/protein, and the egg firms up the consistency as it cools. It is time intensive because of the need to blind-bake the crust, pre-roast the tomatoes, and allowing them to cool. It takes even longer if you follow the recipe exactly and you make your own crust. HA! Who has time for that? So...

This is my first post!  I love to cook - other people's recipes! This is the first of several posts of recipes from various resources, and my journey of re-creating them start to finish. I ramped up my cooking and baking during the quarantine when school was cancelled as well as all of our performances.  We couldn't sing, so I took to the kitchen! As a choral director by trade, I see cooking as a performance which is why I like it so much. I'm no composer of recipes but I love taking someone else's idea and creating a beautiful, yummy product of my own - or epic fail! That's why this is called a test kitchen! 😅  I typically share photos of my finished products on social media, through which many have asked for recipes and other details. I figure starting a blog would allow me to include details and stories, and followers are free to comment which I would appreciate! I do realize there are many food blogs out there, many from which I pull recipes. So I guess, althou...