The poor suckers who arrived late didn’t get much of a chance to eat pretzel bites (from the Kitchn, using a pretzel recipe from Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Martha Stewart. That’s a lot of genealogy for some pretzels). These were amazingly easy to make (make dough. Let it rise. Roll out and cut into bite size pieces. Boil. Bake.) and super delicious with the Sierra Nevada Stout and Stoneground mustard we happened to have handy. They also disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The fashionably late also had a pretty limited shot at the gougères I made, relying in large part on the recipe from David Leibovitz. Mmm… gougères. A word that is probably not etymologically related to “gorge,” even if that is what the word makes me think of.

My primary cheese for this recipe was Roth Käse’s Gruyere, which I learned about when I wanted to make Delicata Squash and Gruyere Dip (from the Kitchn). I went to Seward Coop, and asked at the cheese counter where I could find Gruyere, since they have a LOT of cheese available. They pointed me in the right direction and said “we also have this really good Gruyere from Wisconsin.” To which I replied, “sold.”

Again, I was surprised at how easily this recipe came together. I was very proud of myself and felt like a real baker because I actually used the kitchen scale to measure things out. Then I felt dumb because I had to look up how much 50 ml of water weighs. The answer to which made me remember my science history, and the fact that the kilogram was originally defined as the mass of one liter of water at its melting point. And it still works out close enough for cooking and even baking, that a milliliter of water weighs 1 gram at room temperature.

In today’s fun fact, according to the US CIA World Factbook in 2006, the Metric System is the official system of measurement for all nations except for Burma, Liberia, and the United States. I know it would hurt to convert to the metric system, and my brain would probably never fully adjust, but man, it just seems silly and contrarian to not get on board with rest of the world on this one.

Anyway, the gougères? Delicious.

Also delicious and popular? Bacon-wrapped potato bites from the Kitchn. Self-explanatory AND tasty.

Last but not least, in an effort to incorporate some healthful things that non-meat and non-dairy eaters could enjoy, I made a ridiculous quantity of Giada De Laurentiis’s Spinach and Cannellini Bean Dip, except I used Mayacoba beans from Rancho Gordo and some hummus, using the basic recipe from Simply Recipes. I later learned that spinach and white bean dip is super good mixed up quasi-frittata style with some eggs, cheese, and turkey.

And now I am already thinking of recipes I want to make next time people come over. Monica Bhide’s Chile Pea Puffs Recipe (via 101 Cookbooks) looks pretty appealing. And I could see going with another variation on the gougères, such as the Pink Peppercorn and Parmesan Gougères from the Kitchn.

The part they don’t mention is the fact that this cheese is addictive like crack cocaine. Well, not really, but it is really, really delicious and fun to eat because of the aforementioned crystalline crunch.

Sartori Foods are located in East Central Wisconsin; their SarVecchio Parmesan ain’t half bad either.

Sartori BellaVitano: Flavor – A; Texture – A; Intracap spelling of cheese names by Sartori – A++

After googling my options, I settled on the Pioneer Woman’s recipe as a solid basis from a trusted source. Seriously, go check it out, because the recipe is good, and the pictures are awesome.

Side Note: I seriously think people may devote too much creativity to coming up with mac & cheese variations. I can understand wanting a roux/no roux option (although, really, if you can whisk, you can make a roux), but I found an overwhelming jungle of options, even when I narrowed it down to trusted sources.

My variation included whole wheat pasta (some people don’t like whole wheat pasta, but I really really do) and about a million cheeses. Okay, really, probably 6; the co-op has baskets with smaller pieces of whatever kinds of cheeses they’ve been cutting lately, so I got several different kinds (two cheddars, a gruyere, and a raw milk monterey jack) and added some bits I had at the house (parmesan, mozzarella).

It was so delicious I had to put it away to prevent myself from eating way, way too much. Yummy dinner, yummy leftovers. This is what I live for.

Macaroni and Cheese: A+

In an attempt to balance things out, and also because we got a ton of broccoli from our farm share this week, I tried a recipe I’d heard great things about: Ina Garten’s Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli. I stuck pretty close to the recipe on this one, and man, it is tasty. So tasty that Ian, who does not love broccoli as I do, said it was really good. Which gives me like two broccoli recipes that Ian likes. It’s a start!

Parmesan Roasted Broccoli: A

Side Note 2: Ina Garten may be old news to some, but she only came into my life earlier this spring, when I was flipping through the channels and came upon her making her Spring Green Risotto, which first hypnotized me then compelled me to cook it within the week. I can say with a straight face that this recipe changed my life, since it introduced me to mascarpone, which I had a brief but delicious affair with this spring. But it’s also a great recipe for the first vegetables of the summer. Delicious.