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Recipes for Stephanies Hot Truck Honey Lost in Thoughts
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Recipes for Stephanies Introduction: A famous New York baker once wisely said, “A cupcake can change your life.” In my case it was a muffin. Actually it was a tray of deceptive golden muffins, with the texture of tough scones and the taste of cardboard that inaugurated me to the world of cooking - a world that only later proved to be scrumptiously delicious. In the land of pans and spatulas, patience and perseverance are your two best friends, because the roads are treacherous, the weather temperamental and you’ll no doubt encounter a muffin monster or two. I wrote this book with the culinary novice in mind, hoping that a simple collection of foolproof recipes would be enough to inspire confidence and maybe summon up some of that joy that only an act of successful creation can bring. I like to think that the joy of cooking hides between the spoons nestled in the drawer, or lurks in the deep crevices of the oven’s mouth. It takes some people years to find it, and some are so discouraged that they abandon it’s search entirely. But cooking is like any art, and one must persevere through a few disasters and feel the high of a few victories before one can move on to making masterpieces. This collection of recipes are so easy, they’re bound to lead to many wooden spoon waving victory laps in the dining room. I’ve tried to eliminate those elements that I found most frustrating when I first started cooking. There are no mysterious or exotic ingredients, everything can be found in almost any North American grocery store. If you don’t have all the ingredients handy, that’s ok. I devised The Recipe Matrix to help you make informed decisions about substitutions and tasty additions. (Cooking, after all, is a creative endeavor, and if you can’t substitute, you can’t innovate.) The recipes all make about 2 portions - just enough to make and share with a friend or two, but not so much you’re left eating leftovers for the next month. I find most of cooking to be improvisational, and mainly requires thinking about what ingredients you already have and how you can make them work together. To get you thinking along these lines, I’ve included tangents to most recipes through the Lucky Monkey series. These are appliances and ingredients that will make your recipe easier to prepare or tastier if you happen to have these Remember - be brave! Experiment!
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