Chicken Orzo Soup with Spring Vegetables

This Chicken Orzo Soup with Spring Vegetables is hearty and filling, and the broth is made from a chopped up whole chicken and takes less than an hour. 

In fact, this Chicken Orzo Soup with Spring Vegetables tastes like it has been simmering for several hours.

Causa Limeña de Cangrejo (Layered Potato, Crab, and Avocado Salad)

Causa Limeña de Cangrejo is a layered potato, crab, and avocado salad from Peru. The potatoes are infused with the flavors of lime and ají peppers. 

This Causa, or Peruvian potato salad, has a delicious layer of crab salad sandwiched between ají spiced potatoes and sliced avocado. Causas can also be made with shrimp, tuna, or chicken salad.

Strawberry Swirl No-Knead Brioche with Strawberry Lime Jam | Strawberry Shortcake Bread

I am loving this strawberry swirl no-knead brioche bread. It's just slightly sweet and slightly buttery, and very soft and airy. To make it even tastier, it is filled with a swirl of homemade strawberry lime jam. 

This strawberry swirl bread is actually pretty easy to make, as long as you are comfortable with very sticky dough. It's very similar to working with a sticky ciabatta dough, except that this dough is enriched with some sugar, butter, and milk, resulting in a very tender bread.

Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies | #CreativeCookieExchange

These Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies are surprisingly complex and flavorful. I may never go back to just wheat flour for chocolate chip cookies. 

One of the keys to making these rye chocolate chip cookies is toasting the rye flour in a skillet until it gets all fragrant and browned. It adds an amazing nutty flavor to these chocolate chip cookies.

Sautéed Shrimp with Capers and Olives

This sautéed shrimp with capers and olives is so easy to whip up with ingredients you probably have on hand. It takes about 20 minutes to make, and paired with rice and a salad, makes a fabulous weeknight or "company's coming" dinner. 

The sauce in this shrimp with capers and olives is also wonderful for dipping crusty garlic bread into too.

Lariano-Style Bread | Pane di Lariano

This Lariano-Style Bread is a strongly flavored sourdough bread and is wonderful served with cured meats, smoked fish, or a garlicky bruschetta. 

It's origins are in the Lazio region of Italy, just outside of Rome. The bread is traditionally baked to a deep brown color in a chestnut wood fired oven. 

This Lariano-style bread begins with a firm sourdough starter, or lievito madre. I used my 100% hyration (flour to water ratio) to build a firm starter.

Easy Homemade Herb Crusted Italian Bread

This homemade herb crusted Italian bread is soft, flavorful, and most of all, one of the easiest yeast breads I've ever made. 

While I love the challenge of making an artisan bread that requires several steps (and possibly several days), sometimes there's nothing more satisfying than pulling together a dough in the morning, and slicing and serving the bread by lunchtime.