I started working on my recipes not by section but just starting to play with some ideas I’ve been wanting to develop. My first day of cooking included a variation on French garlic soup, (a European cure-all that is simple but richly satisfying.) I used to make the soup often. It makes an elegant first course for a winter dinner. I would need to look into the properties of garlic, but I would swear that it increases appetite. I do know that garlic is wonderful for the libido (the soup is also great when you’re under the weather). First try was a charm with this one. At this point, I’ll just make it again for JC and if it comes out correctly, this one is put to bed!

The second recipe was tasty yet not quite put to bed. Its a veggie lasagna, light on cheese and heavy on aphrodisiac herbs with a simple, homemade heirloom tomato sauce. The basic concept was there, but I want to work on delivering more flavor impact for the amount of effort a lasagna takes.

I also retested a recipe I’ve been working on for months. It is a four-layer cake rendition of Chrysta Wilson’s vegan chocolate cake from Kiss My Bundt. The cake is one of the simplest made-from-scratch cakes I’ve ever tried and by baking it in layers, iced with a neufchatel cream cheese frosting, the impact is of something as decadent as fudge.

Next time, I plan to play with one of my most dreaded ingredients: beef.