I’ve been mining Beth Cato’s Bready or Not posts this summer. Every week, she posts some new goodness. I know I’ve linked to her site before, but these are recipes I’ve tried since then.

One of the first ones I tried this summer was Oreo Fudge. I wasn’t entirely sure it would work, but what was the worst that could happen? If it didn’t set, it would top ice cream. If it was too grainy, it would still be delicious. Well, it did work — I took it to a party where it was a big hit, and the next week I made more for home.

The next recipe I tried, crock pot pesto ranch chicken thighs, was a bit more experimental — I loved everything in it, but I figured the kids might be hesitant about the pesto. Oh, my! So delicious! The girl ate a little, the boy liked it (“It’s okay”), and my husband had seconds. That’s definitely going on the recipe rotation. I made my own pesto, but next time, I might buy jarred stuff to make my life easier.

And the most recent recipe? Well, I’m in the middle of making bacon crack (chocolate covered bacon toffee). Toffee’s setting in the fridge now, and I’ll do the chocolate coating tomorrow. I have no worries, though — I nibbled some off the spoon, and it’s fabulous.

She has lots of other recipes I want to try, too. For example, my husband likes biscuits and gravy for breakfast, so I might try her recent(ish) buttermilk biscuit recipe. I highly, highly recommend checking out Beth’s recipes.

Just a couple of the recipes I’ve been eyeing over at Serious Eats:

Lamb-stuffed collards. I’ll probably make these with kale rather than collard greens, and the odds are really good (given the price of lamb) that I’ll play around with hamburger and/or ground turkey first. It’s been years since I’ve had my mom’s stuffed cabbage rolls, and this looks to be an updated take on that idea. (And I’m just generally a big fan of food that’s wrapped up.)

Ultimate fudgy brownies — with Nutella swirled in! ‘Nuff said.

I’ve been seeing some lovely rhubarb and strawberry-rhubarb recipes, but both are so very expensive this year, I think I’ll have to give those a pass.

And this weekend, I’m planning to try another of Beth Cato’s recipes; I shall report back next week on how the blondies work.

What about you? Any new food ideas catching your eye?

The weather here can’t seem to decide whether it’s spring or not. Yesterday felt like winter again, so we were back to chili and cornbread, while today was mid 70s and humid, meaning we had chicken Caesar salad for dinner. The recipes I’m looking at are all over the map.

First up, I found a recipe for Mexican chorizo — which is fresh, not smoked like Spanish chorizo. For some odd reason, it’s much harder to get fresh Mexican food in eastern Pennsylvania than it was when we lived in California! I’ll probably try a small batch first (next week, maybe) and see whether it meets with my husband’s approval (I’m nowhere near as picky as he is about chorizo); if it works, we’ll be having chorizo, eggs, and tortillas for breakfast more regularly!

Then, the wonderful Beth Cato posted a recipe for buttery beer bread. This sounds wonderful to me, and I haven’t been using my mini loaf pans anywhere near often enough!

And to finish off for now, the one recipe I’ve actually made this week: magic seven layer cookie bars. Now, let’s be honest — there are not seven layers here. The graham crackers and butter are blended together, which means at most there are six layers, and that’s assuming the butterscotch and chocolate chips don’t intermix to form a single layer. Doesn’t matter; they’re still delicious. And I get half the batch to myself because I used pecans on top! (If I’d used almonds, my son would want them all. He’s happy with the ones without nuts, though.)

Any new recipes on your radar this week?

Yes, I’m posting two weeks in a row! I really do see a lot of fabulous recipes. It’s not really my fault if so many of the ones that catch my eye are desserts, is it?

First up, this wonderful recipe for Cadbury Egg brownies from Beth Cato. It’s definitely the time of year to think of Cadbury Eggs, but cutting the sweetness a notch by pairing them with a brownie base? Genius!

Then, because my son loves Almond Joys (and I love magic layer bars), I present double chocolate magic bars. Yes, with almonds and coconut — which means my son and I are the only ones who will eat them around here. (I haven’t made them yet for that reason.)

This recipe I did try — it’s super easy, with only two ingredients (white chocolate chips and pre-made frosting), and you can make it in a variety of flavors (depending on what type of frosting you grab). The recipe was for easy strawberry fudge; I made Key lime. There’s only one piece left, though, and I think the next batch is going to be strawberry.

And last but not least, a recipe for General Tso’s chicken from scratch. As written, it’s probably too spicy for my kids, but they love Gen. Tso’s, so I’ll probably be playing with this.

(And yes, I put all the desserts first for a reason. Life is uncertain, right?)