After dining out with friends or family, do you ever find yourself saying something like “I could’ve made that at home” or even “I would’ve enjoyed this more if the dish was tweaked here or there.”? Sometimes staying at home and cooking with someone you love can not only be more affordable, but also more exciting than going out to eat because you get to choose what goes into making the dish special and delicious.

Rosa from Cooking with Rosie shares a recipe with us that her husband dubbed as restaurant-worthy, and we agree, but it’s even better because it’s hers. With a name like Rigatoni al Forno with Gorgonzola Sauce, a tasty pasta meal you’d probably see on a menu, it’s easy to see why this is the dish to prepare for a special dinner.

Rosa even says you can make it for unexpected guests–believe it, she prepared this in under an hour! This recipe is an original. Feeling inspired, Rosa put a few savory ingredients together and ended up with rigatoni pasta that includes bacon, bread crumbs and a gorgonzola sauce that’ll make you want to lick the plate clean!

This week’s Tutorial Tuesday guest is Stephanie, also known as Chef Tess Bakeresse. She’s got a batch of bear buns that are adorable and tasty; check out her in-depth tutorial. Before we begin the guest post, I want to tell you how Stephanie responded when I asked her what she wanted to share with you all this week…this is what she had to say:

I think the main thing I have to add regarding the buns is that after all these years of making bear buns, they never fail to make a few people who are normally very much “sticks in the mud” smile! That has been one of my main aims in life, making people smile. Hopefully some of your readers will find them a wonderful project and a great tradition. That is what baking has become in my home. It is a tradition started by my grandmother, carried on by my mother, and continued with my children.

These cute buns certainly brought a smile to my face when I first eyed them on her blog! Let’s just say they really are the perfect treat for kiddos and the young at heart! Let’s read her post…

My Bear Buns Are Cute. Really Cute.

I’m not obscene. This is about as close to anything off color as I will get. Blame my mom. She started this. When I was growing up, every year she would make these for Valentines day and give them away to friends and family. Only she would ask, “Do you want butter or jam on your bear buns?” I guess the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree. Thank goodness! I wouldn’t have it any other way! I made these today to take to my kids at school and surprise them at lunch. Hopefully I won’t get sent to the Principal’s office.

Does anyone else want cute bear buns too? Start with the basic bread recipe. I happened to use the Overnight Started Bread for this one. Once the dough has gone through all the mixing and raising, and is ready to shape into loaves or rolls, get your buns together by first working out the dough.

I used half for a regular loaf of bread, and the other half for rolls. I only made six. So, with the dough, I divided it into 3 balls. 2 I divided into 3 each so I got six rolls. Does that make sense. I wasn’t very good at math.

Roll the six balls into buns and place on a stoneware pan, lightly covered with cornmeal.

The remaining ball, I divided in half. One half I used for 12 ears. Look how random this picture is of little dough blobs on my counter. Very sheik. I know.

Those 12 little blobs became bear ears. Like rabbit feet. Lucky.

The other six, became the snout. Snooty dough balls.

Then I added raisins for eyes and a nose.

I lightly mist them with water and allow them to raise. It took a little over an hour before I could really poke their eyes out…or IN… I should say.

It’s a wonder they can even see with those little raisin eyes anyway. What am I saying? I think I have been spending way too much random mommy time!

I then mist them again with a little more water.
Hose them down so they don’t misbehave. Crazy Kung Fu bears.
Sprinkle them with a little more cornmeal and some poppy seeds…

Ohhh my gosh! Sooo cute!
Cute. Cute. Cute. I admit it. I am now part of the subculture of cute stay at home mom’s who does a food blog…with cute stuff. Oh cute. If I didn’t think I would puke from my own cuteness, I’d say cute again. AArrrrgh! I’ve done it now!

How can I help it?!
Oh yeah, bake 350 degrees 30-35 minutes. When cool pose them with a fluffy white stuffed animal…like a toy panda (because that is what the cute subculture of insane mom food bloggers would do).

I think they taste cute too.

Meaghan from The Decorated Cookie is our guest for this week’s first Tutorial Tuesday post! She’s the expert when it comes to making cute cookies that are great for giving away as gifts or enjoying for yourself. Tomorrow, we’ll be featuring her Piggies on a Stick tutorial, but we want to ask her a few questions first. Here’s all you wanted to know about Meaghan, blogger and author of Cookie Sensations!

What first inspired you to become a cookie decorator?

While I’ve always enjoyed drawing, crafts and baking, I did not set out to be a cookie decorator. I had been managing a paint-your-own-pottery store when a woman who was opening her own cookie business came in, saw my display pieces and asked if I wanted to work for her, as she needed an artist. I agreed, though I had never picked up a frosting bag, thinking it would be a temporary job until I figured out what I really wanted to do. I spent ten years at the shop, leaving only because I had my daughter. Not only did the flexibility of the job enable me to continue working through my graduate degrees, but I loved it. And I found I was good at it. Just about any object you name, I’ve put on a cookie: Elvis, popcorn, movie cameras, bulldozers, Dorothy’s ruby slippers, mac n’ cheese, cartoon characters, appliances, every animal from alligators to zebras, sneakers, beer, martinis, people’s dogs, human organs… I could go on for pages with both the common and bizarre requests. And as my other world is literature (I’d like to publish children’s books), cookie decorating allowed me to write my first book, “Cookie Sensations,” and gain entry into the tightly locked publishing world.

Some folks (myself included :) find cookie decorating challenging, would you say the key to making the perfectly decorated cookie is in the frosting?

Yes. Yes. And one more yes. More so than the cookie itself. Even misshapen cookies can be decorated. In fact, for cookies that have no cutter, such as a woman in a yoga pose, I would cut out imperfect shapes or fit the design on other shapes. Frosting consistency is key. I tend to use the outline and fill method. I use one frosting of medium stiffness to both pipe an outline and fill in, as opposed to flooding (piping a stiff outline and filling with runny icing). The former is not as smooth, but gives you total control to do intricate designs.

Aside from the frosting, practice is the other key to perfectly decorated cookies. I’ve trained many cookie decorators over the years, and their early cookies aren’t even sellable. Time will help you build some hand muscle, control the frosting, maintain consistency with piping and rid of shaky lines or holes.

What are your favorite sugar cookie and frosting recipes to work with?

I have an almond sugar cookie on my blog and in my book that I love. It bakes perfectly without losing shape, has a bit of softness, and people go nuts for the flavor (I’ve seen party-goers stuff them in their pockets. Really.) I also only use the frosting recipe from my blog, also in the book. It’s a version of royal icing with meringue powder in lieu of fresh egg whites and shortening added for an ideal consistency. It dries enough to handle and package, needs no refrigeration, takes color well, and lasts for several weeks.

As a mom who holds a Masters in Liberal Arts with a children’s literature focus, have any of the cookies featured in your book, Cookie Sensations, been created with children in mind?

In terms of gifts for children, yes…sports cookies, baby shower cookies, bugs, etc. In terms of having kids decorate themselves, not as much. The art can be pretty challenging. But that said, I’ve had readers contact me with pictures of cookies their kids have baked using the book with raves of how much fun they’ve had. And the cookies looked amazing, so I may be underestimating young bakers. I am working on a proposal for a second book with even more user-friendly designs, which will translate better for kids (that is, simpler designs, such as the piggies).

Cookies are a fun and popular treat to make around the holidays. Do you have any tips or shortcuts to share with families who enjoy making cookies during the busiest times of the year?

With all on my plate, I feel like it’s always holiday time! When working on the book, I had to make hundreds of cookies quickly in a Washington, DC rowhouse with about a foot of kitchen counterspace. Efficiency is key. When I have a lot to bake, I rarely do everything in one day. I’ll make several batches of cookie dough and freeze portions in plastic bags, then let it thaw for a couple hours at room temperature (you want your dough chilled to roll, so don’t let it thaw too much). And the beauty of the frosting is that it will keep for weeks. So I also make several batches of frosting, mix all my colors and prepare all the frosting bags in advance. Making the dough and frosting and preparing the frosting bags are by far the most time-consuming steps, so getting these done ahead of time is a huge help. Come cookie decorating day, all I have to do is roll out, bake and decorate with minimal prep time.

We can all learn a thing or two from Lubna of Yummy Food: Eat more carrots! But what if we already eat carrots and celery as an afternoon snack? You even chop them up and incorporate them in your pasta and rice dishes. Who can forget how great they taste when steamed or…boiled in apple juice! There are so many ways to enjoy carrots, but if you’re looking for a new way, look to Lubna’s Carrot and Lentil Soup!

She says it’s ‘a hot and comforting soup’ that will ‘pamper your senses’. Normally, we don’t think of carrots as being all that fragrant, even though their sweet and slightly earthy flavor is unlike that of other vegetables. But when you combine (and puree) the carrots with lentils and coconut milk, among a few other savory ingredients, what results is an aromatic dish that just so happens to be pretty healthy, too.

The lentils provide the protein and heartiness in Lubna’s vegetarian soup that gets topped off with roasted cumin seeds and chili flakes. This nutritious soup would be a nice light lunch; it’s as pleasing to the eye as it is to the palate, so you can also serve this as one of the star dishes in a five course meal!

Here’s a classic recipe from Lisa of Magic Sprinkles. It’s so good, it’ll have you singing La-La-Lasagna right after you take the first bite :). Her take on this tasty Italian meal is cheesy, meaty, and hearty. Lisa says she likes lasagna to come out “bubbly hot” so that when she’s about to dive in, she can see “cheese strands stretching tenaciously from plate to fork!”.

If you’ve got a big appetite or a big family, you’ll want to make this lasagna for dinner. Lisa says her La-La-Lasagna will serve 10-12, making this ideal for potlucks, family gatherings, or freezing to enjoy later. Speaking of freezing, when Lisa made her lasagna, it was a toasty 80 degrees and she didn’t want to heat up the house with more cooking, so she went with Ronzoni’s oven-ready noodles…not a bad idea!

To add more flavor to the lasagna sauce, Lisa spiced up a jar of spaghetti sauce with basil and oregano. To make it chunky and delicious, she also threw in a few diced tomatoes. Lasagna isn’t always the quickest thing to make, but Lisa’s recipe and tips will reduce your time in the kitchen…that is, until the lasagna’s served–we don’t know how long you’ll spend at the kitchen table afterward :)! Seconds? Yes, please!

The first thing that caught my attention about Kerry’s recipe on her blog Me and My Three is the peanut butter! What a neat ingredient :). Her Satay Chicken Pies combine some of the tastiest ingredients in the most unique ways. Normally, when we think of a chicken pie, we imagine a heavy creamy or milky filling that’s primarily savory in flavor.

Of course, we also expect to sink our teeth into a crust of some sort. Kerry’s pie crust is a flakey one, she used frozen puff pastry but whipped up the rest of the recipe from scratch. What gives Kerry’s pie filling its creamy texture is the coconut cream! Sweet chili sauce and soy sauce are the other secret ingredients that will have everyone asking for the recipe!

Peanut butter isn’t the only ingredient that makes this pie high in protein. Kerry’s pie also contains chicken and a few veggies. Kerry uses onion, but this is a recipe that can easily be adapted. Add as many veggies as you want! You can also make it vegetarian by not adding the meat…the possibilities are endless!

Most of us have those ‘backup’ canned foods that we keep in the pantry, but what happens when our favorite one literally makes us sick! At this point, we either vow to never eat it again…or we make it from scratch, so that we know what goes into what we’re eating!

WokkingMum from Let’s get Wokking wanted to make her husband a meal he would always remember, but not for gastrointestinal reasons :)! She took one of his favorite foods and made it from scratch. Fermented black beans top her steamed snapper. If you’re not familiar with fermented black beans, you might be a bit surprised to find out that they’re actually black soy beans that have soaked in a salty solution, giving them a distinctive salty flavor.

WokkingMum’s dish let’s the fermented black beans shine; you won’t find too many exotic spices in this dish, just garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. WokkingMum also cooks the fish by steaming it, as the title suggests, in only 8 minutes! This is a recipe to try when you’re looking for something new, healthy and not too complicated!

Travsgoneglutenfree has a great recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cookies posted that I just had to make! I don’t know about you, but my love for pumpkin doesn’t disappear as soon as the leaves fall off the trees and the last slice of turkey vanishes from our plates! This is why I always keep at least one can of pumpkin in my pantry.

These cookies were delicious and aromatic. I tweaked the recipe just a bit, but found that the cookies came out as delicious as Travis’ photo in the recipe card depicts them. How did I tweak it? Well, I basically decreased the amount of flour down by 1/2 cup, and then decreased the amount of spices by 1/4, to match the new flour quantity. I left the pumpkin amount the same (because I really love the flavor) and just added a bit less butter instead!

If you’re like me and want to make these hearty Pumpkin Spice Cookies but don’t have any Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free flour around, have no fear! Here is the flour combo I came up with; it’s an all-purpose mix that worked great in this recipe: 1/2 cup white rice flour, 1/4 cup sweet sorghum flour, 1/4 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup corn starch, 1/4 cup tapioca flour. I also added 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum, so that the cookies don’t crumble (I believe Bob’s Red Mill GF flour already contains this important gluten-free baking ingredient, though.)

You can easily make these with all-purpose flour if you aren’t on a gluten free diet, too :)!

As many of our friends and family know, Key Ingredient is now quietly open for business!

You can search for recipes on the site, and peruse the profiles of other members without signing up. And if you would like to join us, simply select to “Add a recipe” at the top right of the page. It will jump you to the beta signup page.

Please pass out the links and have your friends check out the site!

“Are we on the air?”.

I believe these bold words began Ted Turner’s journey launching CNN. And that is sort of how it feels to write the first post on a blog and open a website that no one knows about yet. You know you are on the air, but if no one is watching, are you really broadcasting? In the case of blogging, we know the answer will be yes. Things posted today still have value tomorrow. So through other random synaptic connections involving Flickr and del.icio.us and the persistence of memory via blogging, I came to crave a web-based, recipe-centric application and community. I modestly named it Key Ingredient.

Recipes are interesting, even if they are “old”. In a world where news turns stale in minutes, recipes demonstrate persistence. They have value over time, a rarity indeed. And people like to share them and collect them and identify with them. So here we are on the first day of our invite only beta to Key Ingredient and it feels pretty good.

We think we have made new strides in applying technology to recipe content, and we are anxious to share them .. even if they are a bit hot out of the oven! In fact, we have created so many new types of tools I am going to need to devote some serious time to creating some screencasts demonstrating what we have built. We think it is pretty awesome.

And I look forward to reading this post years from now, trying to remember the echoing space that first heard this “Hello World”.