The Orphan Posts

The Meaning of Pie was born on my birthday in 2010, May 11th. Knowing nothing and less about food blogging, I set about to simply jump in the deep end, potentially embarrass my friends and family, and just go for it. On the advise of my sister-in-law, and technical support angel, Valerie Yandell, I started with some content in place already. In other words, I loaded up 10 recipes before the “first” recipe was posted, so that you wouldn’t walk into a house with no furniture, so to speak.

I have mixed feelings about these little orphans. Some of them are less than exciting. But, some are truly long time favorites. All of my other posts have been through the cycle. I promote each one on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest…and then I submit them to Foodgawker, Tastespotting, Tasteologie and Serious Eats. When a recipe gets picked up by any of those four, it provides me an avenue to reach out to readers who would otherwise never come across PIE. Additionally, a notice and link to each post is emailed to everyone who has signed up for email notices over on the right side of the page labeled “connect to my kitchen.” Suffice it to say, I fool with computer and social media issues as much as I cook…which is not really cool, but has been quite an education. Someday I will have to do a post about the “blogging” side of all of this. It is fascinating stuff. Sometimes I just float about the blogosphere and read stories and click ads like a fairy godmother just so some of my favorite blogs can get a few more pennies for their efforts. Because, that is how bloggers get “paid.” But the more people that see a post, the more likely they are to keep coming back, so all of the avenues are very important. And, that is why I feel bad for my little orphans. PIE hit the ground running with Blue Cheese Coleslaw, and the 10 or so orphans just sat there like wallpaper hoping that someone would come across them in the categories or a lucky Google Search. I’ve never come back to them and given them any love.

So, I decided to do an orphan post, in case you haven’t seen these old reliable recipes. First up is Ruffled Egg Cups.

One of the reasons this one is important is because it is so darned easy, and a really lovely way to serve eggs to houseguests without having to be a short order cook. You just line muffin tins with ham slices, crack in an egg, and place them in the oven. Nothing could be easier.

Next, Chocolate Waffle Cookies. These are a novelty, certainly. But, they are very tasty and a ton of fun to make with your children. They aren’t for bagging up and storing. Eat them hot out of your waffle iron with a sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar. It is for those who think baking is difficult. Start here…and you will never stop baking. Today the waffle iron, tomorrow the oven.

This decadent beast is Chicken Tetrazzini from the Neiman Marcus cookbook. It is not very good for you and it is wonderful! If you need to feed a group and you want it to be nice, try this with a salad and some crusty bread. Done. It is so darned good. I will have to make this one again soon, myself.

Plain old Chocolate Bundt Cake…what could be better. Plus, to up the camp factor, it is made with a can of Hershey’s syrup. I look at this post and I’m bowled over by two things…how tiny my son looks in it and how awful the lead photo is. I had to take this one into Photoshop and give it a make-over just to render it palatable. It is funny how one of the greatest things I’ve learned in the past few years is how to salvage a marginal photo. This and one other post in particular strike me as having cringe-worthy photographs. But I’m not changing them, because at least for me, they represent the fact that I’ve really learned a lot about how to deal with a camera and how to post-process. But it also goes to show you how important a good photo is to getting people to try something. If the photo looks delicious…people really believe it is. If the photo looks crummy, it is hard to even imagine that the food would taste good. This is, as they say, a visual medium. But, good photo or not, you have my word that this is a very tasty cake.

These cookies are awesome. They are Flourless Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Just don’t overcook them. I want them right now. You need this quick and simple cookie recipe. It certainly doesn’t get any easier than this one.

Homemade Vanilla Extract. This is truly one of the most useful posts on the site. I will never purchase vanilla extract again. In fact, I have two huge bottles of vodka filled with vanilla beans in my pantry as we speak. Plus this post contains a link to one of the least expensive as well as excellent sources of vanilla beans to be found.

Apple, Grape and Celery Salad. Filled with grapes and apples, this is a great little salad. Just some chopping and a little dressing mixing and you are finished. It is green, beautiful, tasty, and simple.

Black Bean Soup. This is a recipe that you need for your busy life. When you have prepared it one time, you will probably not even need to look at the recipe again. It is that simple. But it is also delicious and incredibly inexpensive to create. This should be one of your standby week night meals.

And, these Tomatoes with Herbs de Provence are perennially handy. This is one of the easiest little hors d’oeuvres you will ever prepare. The crisp juicy little grape tomatoes are coated with crunchy sea salt and herbs. If you have a bowl of these and a dish of toothpicks, you are well on your way to a party.

It is fun for me to look at these recipes. Many of these were borrowed or found in a cookbook or magazine. Now, I am more apt to formulate recipes from scratch. The photos make me giggle a bit because it is hard to look at them and not chastise myself for the lighting or the completely obvious thing on my camera sensor. Did you see it? But these posts, and many of you, were here from the get go. They are reliable and make you feel like a good cook…just like you do for me everyday, too. I hope this helps you find something delicious on PIE that you haven’t seen before.

Don’t forget the SAVORIES and SWEETS indexes along the top of each page. If you don’t know what you are in the mood for, browsing the indexes is a great place to begin. Also, you can always find me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram (look for themeaningofpie). How do I keep up with this and my family? I don’t. Have you seen my kids lately??

Kidding.