culinary exploring

I got a Dutch oven as a Mother's day gift from Ivo and kids last week. I heard a lot of great things about it but never used it before. Until today.

I decided to test it and also to experiment with two new recipes - quesadillas and a homemade bread. I tried quesadillas in a local grill/pub last week during our Mother's day family dinner for a first time and have fallen in love with this dish. I knew kids will love it as well. I found a recipe online but decided to improvise a little bit because I didn't have the exact ingredients as listed in that recipe. I saute the veggies and meat in my new pot.

And then finished the tortillas in a big pan. I was afraid that I won't be able to flip the tortillas so I folded them in half instead of putting two on each other with a filling inside. It worked great this way for me.

I prepared a simple quacamole dip and put a little bit of sour cream on the side. This dish is definitely a keeper.

For the second recipe (and a new thing to learn as well) I decided to try to bake a bread. I used this recipe called The Bread by Ryan from The Pioneer Woman's website. The whole house smelled so good while the bread was baking and the final result was so delicious with a perfect crust. I changed the recipe a little bit (I substituted 1 cup of bread flour for whole wheat flour as Elise mentioned in her post). This one is a keeper as well.

Today's culinary exploring and experimenting was a success. I loved working with the Dutch oven and I can't wait to try something new very soon again.