Quarantine Cooking with Maryanne: Steel Cut Oatmeal Cookies, No Knead Bread + Mall Style Vegetable Stir Fry

Hey! I’m Maryanne, and I am keeping myself busy throughout this crazy time by baking and cooking. I have expanded what I’ve made from cookies to sourdough bread, lemon bars to brookies (brownies and cookies), and for cooking I’ve helped make dinners like stir fry. {Click here to see my first cooking feature on sweet treats!}

Yes, I joined the rest of the world by making sour dough bread. Our neighbor offered us sourdough starter because she knew I had been baking to make it through quarantine. I had never made bread before and was super hesitant about starting. Here is the recipe we followed from TheKitchn.com. I’ve never really been a fan having to wait to bake something, but I didn’t want to mess this one up! The whole process was like a science experiment. At the end of the process, we popped the dough in a pan and I scored the top of the dough. When you see bread that has or lines on the top of it, this is “scoring” – you make that shape on the top of the dough with a knife. The bread came out tasting, and looking, amazing! That night we mixed balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and diced garlic on a plate to dip the bread in. It was a perfect appetizer.

I also recommend this simple no knead bread! It is similar to sour dough but a shorter process.

Desserts have still been coming out of the oven a few days a week at my house! I made these amazing steal cut oatmeal cookies from realfoodrealdeals.com. We sent them to my grandmother and she said they were very good and they are my mom’s new favorite! They are so fluffy and light, the oats give them a crunch as well and makes them healthier. You get all the textures in one bite!

I did make a layer cake for Easter and made my own icing. I had plans for it to look like the Pinterest picture…let’s just say it was a bit of a Pinterest-fail!!

A meal I recommend is stir fry! The name of the recipe is Mall Style Vegetable Stir-Fry. It is a crowd pleaser and was devoured within seconds! Lots of chopping involved and that is something that gets easier the more you do it.

Next I want to make macarons, and other colorful desserts. Maybe I will take another shot at icing a cake and making it look good. I also want to practice on separating an egg and an egg yolk, it’s so hard!

I hope y’all enjoy some of these recipes. My favorite recipe website is wellplated.com. She has healthy and yummy meals, desserts, breakfast, and so much more! Happy baking!

~Maryanne

CSP {hearts} our Smarty Teen Chef Maryanne!

Maryanne Is in middle school and loves to be creative in her free time…from painting, lettering, Pinterest-ing and cooking. She runs track and plays soccer and adores her sweet friends. We look forward to more of Maryanne’s cooking tips, she just couldn’t be any cuter!