It's the weekend already! What's cooking? It was a busy week here at The Kitchn; we're chock-full of good recipes and ideas for weekend cooking. There were those ridiculously silly cake balls, as well as more practical ideas for things like morning oatmeal, homemade pasta, twice-baked potatoes, skillet desserts, and Jamie Oliver's gingerbread. Oh, and meat. Lots of meat.
For these ideas and more good eating, drinking, and weekend cooking, read on!

• Cake pops! Silly and lots of work. But, uh, here's how to make them, because we know you want to.
• Lots of meat advice this week, as we focused on beef: why grass-fed beef is preferable, tips on safely storing beef, how and why to preseason your meat, and old-fashioned butchers in your own neighborhood.
• Not eating beef, or meat at all? No problem! Try celeriac and carrot salad or that old vegetarian standby: portobello mushrooms. (Vegetarians, tell us: what are you eating this weekend?)
• We got to peek into some really lovely kitchens this week: Susy's meticulously organized galley (so inspiring!), ceramic artist Diana Fayt's tranquil baker's paradise, and the Paris sanctuary of Pierre Hermé himself.
• Do you like gingerbread? We do. Here's Jamie's recipe for Grasmere gingerbread.
• Need breakfast ideas? Try toast and cocoa or awesomely good oatmeal.
• Are you curing corned beef for St. Patrick's? Here's what mine looks like right now.
• Five desserts to cook in a skillet.
• Vegetarians and vegans: When did you stop eating meat?
• Twice-baked potatoes, once and twice.
• Think pink! Lots and lots of pink kitchens.
• Good meat recipes: Beef stroganoff, meatloaf with salsa, and classic pot roast.
• Want to make pasta this weekend? Check out my Italian mother-in-law's tips, plus ideas for drying pasta in a small kitchen.
• Warm up with a hot Irish whiskey skin, or drink a beer with some spicy food.
Come back tomorrow for a special interview with a real-live rancher who raises grass-fed beef on his California farm.
(Images: Faith Durand)
I'm definitely going to make the sugared puffs/popovers from this weeks NYT food section.
The meat discussion here today and the Times article about pig farms and MRSA has pushed me way beyond my static level of freaked-out about meat, so I'm thinking it's vegetarian for us this weekend.
view splatgirl's profile
I'm making the tart lemon tart for Pi Day!
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
This vegetarian just ate Potato and Greens Mash-up with curly kale instead of dandelion greens and local organic canola oil instead of olive oil. I also had Belgian-style Seitan Stew with Dark Beer from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson, made with homemade seitan and local Big Rock Traditional Ale. It felt perfect for this time of year, especially given that where I live we get dumps of snow until the end of March..
view ilovealbertabeets's profile
I'm hoping to create some sort of hybrid between the fig-almond muffin recipe I have and the half-package of baking dates I have in my cupboard. I've got to find a good way to take this block of baking dates and create a nice gooey paste out of it for the filling- any pointers?
view nadarine's profile
Just made myself a birthday cake! Organic Chocolate with lemonade marmalade filling and lemony fresh whipped topping.
view CarrieCooks's profile
In my tiny little kitchen I will be grilling some wild salmon and making peppers (sweet bell, yellow and orange) stuffed with Wehani rice (red rice that cooks up tender but chewier than long-grain brown, if you can believe it), feta, sun dried tomatoes, chunky mashed chick peas and spinach. With any luck, I'll be able to get someone to take me out to dinner on Sunday.
view 39520expat's profile
my hubby is making his famous waffles this morning
http://good-life-eats.blogspot.com/2008/12/waffles.html
and we're having strawberry sauce on top!
view goodLife{eats}'s profile
No pie for me. Red sausage with onions, red wine, pork sausage, slowly braised in the oven a la Elizabeth David's French Country Cooking recipe for Chou Rouge Landaise. Perfect end of winter fare for New England and source of this week's lunches too!
view Charlotte's profile
Oops! I wish we could edit comments. I didn't mean sausage I meant red cabbage with sausage!
Better go cook now!
view Charlotte's profile
I just pulled Guinness cupcakes out of the oven to take to an "Irish beer night" get-together tonight. I'm going to frost them with Bailey's frosting in a little bit to turn them into an "Irish car bomb cupcake." I think I read about that here. I can't remember.
view Kelseyjean85's profile
pie! pie pie pie! pie! *ahem* Sorry about that. I'm making an apple almond pie. May throw in some cranberries to add a touch of tartness.
Right now an eggplant is cooking away on my gas burner getting all charred and delicious for baba ghanoush.
Also this weekend will be some tortilla soup and calabacitas. Yummm.
view laetitiae's profile
I'm making ooey gooey cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting.
view KatyBelle's profile
I am cooking general "pot" beans with a bit of Seabreeze farms bacon, leek, onion sauteed in the rendered bacon, fresh sage, and Rancho Gordo's Yellow Eye beans. Good for a rainy Seattle day.
I blame my Rancho Gordo bean obsession on TheKitchn which featured their beans in a recipe. And heck, since there is a flat shipping fee, why not buy 5 pounds?
view JD523's profile
made sweet potato, collard greens and coconut milk soup with crispy tempeh last night. my guests went back for seconds and thirds, and i had none for lunch today!!!!!
view saltyc's profile
Made Japanese hot pot last night for the first time, delicious but must remember to serve smaller serves next time- so filling. Baked a caramel coconut easter egg slice yesterday & mistakenly used grease proof paper instead of baking paper. Now whenever you eat a slice you have to peel off the paper bit by bit. Oops. Tonight I will be lazy and make Nigella's doughnut like french toast.
view bkk's profile
Homemade Chicago style pizza last night (veggies only on my side-no meat on Lenten Fridays with Italian sausage on hubbies side), tonight was fettucine w/Mizithra sauce. Tomorrow will be salmon and making a meatloaf ahead of time to bake later in the week.
view rosebud's profile
I'm probably trying my first pizza tonight! I got some dough from Trader Joe's and I'm gonna top it with sweet Italian-style chicken sausage and mushrooms! Also making a chickpea salad tonight to bring to work for lunches this week.
view footballfoodie's profile
This weekend I made brownie mosaic cheesecake! It was loaded with bits of homemade brownies, with a chocolate crust and topped with chocolate ganache. Decadent.
Soon to be posted about here:
http://www.sprinklewithsalt.blogspot.com/
view sprinklewithsalt's profile