Welcome home! Let’s get cooking. :)
By Kelly Meng
Note to readers: These aren’t recipes as much as field notes for my cooking escapades. Most of these will refer to other’s recipes + my modifications.
Recipes Index
Stone Fruit Caprese
Caprese salad with white peach, aprium, plumcots, and absolutely no basil :)
Carrot Pancake (Okonomiyaki)
Okonomiyaki, but carrots instead of cabbage!
Matcha Muffins (not too sweet)
Matcha muffins! And not too sweet!!
Special Mac and Cheese
it’s just ranch mac and cheese
Banana Cream Pie w/ Graham Cracker Crust
banana cream pie, aka magnolia bakery’s banana pudding except in pie form
Wild Blueberry Oat Muffins
the swap of wild blueberries are less sweet than traditional blueberries, so this tastes more like an actual breakfast food as opposed to something like a far-too-sweet breakfast cupcake
Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pesto (Vegan!)
Hands down my favorite summer pasta sauce. It’s so good! And simple. 0 cooking. Does it even count as cooking?
Coconut Chicken Salad
Coconut chicken salad! A classic American favorite with a slight sweetness from the coconut.
Korean Black Bean Noodles
Korean black bean noodles! (Jajangmyeon). One of my favorite foods of all time — it’s so good!! I love pork belly
Brown Butter Chocolate Toffee Cookies
A labor-intensive but worthwhile cookie with brown butter, homemade toffee, and dark chocolate chunks.
Copycat Carbone Spicy Rigatoni
Carbone’s similar but not the same Spicy Rigatoni with a spicy and creamy red sauce!
“Freeing Up the Freezer” Fried Rice
Classic Chinese-American take-out framework for fried rice.
Buttered Top Sirloin, Broccolini, & Soy Vinegar Dipping Ramen
Perfect random meal for a steak craving!
Pickle Soup (Zuppa ogorkowa)
Pickle soup! A Polish classic - Zuppa Ogórkowa.
Coconut Peanut Butter Semifreddo
Peanut butter “semi-frozen” dessert! AKA peanut butter semifreddo.
S’mores Cookies (Small Batch)
Cookies using graham crackers! Kind of silly but kind of genius!
Matcha Ice Cream (No Machine)
All Juice Shot Recipes
All juice shot mixtures I have tried, updated monthly.
Miso-glazed Eggplant (Nasu Dengaku)
Lemon Scones (and other variations!)
My Kitchen Tools
My Kitchen Tools
About Kelly
Chicago-based private chef and content creator dedicated to making healthy and accessible recipes in her little kitchen
I’m a self-taught home chef who is passionate about logic-driven cooking. I strive to teach other home chefs to push the limits of their ability and think critically about their recipes and ingredients. Although based out of Chicago, I also service NYC for private dining experiences.