My husband’s family is 100% Irish so I went searching for the perfect Irish Soda Bread recipe to try this year. He doesn’t really come from a family of cooks, so this proved to be a daunting task. My Mother-in-Law makes it with a base of Bisquick… I can’t imagine baking anything with Bisquick, so [...]
Trudging along on the ten week healthy challenge, it sure hasn’t been easy. Good days are abundant but bad days have haunted me too. With two “official” weeks to go, I’m re-visiting my original goals to take a peek at how I’m doing…
Here are my original goals-:
*lose weight- goal of 15-20 lbs. in 10 weeks, [...]
Have you had the pleasure of meeting Lyle yet?
Lyle’s Golden Syrup, that is. It’s pure heaven. It’s not anything like corn syrup, so don’t even think of trying to substitute. It has the texture of very thick honey and the flavor of toasted brown sugar. I’ve seen it called for in recipes many times, but [...]
In my family, we have a celebration on Christmas Eve. Lots of us get together and share a big dinner that everyone helps to prepare. Once dinner is cleaned up, we begin preparing brunch for Christmas day… usually an overnight egg casserole and sometimes even cinnamon rolls. We wake up Christmas morning and sneak downstairs [...]
I used to be addicted to Starbuck’s Pumpkin Scones. I’m not sure why… they’re not terribly moist (pretty darn dry, in fact). I think it was the icing on top that attracted me. And it’s probably more about the luxury of ordering something that looks like it should go well with my Pumpkin Spice Latte. Well… I’m [...]
I recently attended the BlogHer food conference in San Francisco, where I had the opportunity to meet loads of other bloggers that I’ve known forever via Twitter & blog visiting, etc. It was truly exciting to meet face-to-face so many fabulous and talented food writers, bloggers and cookbook authors all in one place (far too many [...]
The chill is in the air… sort of. Well, not really, but at least at night it’s a little bit chilly. It’s around 80 degrees today here in Southern California, and it’s predicted to be nearing the low 90’s by Saturday. That’s our typical September weather, so it’s tough to get into the fall spirit [...]
Yep, it’s almost fall… so the fall recipe experimenting begins! It’s a bit too early though… I went to 4 markets before I could actually find a can of pure pumpkin puree. Apparently, it’s a “seasonal” item. But since I’m one of those people who will drive to the end of the earth to find [...]
Ah, there’s nothing like it… a cup of coffee, the Sunday paper, and the cardboard crunch of a dried-out scone. Yuck. Most scones should be made the morning that that they’re eaten, for fear of turning them into the sort that you may often pick up at a dud coffee shop. These are that sort [...]
Rancho La Puerta is a world-famous destination spa in Baja, California (Mexico)- about an hour’s drive from San Diego. I’ve wanted to visit this spa for years, imagining the luxury of a week full of exercise, relaxation and healthy eating, and devoid of internet, TV and the real world. It sits on 3,000 sunny-all-the-time acres [...]
Are you able to get your hands on some Meyers? They’re sometimes found at the Farmer’s Market… try Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s and any other specialty type markets. You simply must find them. And if you have a tree, well then I’m forever jealous. I planted a very small Meyer Lemon tree last spring [...]
Though I’ve tried countless recipes for banana bread over the years, I still find myself hunting for the next best recipe when my bananas begin to turn that delicious shade of black. “Can’t let those good rotten bananas go to waste!” I say. And I can’t imagine turning out the same banana bread recipe over [...]
Dried figs, dates, prunes… they all pretty much gross me out. You wouldn’t catch me snacking on them, and I’ve rarely used them in recipes. In my quest to cook more healthfully and revise recipes to fit into my new lifestyle, I’ve reluctantly begun to let these ugly little dried fruits make their debut as [...]
The weather has been weird this year. It’s far below freezing in places that don’t really know that kind of cold. And it’s ‘flip flops’ weather out here in Southern California during a time when we’re supposed to be donning our ‘winter’ sweaters and little-used jackets. So as soon as the clouds come out, I’m [...]
Disclaimer… there were no actual candy canes used in the making of this Candy Cane Coffee Cake. It’s just the shape people! If you don’t have opportunity to make this for the holiday season this year, you should save it for next season. It’s impressive and delicious.
Here’s the how to:
Make the dough (following the directions), [...]
Once in a while my boys deserve a special little treat for breakfast. Usually it’s pancakes or waffles, or more often than not some kind of muffin. This day, I chose Amish Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Icing. Perfect for downing with a mug of milk before a morning hike.
I started these the night before, [...]
Oh, Fresh Cranberries…
I love you.
You’re so seasonally colorful and blogable. You freeze well and make dishes and baked goods worthy of photographing. And although you’re generally tart and inedible on your own, you pair well with sweets to create a blend of sweet-tart that is quite unique and delicious.
I loved you in these: Cranberry Whole-Grain [...]
This month’s Daring Baker challenge involved experimenting with the Basic Pizza Dough from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. It was a fun challenge, and my family enjoyed the month-long pizza recipe trials.
Since I already have a go-to pizza crust recipe that is very simple, I found the directions for this one to be rather [...]
October is generally our warmest month. It’s the time of year where we fret about hot weather + wind, which creates the recipe to fuel wildfires. I find myself longing for the change of seasons that we typically don’t get here. Beautiful leaf color transformations and crisp, cool weather are nowhere to be found. I’m [...]
It’s seriously pumpkin season in full swing. Pumpkins have arrived at our markets, and the makeshift pumpkin patches are getting ready to set up their little scenes in empty lots here and there around town. We’ll be making our annual trip to Bates Nut Farm sometime soon to pick out the best pumpkins in the [...]
One of the many things I love about New England is the abundance of enormous, juicy Blueberries! We have access to blueberries here in Southern California but we don’t have cute little plants for picking blueberries anywhere that I know of here in So Cal, and it’s impossible to find the fabulous sort that are [...]
Is zucchini growing out of control in your veggie gardens yet this summer? Try this muffin recipe to get a little green stuff into your children without their knowledge: Zucchini- Chocolate Chip Muffins.
As a kid, I hated zucchini bread. My mother used to make if often since our relatives used to dump loads of zucchini [...]
This month’s challenge was The Danish Braid for us Daring Baker types. Despite the rather long instructions, this wasn’t really a difficult task. Oh, I admit that I was nervous. Pastries are definitely not my thing, and I have absolutely zero experience in making them. And I’m not even adept at braiding hair, let alone [...]
Yep… yet another banana bread recipe. Why not? You always have those aging bananas ready to draw fruit flies sitting on your counter, so mix those with some ripe & juicy strawberries to try a new recipe: Strawberry- Oatmeal Banana Bread.
I drew inspiration for this bread from Chuck at CookingBread.com. If you haven’t checked out [...]
If you’re anything like me, you utilize your treasured ripe bananas for baked goods. Since we thrive on new recipes around here, I’m always trying to shake things up a little bit when it comes to banana bread. Add blueberries… make it whole grain… chocolate swirl… pumpkin. I’ll try anything! This time: Peanut Butter- Chocolate [...]
We had a mad craving for muffins this morning, so I made Blueberry- Maple Muffins. I was finding fresh blueberries at a good price for a while recently, but that great deal seems to have disappeared for now. Costco still has them… that’s probably your best bet if you’re lucky enough to have a [...]
I’m truly not obsessed with Ina. Really. The fact is that I pull a couple of cookbooks off of my shelf and that becomes my reading material for a while. My 6 year old recently asked me if I could… for once, just read a normal book.
“I read normal books sometimes,” I said.
“No you [...]
We’re muffin – lovers around here. They’re nice to have around for breakfast or snacking, so I usually make them once a week or so. My little guy beams with happiness when he sees me baking up a new batch… always a new recipe… he begs to be the first taste- tester. This week: Glazed [...]
I’m *officially* up and around again after my hospital stay, and I’m feeling much, much better (thanks so much for all of the well wishes sent my way.)
I’ve definitely been in need of a little comfort around here, and nothing says comfort like a good, warm, homemade muffin. Not having quite the energy yet to [...]
I have a love-hate relationship with Irish soda bread. It can be dry. It can be underwhelming. And what do you do with the leftovers? I’m a fan of good Irish soda bread. But I’ve definitely tried my share of duds. I find that it makes for a good breakfast treat…. and my 6 year [...]
Looking ahead to the big Irish day… I can’t officially call it a tradition in my house as I’m of Swedish/Portuguese ancestry and not Irish. But my husband is just about as Irish- Catholic as they come (and he enjoys his beer) so that gives us reason to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Here are a few [...]
We had some chilly, rainy, snuggle-inside-and-light-a-fire weather this past weekend. Perfect for soup and homemade bread. My choice for the bread was a Salted Thyme Flatbread.
Another simple recipe… I threw all the ingredients into my KA mixer with the dough hook and let it do the kneading work for me. As with many bread recipes, [...]
Since I made that unbelievable Meyer Lemon Curd, I was in need of coming up with a baked treat in which to utilize it. Browsing my baking cookbooks, I turned to Dorie for help. She has a simple Cream Scones recipe in Baking from My Home to Yours. Oh yeah… perfect!
What Dorie doesn’t know (or [...]
We’re muffin maniacs around here. I often try new and different muffin recipes. My son enjoys having Mommy’s homemade muffins for breakfast, so I try to find those muffin recipes that aren’t exactly like “cake.” My little guy is a sweets-lover and would eat Cocoa- Krispies, a chocolate muffin and chocolate milk for breakfast [...]
As self-proclaimed carb-0-holics, our family enjoys all things that are bread and pasta! Here are a few of our favorite new-to-us recipes from 2007.
This Marbled Chocolate- Banana Bread from Cooking Light has been around quite a long time but we only discovered its goodness last year. It’s a wonderfully moist banana bread with a chocolate [...]
