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Showing posts from 2018

Crystallized Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every year I made Christmas cookie trays for friends and family.  There are the classics like sugar, chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin, then I pick a few different cookies that add color or flavors that we'd all enjoy.

Peppermint Mocha White Russian

What a crazy month December has been! I've been sitting here stressing over all the baking and holiday tasks I need to do this weekend, so I decided a cocktail was in order.

Caramel Truffles

So excited to be participating in this month's Candy Fantastical Food Fight! I wanted to jump in on this one because candy isn't something that I make very often.  To help chose my recipe, I spent some time thinking about what my guys love to eat and scrolling through my Pinterest boards .

Gingerbread Belgian Waffles

I am a huge fan of all things ginger, tea, coffee, baked good, breakfast items. I even snack on crystallized ginger.  I used to visit a restaurant that made the most amazing gingerbread waffles, but we've moved too far from it to make it a regular stop now.

Easy Batter Rolls

There was a time where I'd see the word yeast in a recipe and just think to myself, nope! and keep scrolling on by, but I've done a pretty good job conquering my fear of yeast over the last few years. I've made apple coffee cake ,  biscuits , even some beignets . 

Lemon Snowdrops

I really hope that you are enjoying Christmas Cookies Week as much as I am! For my last recipe, I chose a recipe that showcased one of my family's favorite flavors, lemon.   We are all huge fans of sandwich cookies as well, so I knew this one would be a winner. 

Truffle Filled Cookie Tarts

Are you enjoying #ChristmasCookiesWeek so far? There are so many great recipes being shared, my Pinterest boards are about to explode.   I pinned this recipe from Taste of Home a while back, and I'm constantly getting notifications that people have repinned it or tried it.

Waffle Iron Cookies

For my third Christmas Cookies Week recipe, I wanted to try a little something different.   I ran across this recipe for Waffle Iron Cookies from Taste of Home on Pinterest, and they looked so fun to make! Though I own two waffle irons, both of them are considered "Belgian" models. I used the one that seemed more shallow of the two, and just allowed extra time for them to cook.

Chocolate Cherry Totos

Since my guys are both allergic to tree nuts, there are lots of recipes from my childhood that I can’t make anymore.   One of the ones I miss around the holidays are Totos or chocolate meatball cookies.   Every Italian family has a version of them, traditionally with walnuts in the dough, and my family sprinkled more walnuts on top.

Brown Sugar Ornament Cookies

Welcome to Christmas Cookies Week! I've been looking forward to this event for a while, because cookies are one thing I love to make and my family definitely loves to eat! When I saw the sponsor list, I started the search for a cut out cookie recipe.

Chocolate Peppermint Pizzelle Fauxnoli

As soon as the Halloween decorations are down, I'm already plotting and planning my holiday baking.   I love poring over old family recipes and cookbooks, trying to choose that year's treats for our holiday gatherings.

Cranberry Sweet Potato Muffins

I'm excited to be joining the Muffin Monday bakers again this month! Muffins are always a hit around here, but I tend to make the same varieties over and over.  I was browsing recipes for this month when I came across these Cranberry Sweet Potato Muffins from Taste of Home.

Roasted Parmesan Carrots

One of my favorite ways to serve up vegetables is roasting them.  I just love the depth of flavor they develop.  Root veggies are particularly great made this way, and I'm always pinning new variations to try, like these Roasted Parmesan Carrots from Taste of Home.

Not Just for Company Rice!

I hope that you're enjoying Holiday Side Dishes Week as much as I am!  For my second recipe,  I made Company Rice from Taste of Home.  Since I changed my eating habits last year, I have been eating significantly more rice than I ever have in my life.  It's really been challenging to find ways to change it up!

Quinoa Stuffed Squash Boats

Welcome to Holiday Side Dishes Week! I often prefer the side dishes over the main dish when it comes to holiday eating, is that strange? My guys will eat the same thing over and over for all the big holidays, but I've been trying to shake it up a bit with some new things.

Acorn Squash with Cranberry Stuffing

The variety of squashes available right now is absolutely amazing!  One of my favorite ways to eat them is roasted, I just love the texture, and you can fill them with so many awesome things, like cranberries! I found this recipe on the Taste of Home site and immediately printed it out.

Turkey Cranberry Bagels

I'd marked this recipe to try using leftovers after last year's Thanksgiving dinner and never got around to it.  I ran across it again in my to-try files, and I decided that it would be a great way to use the Maple Honey Cranberry Sauce I'd made.

Maple Honey Cranberry Sauce

Welcome to #CranberryWeek! As a New England girl, cranberries are something that I've always loved.  As a child, we went down to Cape Cod to see how they were farmed, such a cool process! I'll admit up front, my guys are fans of the can. I've made a few attempts at converting them to the real deal, and they've not been met with much enthusiasm at all.  I saw this recipe on Taste of Home, and considering how much they like maple syrup, I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't make any changes to the recipe. I was fortunate enough to hit the farmstand and grab local honey, but storebought would be fine too.  I love hearing the cranberries pop, and the house smelled absolutely amazing as this cooked. I reserved a little orange zest to put on top when I served it. I liked the chunky nature of it, the guys mashed theirs down some more. Overall, I'm marking it down as a success, but they did ask if we were having "normal" cranberry sauce for the hol...

Black & White Spider Cookies

We took a trip to New York back in August and we got to try so many iconic foods.   The black and white cookies were one of our favorites.  While this isn't exactly the same as the original, it's a fun spin on it, perfect for Halloween!

Sweet & Spicy Churros

It's always an awesome day when my Taste of Home Special Delivery box arrives! The Fall box has been one of my favorites so far, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Taste of Home.  I've been a fan since the 90s, and I was honored to be chosen as a Community Cook in 2015.

Chocolate Fig Thumbprints with Balsamic White Chocolate Drizzle

I hope you are enjoying #Choctoberfest so far, I know I am! Forte Chocolates sent me a selection of bars to use in creating my recipes for this event, and one of the varieties included was Balsamic Vinegar in White Chocolate.   

Mummy Brownies

My guys are pretty die-hard boxed brownie mix fans, but every once in a while, I see a recipe that I know they will love.  I found these fun Mummy Brownies in a Taste of Home Halloween round up, and I knew they'd be a big hit here.

Creamy Caramels

My husband has been asking me to make caramels for quite a long time.  I'll admit, I was intimidated by the candy-making process, and kept putting them off. I looked at recipe after recipe,  finally settling on these Creamy Caramels from Taste of Home.

Baked Garlic Sweet Potatoes

“I see recipes calling for one clove of garlic. One clove of garlic is not enough for any recipe unless it’s a recipe for ‘How to cook one clove of garlic’ – even in this case, use two.”   Unknown

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice

I just love fall in New England! it's my absolute favorite season. Hoodies, cider donuts, going to the pumpkin patch.   Everywhere you look, there's pumpkin spice flavored versions of everything. Pumpkin Pie Spice is a super easy thing to make at home, it's just a few ingredients and a couple minutes to put it together.

Caramel Apple Nachos

To wrap up AppleWeek 2018, I'm revisiting a family favorite, Apple Nachos from Taste of Home.  I've made these dozens of times with so many variations.  Sometimes I do it all from scratch, sometimes I cheat and use jarred caramel ice cream topping and warmed up marshmallow creme.  Sometimes I use roasted salted pepitas or sunflower seeds. Mini cinnamon chips are great in place of the chocolate chips.

Maple Apple Crisp

This post is sponsored in conjunction with AppleWeek. I recieved product samples from sponsor companies to aid in the creation of AppleWeek recipes. All opinions are my own. Nothing says fall to me like apple crisp.  We've tried a lot of versions, but we absolutely love it made with maple sugar.   When I heard Flahavan's was sponsoring, I immediately thought about how great their Irish Oatmeal would be mixed into the topping.

Granny Smith Pizza

When it comes to apples, desserts are pretty easy for me to come up with. We love them all, cakes, crisps, cookies, pies .  It's a little harder to come up with savory or main dishes , but this year, I knew I wanted to recreate a pizza that I get at a local restaurant that I absolutely love.

New England Apple Cake

This post is sponsored in conjunction with AppleWeek. I recieved product samples from sponsor companies to aid in the creation of AppleWeek recipes. All opinions are my own. I was completely blown away when my selection of products arrived from Imperial Sugar for AppleWeek!  They were so incredibly generous with the amount of both brown and regular sugar that they sent, along with a lovely baking mat and apron. We always teased my Gram that she should wear an apron when she baked, because she'd always be covered with as much ingredient as what went into the recipe.  Her base whoopie pie recipe was my jumping off point for my Caramel Apple Whoopie Pies , and I also found this New England Apple Cake in her recipe box. I made the recipe as written, but omitted the nuts due to allergies.  She just dusted the finished cake with confectioner's sugar, but my guys really love a glaze. I combined confectioner's sugar, pure New England maple syrup, and some milk and dri...

Easy as ABC Sheet Pan Dinner- Apples, Brussels Sprouts and Chicken!

Sheet pan dinners are all the rage right now.  I love how easy they are to make, and also to clean up.  It's also a great way to use up various veggies you have on hand  As I trimmed brussels sprouts with my paring knife, I wondered, how would apples work as part of a sheet pan dinner?

Gingersnapple Tart

This post is sponsored in conjunction with AppleWeek. I recieved product samples from sponsor companies to aid in the creation of AppleWeek recipes. All opinions are my own. Who's ready for day 2 of awesome recipes? Nordic Ware sent me a beautiful quiche and tart pan, and my wheels started spinning right away.  I thought about doing a rolled out gingerbread cookie dough, but I still haven't gotten really confident with pie crust yet.  I did like the idea of pairing ginger with the apples, so I decided on gingersnap cookies.

Caramel Apple Whoopie Pies

This post is sponsored in conjunction with AppleWeek. I received product samples from sponsor companies to aid in the creation of AppleWeek recipes. All opinions are my own. Welcome to AppleWeek! Fall is my absolute favorite season, and nothing is more fall to me than going to the orchard with my family to get apples and cider.  We are all huge apple fans, and part of the reason why is that there are so many ways to enjoy them!

Banana Split Bread

This month, I'm jumping into another cool challenge, the Fantastical Food Fight!  Each month a theme or ingredient is chosen, and all the participants make something and share it.  This month's ingredient is bananas.

Lemon Blueberry Biscuits

I love to try new recipes, but I have a problem- I have so many saved, pinned, and printed, I sometimes have a hard time narrowing down what to make!  Having a theme makes it so much easier for me to decide. This month, I'm joining the #BakingBloggers, and we're sharing biscuit and scones recipes.

Cheeseburger Bowl

We're still experiencing temps in the 90s here in New England, so I've been making meals that come together quickly and don't heat up the house.  I've actually made these twice, once indoors on a grill pan on top of the stove because a thunderstorm rolled through at dinner time, and once on the outdoor grill.

Stuffed Zucchini

Even though the clock is ticking down on summer, the farms are still loaded with quality produce, and I'm busy stocking the freezer with meals. On my last trip, I grabbed some to make these Zucchini Carrot Muffins but had 2 left over. What to do with the rest? I searched the Taste of Home website and found this recipe for Stuffed Zucchini.

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

School starts tomorrow and I've been working to stock the house with easy on-the-go snacks and after school treats.  These Zucchini Carrot Muffins from Taste of Home are definitely perfect for both of those things! I made no changes to the recipe except to omit the nuts due to allergies.  Usually I crush up crisped rice cereal and use it in place of nuts, but I didn't have any on hand.  I overfilled my muffin cups and got 12 full size, plus a dozen mini muffin size. I also sprinkled the tops with raw sugar, I just love that sparkle and crunch! I adjusted the baking time to 24 minutes for the full size, and baked the minis for 13 minutes. These are great the day of, but they also freeze well.  I set them on a baking sheet in the freezer until they are solid, then I wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap.  I slide them all into one large ziptop bag. So easy to grab as many as I want. They can be microwaved to defrost, or you can do it on the counter...