Inhale. I am giving you permission unlike Bill Clinton’s little foray. You’re not running for president are you? Let’s hope not. Use some imagination…c’mon…I know you can. Close your eyes, picture standing in my kitchen. Please step over the Golden Retriever. Chances are, she is lying at your feet, or more likely has her nose in your crotch. Try to ignore that…it’s difficult, but please try for this little exercise.
I’m out of things to say my friends, and I yet I sit here and write because it makes me feel better. It’s been a hard weekend. I stood with my mother at the bedside of one of my uncles today during the last hour of his life. I don’t have answers as to why some lives are so much more difficult than others. His life has always been difficult and yet honestly, he was mostly a really cheerful guy. How? I have no idea. I would not have endured with as much vigor and zest for life.
Cool new plate from Misadventures in Cooking Giveaway!
These delicate, raspberry or Nutella filled mini Linzer cookies are rich and buttery, just slightly crispy and have so few ingredients, you are guaranteed to have them on hand. This recipe is from the Barefoot Contessa and requires NO EGGS which concerned me at the get-go, but after tasting them, I was sold and so was my Girl Scout Troop as they nibbled inhaled the raw cookie dough sans salmonella.
I saw these totally retro, devilishly chocolate, homemade Twinkies on Simple Math Bakery’s site last week (check Jeanne’s site out…much better photos there my friends). They immediately brought back memories of sitting in the school lunch shelter at turquoise painted picnic tables (gum stuck to the underneath of course), chatting with my friends and trading chips and cookies when someone had what you wanted.
When I broke into my lunch, I immediately had to check out the dessert action first. I have always had a very bad sweet tooth I’m afraid.
The best (and worst for you) part of any kid’s 70’s lunch, if she was worth her salt, was the Hostess surprise inside. Whether it was a semi-stale bright yellow Twinkie or the foil wrapped Devil’s food, Ding Dong, Hostess was the king of the Snack world in the 70’s…though, sadly and very gratefully, not any more. Continue reading
Those beautiful visions of snackdom you see there are peanut butter whoopie pies with dark chocolate buttercream filling. My dad sent me an email yesterday with this link, making sure I was fully aware that it was National Peanut Butter Day. There’s a National Peanut Butter Day?! How exciting!!! Who knew? So I gleefully hopped on the peanut butter celebration train and took a wild ride.
I am not confused. It is not fall here nor most likely where you are either which is especially apparent if you are under five feet of snow. But who says that pumpkin anything must be reserved for Fall? We don’t reserve wonderful things like chocolate nor vanilla beans for one season. Yes, the argument perhaps is that pumpkins are not growing right now, and ideally we should use ingredients that grow locally and are fresh, but sometimes we just may happen to have a left over can (or 10…I stockpile) of organic pumpkin puree that needs to be used.
Have you ever had an Emergency Chocolate Situation? I usually keep a bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips on hand for these moments. I eat at least three or four a day. I honestly can’t remember having gone an entire day without chocolate. Ever. So when I was craving something sweet, chocolatey and frankly buttery and fattening for our weekend breakfast, I immediately glanced over at “THE BAG”.
These Rocky Road cupcakes are a perfect example of my tug-of-war with my family over good taste. My daughter and I had to make two versions of these lovely cupcakes to please both sides of the food spectrum at my house. You know that old song, “You say tomato (to-may-to) and I say tomato (to-maw-to), You say, Po “tay” to and I say Po “taw” to…Let’s Call the whole thing off?” Well that is sort of the story of my food life at our house. Here is version two of the Rocky Road cupcake with Coconut and Peanuts. Continue reading
I will start with these lightly spiced cardamom and cinnamon, apple-blueberry muffins because most of you come here for the recipes and this one is a doozy—And it’s my own creation! Our biggest losers group started our diets again this weekend and weighed in. I brought muffins to share, and yes, I am a little evil.
This Hoisin bathed pork topped pizza was my dream pizza this week. With sliced pears and apples, chopped green onions and dots of aged Gorgonzola, this pizza made me feel like quite the gourmet as I proudly rubbed my knuckles on my imaginary chef’s whites and obnoxiously touted my own horn. Yes, one of my kids may have asked what the pungent odor was, and no one but me and the dog had any desire to chow it down, but I really didn’t care one little bit.
Please excuse bad photo. Photographer has no understanding of lighting at night.
Sweet And Crumby 