The holidays bring out all of my stressors. I stress about money, getting all of the gifts finished, making sure the kids are at the appropriate party at the right time, squeezing in a trip or two to visit out-of-town family, and trying not to indulge so much that I have to totally swap over to wearing nothing but leggings and yoga pants before the end of the year. I run off of ...
Butternut Squash Bisque
Smooth and warm and comforting for a winter's day light lunch. Butternut Squash Bisque will warm the cockles of your heart. I have come down with the first (and hopefully last) cold of the season. I'm all achy, my ears have a slight ring to them, my throat is raw and my head is all stopped up. The simplest of tasks has me run down and out of energy. The furthest I have gone ...
Almond & Jam Thumbprint Cookies
We are in a whole new territory this Christmas. Our children informed us a couple months ago that the jig was up. That they knew the secret. Our cover had been blown. The era of Santa was over. Is it awful to say that I was happy to hear it? For years I have been losing credit for some pretty awesome gifts. Not to mention that I have been forced into ...
Chocolate Chip Biscotti
It doesn’t matter how old you get, having dessert for breakfast always sounds like a great idea. Especially this time of year when the last slice of pumpkin pie is totally a balanced meal and the family weekend brunch most certainly includes a heaping pile of cinnamon rolls. Cookies are a little harder to justify. I guess you could call it a “breakfast cookie” but they lack the ...
Peanut Butter Marbled Fudge
This time of year is rough on me. I struggle with it emotionally and physically. I'm talking of course about being surrounded by sweets 24/7. I'm struggling to physically get my butt into my pants and I'm struggling emotionally trying to convince myself to not eat all of the delicious sweets that I have surrounded myself with. I'm okay with it for now. January will be here ...
Porchetta Roll with Chimichurri Sauce
I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas. I love all of the gift giving and cookie making. I love the get-togethers and all of the twinkling lights. What I don't love is just how dang expensive it is. Every holiday season we struggle to do all of the gifting we want without digging ourselves into a hole of debt that we then spend the next several ...
Garlic Shrimp Rice Bowl
Living in the country on the edges of society has always had its sacrifices. We knew that when we moved back nearly 6 years ago to my small hometown. But here recently, a little bit of the modern world has finally reached our doorstep. We now have honest-to-goodness internet. Oh sure, we had internet before. It came out of a tiny black box that sat in ...
Easy Breakfast Hash
I’m not sure what it was that possessed me to raise chickens. Maybe it was the fresh country air, maybe it was chicken coop envy, maybe it was how cute and fluffy they are when they are little chicks, but it most certainly had something to do with eggs. There is nothing quite like an egg from a happy chicken. Unlike the sad, bland eggs from the grocery store, the eggs ...
Turkey Cranberry Sliders
Let’s be honest. Thanksgiving is delicious and all, but the best part is all of the leftovers. If done correctly, the fridge will be full of meals that I don’t have to work too hard for for the majority of the week. The first couple of meals are generally a similar version of the original meal; swap the virtuous Brussel sprouts ...
Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Shells
Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Shells is handy freezer meal to have at the ready. Cheesy and delicious and covered in sauce, this dish will make your busiest evenings a cinch. Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Shells makes for a fantastic family meal that is so easy to make! This is one of those recipes that you can prep ahead of time and freeze, then bake on a busy night, or ...
Crock Pot Double Chicken Stock
Chicken stock is one of those things that everyone knows that they should make themselves. That if they did, in fact, make their own that it would be practically free. Making chicken stock seems like a daunting task because good chicken stock takes forever on the stovetop. It just sits there, barely bubbling the day away until every ounce of deliciousness has been sucked out ...
Pumpkin Cake Roll
The “cake roll” has been around for a long time. The Swiss roll and the Yule log come to mind as the most classic of rolled desserts. The mesmerizing spiral of cake and sweet, creamy filling are hard to resist. I don’t roll cake for just any occasion. Its nerve racking and delicate work, but the end result is so impressive that I will set aside my fear and give it a go. ...
From Scratch Green Bean Casserole
At the height of the atomic age, canned foods and anything encased in gelatin were all the rage. Commercial food companies everywhere were vying for the attention of housewives in the new suburbs of America. They came up with all sorts of crazy (and many times, unappetizing) recipes that could be whipped up in a hurry with their products. Campbell’s Soup was no ...
Sweet Potato Rolls
Even though the weather is more like Summer than mid-Autumn, there is no denying that Thanksgiving is just a few short weeks away. Cooks everywhere are compiling grocery lists, digging out family recipes, and trying to locate the gravy boat in order to prepare for the biggest meal of the year. Thanksgiving is all about tradition. There must be turkey and ham, ...
Banana and Blackberry Baked Oatmeal
I think every plan that I have made in the last week has been thwarted. Plans to go into work early to get things done were interrupted by a broken water main. Efforts to actually make it to work on time were waylaid by 6 escaped chickens and a dog that thinks they are delicious. And all of the good intentions for spending my day off prepping meals for the week were ...