Chock-full of Goodness Cookies

  I came up with these quick, easy,  healthy-ish (at least I’d like to believe that – haha) cookies on the fly today to satisfy a sweet tooth.  This recipe falls under the category of  “Use What You Have”, but I’m very pleased with the way they turned out.  Not too sweet, a little chocolate, a little tart from the cranberries and a nice texture from the coconut and rolled oats.  I used dark chocolate…

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Damn Good Crock-Pot Chili

  This is a chili recipe with beans. Every time I make chili I do it slightly differently. It’s one of those things that is wide open for interpretation. You can’t really mess it up. I’ve made many types of chili including white chili with chicken or turkey, green pork chili and various types or red beef chili. This time I wanted to make a chili that was a little more subtle, and less acidic.…

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Pavlova Nests With Raspberries and Dark Chocolate

Pavlova. I wasn’t entirely sure what it was when a friend suggested it as a way to use up some of the bumper crop of raspberries I had posted a picture of.  I had heard of it, but never had it. I vaguely knew what it looked like, but had no idea how to make it. I was intrigued. So, off to do one of my favorite things, research recipes! Pavlova, is a meringue based…

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Use What You Have Pasta Salad

I almost skipped writing this post, because it’s so simple. But, if you’re like me, during the dog days of summer, I don’t want to cook and I certainly don’t want to go out into the heat to go to the grocery store, unless I absolutely have to. So I get creative, and when that creativity is successful I write it down. A few days ago, it was humid and hot and I had NO…

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Missing Tucson Crockpot Carnitas

It’s times like these, when I’m craving authentic, Mexican food that I especially miss my days in Tucson, Arizona. Massachusetts, for the most part, has not mastered the art of real Mexican food. Tucson, is situated about an hours drive north of the Sonoran border of Mexico. It’s full of fantastic little, sometimes hole-in-the-wall restaurants AND food trucks that would put to shame any Mexican cuisine found around here. Sure, we have the chain restaurants,…

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Better Than Best Banana Bread

  You know it’s time to make banana bread when you open up the freezer and several frozen bananas come spilling out. Obviously I’m a terrible judge on how many bananas to buy at one time. It seems that at least one out of every bunch starts to turn too spotty and black before I get to it. I know, I know… That’s when they’re at their most nutritious. Which is why I freeze them…

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My Trusty, Tasty Yellow Cake

I have used this recipe several times, most recently to make a wedding cake and cupcakes – see Picture Today entry: Tips for Constructing & Decorating a Cake When You’re Not a Cake Boss. This recipe will make a half sheet cake, 2 – 9 inch rounds, or 22 jumbo cupcakes. This cake has a great buttery taste and is moist and a little dense. It’s the perfect consistency for large or tiered cakes. Here…

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Dreamy Creamy Buttercream Icing

If you read my blog post: Tips for Constructing and Decorating a Cake When You’re Not a Cake Boss, this is the icing I used to decorate the wedding cake and cupcakes, and it was a big success! I did a lot of research to find just the right decorating icing that I hoped would taste good and hold up in uncertain weather. You never know what kind of weather April will bring to Tucson.…

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Icicle Art – Winter 2015

When Mother Nature hands you lemons, in this case frigid temps, 5+ feet of snow, and a severe case of cabin fever, you make lemonade – i.e. get creative. These images were taken from the warm comfort of my kitchen, looking out my kitchen window. These icicles seemed to appear over night, and then they just continued to grow. Over the course of a couple weeks they morphed into various shapes and lengths before finally melting…

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