Food
Apple Cake
There’s logic and then there’s food logic. For instance, I don’t feel guilty about eating this cake because there’s more fruit and nuts in it than say, flour. When applied to the laws of normal logic, that justification doesn’t work. It’s a good thing the laws of normal logic don’t apply here. Right? Right? Before making my grandma’s apple cake recipe this week, I had a conference with my 3 favorite aunts about the recipe ingredients. Aunts are a gift from God. They bring so much perspective to your life. My question to my aunts was about whether or not the right amount of sugar was listed on the recipe. It…
Whiskey Cake
To all the cakes I’ve ever made, to all the cakes I’ve never made, there is only one cake for me. I considered calling this post “the best dessert you’ll ever shove in your mouth.” Classy, I know. I just didn’t think it was quite dramatic enough though. Sweet blessed sunshine. Up until yesterday I would have taken a pie over a cake every single time. “Uh, Alex? I’d like to change my answer.” This whiskey cake was–what’s better than amazing? That’s how this cake tasted. The recipe is actually called Jack Daniels Whiskey Cake and my aunt gave it to me eons ago. I do not know where she got the…
Rosemary Garlic Artisan Bread (5 Minute)
I decided to expand my bread-making horizons. Why? Well, duh, it’s bread! Does it need further explanation? I’m still making my Dave’s Killer Bread Copycat Recipe every 5 or 6 days. That’s our every day toast and sandwich bread and I love it more now than I did when I first started making it. Truly. However, I want to learn how to make crazy good artisan bread. The kind that transports you to a sidewalk cafe in Paris with every chewy, delectable bite. Yesterday I started Googling recipes to see what was out there and how involved this process might be. Recipes and techniques were all over the board. It was hard to keep…
Coconut Popcorn
I don’t have much to share with you today…except my latest obsession. Coconut popcorn. When my husband and I wedded in a beautiful church with wood paneled walls and burnt orange carpeting some caring soul gifted us a popcorn maker. That was 16 years ago and this bad boy is one of the most beloved, hard-working kitchen gadgets we’ve ever owned. It’s also super easy and quick to make popcorn using it. Really. Now, the reason why I’m calling this recipe coconut popcorn is that I made a little discovery. (Just nod your head and tell me I’m awesome if you’ve already discovered this before me.) If you pop the…
Notebook Paper Lunchbox Notes – Free Printable
We are in back-to-school countdown mode around these parts! I always associate the start of school with fall, but in Georgia it is still 95 degrees. Definitely not fall-like weather. Maybe in a couple of months… But whether I think it feels like the start of school or not, it’s still starting! Time to get with the program. Last year I started packing my daughter’s lunch with reusable lunchbox notes. I made these day-of-the-week notes and will keep using them this year. They’ve held up great! (There’s a free printable if you click on the link to that post.) This is my son’s first time in all-day school, so he gets to…
Zucchini Cornbread
I recently posted a blueberry zucchini muffin recipe and made clear my feelings on all things zucchini-related. The muffins were crazy delicious, by the way. You never end up with just ONE zucchini, right? Nothing else in your garden will grow, but you will have 1,000 zucchini. Or your neighbor has 1,000 zucchini and suddenly “gifts” you more zucchini than one family could ever possibly consume. But even I, the zucchini skeptic, was intrigued when I heard about a recipe for Zucchini Cornbread. Intriguing, right? The problem with most cornbread recipes is that the cornbread turns out dry. Theoretically, the zucchini would do a good job at combating this little…
Blueberry Zucchini Muffins
Zucchini. The vegetable that grows an inch every time you turn your back on it. It’s really not my favorite vegetable. However, this recipe has me reconsidering my favorites list. I found a recipe for Blueberry Zucchini Bread on Allrecipes and it had an almost 5-star rating out of approximately 1,600 reviews. Holy smokes! That must be a good recipe. Or is it? Even with amazing online reviews, will it pass muster with my critical family? Chief critics include: the 5-year-old picky, doesn’t eat anything weird eater and the 69-year-old, life-long zucchini hater. Tough crowd. Well, I didn’t tell either of my chief critics that this muffin recipe included 2 cups of zucchini.…
Dave’s Killer Bread Artisan-Style
I had the opportunity to try a bread experiment last week. I made a double batch of my Dave’s Killer Bread Knock-Off recipe, but I realized I only had 3 loaf pans and I needed 4. Hmm. This is the kind of problem opportunity I live for. Too much bread dough, too few pans. I can work with this. I mulled the issue over for half a second and decided to let my 4th loaf rise in a pie plate instead. Perhaps I’d get a cool artisan-looking loaf out of it? I greased the pie plate with shortening, just like I normally do. You could also spray it with cooking…
Pane Bianco with Apples, Raisins & Cinnamon
Ever since I made Pane Bianco with Sausage, Sundried Tomatoes and Basil, I’ve been obsessed with, in no particular order, the following: 1. Calling ordinary white bread by a fancy Italian name like Pane Bianco. 2. Finding fancy Italian names for most everything ordinary. “Lavare i piatti” means “doing dishes.” See, it sounds so good, I almost want to do the dishes! 3. Making everything into a curvy figure-8 shape. 4. Wondering why I have a curvy shape. Oh, wait. Never mind. 5. Wondering what else I could fill my Pane Bianco with. Hmm. That sounded…uh, wrong. Sorry! Wondering how I could adapt the Pane Bianco recipe. There. That sounds better. 😉…
Fresh Triple Berry Pie
We went berry picking last weekend. It was 90 degrees at 10 a.m. and we were probably a week too early, but we did come away with a nice haul of blueberries and blackberries. We just had to work a little harder to find the ripe ones! I froze most of the berries, but couldn’t resist enjoying a few of them right away. Since it has been so hot here in Georgia (they don’t call it Hot-lanta for nothing), a fresh fruit pie sounded way more refreshing than a baked fruit pie. So, that’s what I did. Now, my definition of a fresh fruit pie is one that uses a baked pie…
