lemon filled vanilla cupcakes + strawberry frosting

i make cupcakes for those that i love- get a cupcake from me, you know you are loved. cupcakes can make a bad day a little better, a celebration a little sweeter; cupcakes put a smile on almost anyones' face.

dark chocolate dipped orange + cashew biscotti

ever think you have enough time to accomplish a new recipe aka a recipe you have never tried and have no clue how much time it is going to take to complete, in a short amount of time? you carefully calculate every move you are going to make only to come up about 20 minutes short on time...

kale + white bean soup

what's not to love about soup, it is a weekly occurrence in our home - toss a few ingredients in a pot and simmer away. i had slow cooked great northern beans in the crock pot during the day with a bit of thyme, bay leaf and garlic- the smell was infectious, it hit you hard as you walked through the door. a smell that only meant one thing in that moment; soup was in order.

chocolate chip banana pancakes

This past weekend was definitely a "sunday morning banana pancakes" type of weekend- I had one perfectly ripe banana looking oh so lonely on the counter, throw in some chocolate chips to keep him company and I was on my way to pure pancake awesomeness. 

Road Trip!

   

Church Street Marketplace

Each year we head to Burlington, Vermont for Justin's Birthday- this year was extra special as he turned the big 3-0!  We ate and drank ourselves silly and enjoyed a beautiful suite at the Essex Culinary Resort & Spa.

On a whim

I came home the other day with the intent on making a simple dinner - Quiche for the "Boy", Spaghetti with left over slow cooked sauce made from last years ample supply of canned garden tomatoes along with a loaf of Roasted Garlic Artisan Bread. Simple, easy, fast - right ? or so I thought...

Artisan Bread

There isn't anything more in this world that says comfort food & love to me than loaves of homemade crusty bread fresh from the oven - well maybe my Grams homemade chicken soup speaks to me in the same way but that is an entirely different story in itself.

From the humble beginnings of flour, water and yeast comes a crusty, chewy, fragrant little piece of heaven. I came across a great book - Artisan Bread in five minutes a day. The title is a little deceiving, I can be quite literal at times and I thought great! fresh bread in five minutes plus baking...resting and rising times I did not account for. The wait is certainly worth the while, once you have mastered the "Master Recipe" you can add your own signature flavors - my personal favorite, "Oven Roasted Garlic", yum!

Jumping in with both feet

Where did that saying come from anyway? I had been contemplating starting a Blog for the past year to share my love of food & gardening- what better time of year than now.

With my ever growing Cookbook obsession, errr collection it has been decided that I will start 2011 cooking, eating, blogging about my love of food, cooking disasters- I am sure there will be plenty of those, along with features on my favorites Farmers, localvore movement and organic gardening.