Life Lately…
This has been a difficult two weeks to find time, a spare moment, a tiny bit of a day to stop, reflect, bake, post; all the things I love to do. But other blessings have made their way into my life, the only struggle being that it is all at once. Please don’t mistake this [...]
Lemon Bar Birthday Cake
Lemon Bars Our son likes cake, but he absolutely loves lemon bars. For his birthday on Sunday, I decided to forgo the traditional cake and make him a mini cake out of lemon bars. The flaky, vanilla crust in this recipe compliments the fresh squeezed lemon flavor of the savory filling. I went the extra [...]
Chicken Salad CV
Chicken salad has been a food I haven’t liked until recently. It’s quite unappetizing to eat it when it’s saturated with mayonnaise, that’s too much creamy-ness for my taste. I prefer the mayo to ever-so-slightly coat the rest of the salad. This version caught my taste buds off guard. I wasn’t prepared for the smokey [...]
Toffee Chocolate Bars
Tis the season of cookouts, gatherings and celebrations. I love to look at new recipes to be inspired for new ideas. Recently I decided to look at an old settlement cookbook that I picked up a few years ago. This one is from Milwaukee, and my edition is 1951. These cookbooks were a great help [...]
Mother’s Day
As a mom, I’ve always cherished the homemade gifts from our sons. Sometimes it was the clay artwork project from school, a handwritten note, or a something special from the kitchen. Even though they are now teenagers I still prefer a gift from their heart, such as time spent together or their thoughts written down [...]
Locavores
What does “local” mean? Everybody would answer this differently. Lindsay Christians interviewed several people, including Julie at The Vanilla Beanery, to explore the world of “local” around the Madison area. Check out her article here.
Togetherness
People are an important part of my life – family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and the friends I have not yet met. Food is a frequent way to come together. Perhaps it’s a good meal together at a local restaurant or a quiet dinner in our home, what’s important is that we sit down together and [...]
Slice of Nirvana
Chocolate runs through my veins. So, when a co-worker brought me a slice of this chocolate cake, I was happy to sample it. The dense, rich cake is closer to cheesecake than traditional cake. The bittersweet chocolate flavor satisfied a craving for a deep, dark chocolate. The ganache spread over the cake is the perfect [...]
Vanilla Apples
That darn sweet tooth… Sugar cravings have been in overdrive these last couple days, so I decided to come up with something I could eat without a lot of guilt. Using just items I had on hand this is what I whipped up today. Oh, I should mention… I started this without starting dinner. When [...]
Cabin Pound Cake
At the beginning of bottling vanilla extract, my friend Beth ordered a big bottle. I’m pretty sure this was the first recipe she tried with our vanilla and she says it is perfect in this recipe. After hearing how much she enjoyed this sweet goodness, I had to get the recipe. Wow! I must say, [...]