Dinning Room

Hello!  It seems that most of the US is experiencing bitterly cold temps right now, including us as we wait for the "polar vortex" to hit our neck of the woods Sunday and Monday.  I don't know about you but I'm a little tired of the cold weather and it is only early January.  We still have a couple of months at least of winter.  Ugh.  But on the positive side, cold weather is the best time to eat and cook one of our favorite foods; soups and stews of all kinds.  This one is amazing if you like bacon and cheese and really, who doesn't.  Beer and Cheddar Soup 8-10 slices of thick cut bacon chopped into 1/2 inch pieces 1 celery rib, finely chopped 1/2 of an onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 TBS chopped fresh thyme One 12 oz bottle of beer 3 cups reduced sodium chicken stock 4 TBS unsalted butter 1/4 cup flour 8 oz sharp yellow cheddar cheese, grated 4 oz smoked cheddar cheese, grated salt and pepper Directions: Cook bacon in a large pot over medium...

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I can't get enough pumpkin during the Fall season.  I love it.  Especially in scones.  These are simple, fast and so tender and flaky.  And I may or may not have eaten them all myself at midnight last night.  ;) Pumpkin Scones 2 cups all purpose flour 7 TBS sugar 1 TBS baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 6 TBS cold butter, cubed 1/2 cup canned pumpkin 3 TBS heavy cream 1 large egg Spiced Glaze 1 cup powdered sugar 2 TBS whole milk 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in food processor and pulse to combine.  Add cold butter and pulse until butter resembles small pea size crumbs.  Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream and egg.  Whisk until mixed together. Fold into wet ingredients.  Form dough into ball and pat into a 9 in x 3 in wide rectangle.  Cut into 3 equal portions.  But those 3 portions diago...

If you're anything like me, you start craving juicy summer fruit way before summer arrives and before perfectly ripe fruit hits the farmers market or grocery store.  When those cravings hit, I love to make these stuffed peaches because cooking less than ripe fruit in the oven brings out the flavor.  These are so simple and inexpensive to make with so few ingredients but taste like pure heaven.  Let's get started, shall we?  First, butter the bottom of a baking dish and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Take 3 peaches (more if you like), cut them in half and remove the pit.  I used white flesh peaches here because they are my favorite.  Then scoop out some of the flesh to make room for the cookies.  We use Biscoff cookies in this because I think the taste is amazing paired with the peaches.  Take 7 or 8 cookies, put them in a ziploc bag and smash them up.  You could also use a food processor but I think it's easier, with less to clean, to mash them...

With blueberries in abundance right now, not to mention affordable, I've been having fun making some of our favorite summer sweets.  One of those is blueberry scones.  But with the heat of the summer, the last thing I really want to do is roll out dough.   And sometimes I'm lazy.   That's why I love this recipe.   You throw the dough together and drop it in heaps on the baking sheet.   Simple.   And no chilling, rolling and cutting dough into triangles. Let me tell ya, the star here is definitely the orange glaze.  Without it, these are just ordinary scones.  With it, they are really something special.   Trust me.   As far as a glaze is concerned,  you just can't go wrong with melted butter, fresh squeezed orange juice and powdered sugar.   I could drink it. You can find the recipe here . I may or may not have eaten 4 of these just while taking the photos. Tip:  To make the glaz...

We aren't huge chocolate fans around our house so I usually make desserts without it for Valentines Day.  One of our favorites, Sticky Toffee Pudding.  However, I make my own version and turn it into individual trifles.  It somehow seems easier that way and I'm all about giving everyone their own little individual container with their own little dessert.  It just makes it more special. This recipe is pretty easy and uses ingredients that you probably already have, with maybe an  exception to the dates.  Start by chopping 3/4 cup of pitted dates into fine pieces and throwing them into a small bowl with 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Pour 1 1/4 cups of boiling water over them and set aside.  Next, in another bowl, combine 1 cup + 1 TBS all purpose flour and 1 tsp baking powder, combine and set aside. While those sit, combine 1/4 cup room temperature unsalted butter and 3/4 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer (or using a hand mixer) and mix until light...

I happen to love the month of February.  It's a whole month of love for us, not just Valentine's Day but our anniversary happens in February along with a couple of our kiddos birthdays, so, it feels like we celebrate our family the entire month, which I just love. On Valentine's Day, I like to go all out at dinnertime and make something for my man and kiddos that we don't eat on a regular basis, just to make them feel extra special.  Around our house, that is homemade Fettuccine Alfredo with fresh pasta.  I just don't think there is anything better than a rich creamy pasta dish eaten with those you love on Valentine's Day.   This recipe is really simple for those that think homemade alfredo sauce is hard to make, like I used to.  It's not.  And it tastes so much better than the jarred variety.  I wouldn't say it's healthier, loaded with heavy cream, cheese and butter, but at least you know what's going into it.  And there is nothing wrong wit...

 There is nothing I love more in the dead of winter than pulling out some preserved summer blueberries from the freezer and making a pie for my family.  It will definitely cure the winter blahs. And it gave me a good excuse to use my new vintage pie server that hubby brought home with a box of vintage flatware .  Anyone else think the pie photo above looks like a face??  My youngest, who's sitting here with me as I type, this just pointed that out.  And I think I'm gonna have to agree. This pie is simple to make because I just use a store bought pie crust dough, which is just as good as the homemade kind, if you ask me. Put 4 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries in a bowl with 3/4 cups sugar,  1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 cup flour.  Combine. Place one roll of pastry dough in the bottom of a pie dish. Next, pour blueberry mixture in, making sure to evenly distribute the sugar, flour, cinnamon mixture. Next, unroll second piece of pastry dough and place on t...

Hey there!  Did everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving?  Did you stuff yourselves silly like we did?  We have been nursing our sweet little boy back to health so I wanted to make something fast and light today.  Although, with a stick of butter in the vinaigrette, I'm not sure it's light on calories.  But hey, all the healthy fruit and spinach cancels that out, right??  The warm vanilla bean vinaigrette is what makes this salad so special and I could seriously just drink it by itself.  It's that good.  Also, this salad is a good way to get some veggies into your kiddos because of the sweetness of the dressing and the fruit added.   It's really a simple recipe and so yummy.  If you like vanilla or vanilla bean, you will love this salad.  Here's what you need for the vinaigrette. Melt a stick of butter in a small saucepan. To that, add 3 TBS of brown sugar and 2 TBS of honey.  Then scoop in the pulp of a vanilla bean and stir to...