and their 612 page cookbook not much! I am really excited about our Giveaway and post this week. America’s oldest flour company, King Arthur Flour, and I have teamed up this week to offer you a new healthy chocolate cake recipe and the chance to win a prize package of King Arthur Flour products including their fantastic cookbook. (more…)
Who doesn’t love a good Snickerdoodle? I mean come on…you can’t help but smile even when you say its name. These fluffy centered, crisp around the edge cookies are great dunked in an after-school glass of cold milk, served along side a piping hot cup of tea, or even left out on a plate on Christmas Eve for a jolly ol’ man in a red suit. (more…)
Do you hear that? Are they Santa’s bells? Is it the excited squeals of children opening gifts? No, it’s me – whooping it up at my computer as I type this. When you think of a holiday cookie bake-off do you think of health? Nutrition? The LA Times did! This year, my Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies were chosen as one of the ten winners of their Holiday Cookie Bake-Off! After LA Times readers (and I know many of you were amongst them – thank you!) narrowed down the recipes from over 200, the 50 top recipes were brought to Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School where they were baked up and judged on flavor, texture, richness, visual appearance and holiday spirit. I am thrilled to say that my Healthier Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies made with Whole Wheat flour, raw sugar and flax meal met those stringent requirements and then exceeded them! Here’s to health, nutrition…and cookies! Cheers! (more…)
As I was planning Out of the Box Food’s Holiday Cookie Month, I was reminded of a recipe I developed last year which makes a deliciously crunchy, heart healthy lemon cookie. These cookies bake up crisp and delicate and are made with olive oil instead of butter which means that in addition to being easier on the waistline, they’re Vegan friendly too. Plus, if you eat Gluten Free, the Whole Wheat Pastry Flour can be evenly substituted with Gluten-Free Baking Flour for a wheat-free treat. Oh, and did I mention they’re quick and easy? (more…)
I love the holidays. The air gets cold and crisp, colored lights twinkle from trees, the kids get excited and I get to bake! There is just something magical that happens when the kitchen is warm from the oven and the house is filled with the sweet smell of vanilla and cinnamon. But do the crisp cookies and sumptuous cakes need to be unhealthy? Not at all! With a few simple adjustments, our holiday treats can be both delicious and nutritious. (more…)
The Best Vanilla-Spice Icing Ingredients: 1/2 C milk 3" piece vanilla bean 3" piece cinnamon stick 1/2 tsp cream of tarter 1 C powdered sugar Directions: In a small saucepan,…
Happy Thanksgiving! I know, I know…it’s not quite Thanksgiving. I won’t rush it. But how many of us start scouring the internet, cookbooks and magazines mid-October, planning out our Thanksgiving meals? I certainly do and the Food Network knows there are people like myself out there, looking for new, inspired recipes this holiday season. This year they’ve come up with a way to bring the recipes and ideas to one place with a Virtual Thanksgiving table. This gathering, dubbed The Communal Table, was created to bring food bloggers and writers together to share some of their favorite Thanksgiving dishes with the Food Network community. (more…)
Fall is back and so is the craving for warm, Sunday morning breakfast treats. But before we hop into the car and head down to the local doughnut shop, or rip open a package of (gasp) Hostess Doughnuts, let’s take a look at what ingredients are actually in (full disclosure) my favorite treat.
There are so many things I love about fall. I love thick sweaters and tall boots, sipping cups of hot tea as I watch the fog rolling slowly over the mountains beyond my window…and of course I love autumn’s bountiful harvest of crisp, sweet apples – fresh and tart from the tree or caramelized and warm from the oven. Imagine my delight this morning when a friend and her son handed me a surprise at school drop off – a bag full of freshly picked apples from their tree (Thank you Kari & Aidan)!! I knew it was time to plunge into fall baking and seeing as it was a school night, I decided on these easy and delicious baked apples. There is nothing quite like the aroma of warm apples, cinnamon and spices filling the kitchen, watching my children press their noses against the oven door, anxious for whatever is baking to find it’s way into their mouths. (more…)
There are moments in life when the realization of how fragile we are shifts everything into perspective. This past week, special friends of the family, Laura, Collene & Courtney Gaugh lost their loving husband/father, Bill Gaugh, a man not quite 49 years old. Two days later I read that food writer, Jennifer Perillo, whose blog I follow, lost her young husband. It is times like these that remind us to gather our loved ones close, and remember how important it is to cherish every second. (more…)