December 24, 2014

Chocolate chip snowball cookies

Tin filled with parchment paper and chocolate chip snowball cookies.

Mini chocolate chips are nestled into these delicious little buttery cookies that are coated in powdered sugar to look like festive snowballs. 

December 22, 2014

Roasted heirloom sweet meat squash and chestnut soup


It's Christmas week and Week 8 of 12 Weeks of Winter Squash! This week I'm sharing a recipe that is lovely for a holiday dinner starter. It's made with a beautiful blue heirloom squash called "sweet meat" and it lives up to its name. This squash is sweet, dense, and meaty and the flesh is a beautiful bright orange - you just know this sucker is going to fill you up with vitamins. My father-in-law grew it in his huge garden this year, so we received a few of them. I had never seen these squash before so as a HUGE winter squash lover, I was very excited to try a new kind! Look at how pretty it is!



Of course, if you can't find your very own sweet meat squash, you can substitute a blue hubbard, kabocha, or red kuri squash as they are somewhat similar in texture and sweetness. You can also grow you own sweet meats next year! They make beautiful decorations, too! 

This soup will serve four as a side or starter. It's filled with other holiday flavors like chestnuts, apple, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

December 19, 2014

Orange-scented cranberry cake with sugared cranberries

Finished orange scented cranberry cake with sugared cranberries.

Sugared cranberries are something I've been wanting to make for a while now because they just look so pretty and festive. Recently, we had a birthday dinner for my mom and I was in charge of the dessert. She requested a cranberry cake and this gave me the opportunity to make sugared cranberries to decorate this cake studded with fresh cranberries and orange zest. My mom doesn't like frosting, so I went with a very light glaze made with fresh orange juice - or you could top each slice with some freshly whipped cream and the sugared cranberries. Everyone enjoyed the cake and my husband really enjoyed the sugared cranberries and was eating them like candy!

This cake was adapted from this recipe that I've had marked for a while now. I'm really glad I gave this cake a try. It was only lightly sweet, but sweet enough, with punches of tartness from the fresh cranberries. I really do love fresh cranberries and do not use them nearly enough in my cooking. I'm changing that for sure. If you are looking for an elegant holiday dessert, look no further! It's a bit of a process, but the results are worth it. I'll definitely be making sugared cranberries more often now!

Cranberry cake on a platter with sugared cranberries.

December 15, 2014

Smoky garlic, delicata squash, and bacon pizza

Finished garlic, delicata squash, and bacon pizza.

I love delicata squash because not only are they delicious, but they are so pretty and very quick cooking. I've been thinking about putting winter squash on a pizza for a while now and finally decided that delicata would be the winner. 

Posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase an item from these links, a small percentage goes to support the work of this blog. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The sweet, creamy squash pairs so nicely with the salty, smoky, and crispy bacon. To up the smoky deliciousness of the pizza, I used smoked mozzarella.

For my pizza crust, I almost always use this recipe. For this pizza I used this crust which I find usually makes two pizzas that are about 10-11 inches in diameter (this depends on how much flour your dough takes that day given the humidity, etc.) 

This recipe is for two pizzas about that size. We make pizzas probably about once a week or every two weeks. We love pizza and now that I've discovered these simple dough recipes, it's so simple to make at home. Plus, you can try out all sorts of toppings and combinations!

Sliced finished pizza.

December 10, 2014

Hot buttered spiced apple cider with rum

This recipe contains alcohol and is intended for those readers who are 21 and over. Please drink responsibly. 

Glasses of Hot buttered spiced apple cider with rum.

How can it be that this is only the second drink containing alcohol that I've shared on this blog?!? I mean, really? I guess it's mainly because my husband and I are generally boring drinkers - beer, whiskey on the rocks, or the occasional glass of wine. We don't really make a lot of mixed drinks except when he whips up a martini every now and again... However, I think it's time to change that. 

I've been wanting to try a buttered rum or hot toddy or some other warm and festive drink for a while now. This drink is a combination of hot buttered rum and hot spiced apple cider and it's delicious - so perfect for the holidays or any cold evening. A lot of the recipes I read for buttered rum were loaded with butter and brown sugar! My version is lighter on both of those and will make two drinks. The addition of butter is just enough to add a touch of creaminess and froth to the drink. 

I'm sharing this cocktail recipe today in celebration of 5 years of this blog! I never imagined I'd still be blogging about recipes and, even crazier, that I don't see an end in sight - I still have so many recipes I want to make and share! I'm thrilled to have "met" so many fantastic, creative, and inspiring people through this medium. I truly thank all of you who stop by and read, leave comments, share and talk on social media, etc. So this drink is a toast to all of you! Cheers!

Hot buttered spiced apple cider with rum topped with ground spice.

December 3, 2014

Whole wheat acorn squash waffles with walnut and cinnamon syrup

Plate of whole wheat acorn squash waffles topped with walnuts and cinnamon maple syrup.

I've been on a bit of a breakfast recipe kick lately when it comes to winter squash. This time, it's waffles - waffles infused with a mashed acorn squash, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and topped with more cinnamon, sticky toasted walnuts, and warm maple syrup. 

Posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase an item from these links, a small percentage goes to support the work of this blog. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Yes, this is my kind of weekend breakfast. I wanted to use acorn squash for a couple of reasons. The first is that we had some really small ones, so I was hoping that i would be able to use it all in the recipe and not have any leftover squash remains. 

The second is that acorn squash is not very sweet when compared to many winter squashes and I like this in a breakfast that I'm going to douse in maple syrup. I'm not a fan of sweet overload, especially in the morning.

This recipe made 9 waffles for me, though this will depend on the size and shape of your waffle iron.

Side view of a stack of whole wheat acorn squash waffles.

December 1, 2014

OSOhome personalized wood cutting board review {and special offer!}

Disclosure: OSOhome provided me with the cutting board for my review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Photo courtesy of OSOhome - I love the apple!

 Today I'm doing a post that's a bit different (i.e., not a recipe), but I hope you will enjoy it! 

I was lucky enough to meet Monica of OSOhome at the World on Your Plate 11th Annual Conference on Food & Sustainable Living in October where I sat in on her Entrepreneurship workshop. I took this workshop on a hunch that I might pick up some good tips and ideas for growing and marketing my blog. Little did I know that I would also meet someone who owns a small business that creates beautiful and eco-friendly wood cutting boards and is also pretty local to me (just a short drive over the bridge)! As you all know, I'm very passionate about local foods, supporting local farmers and food artisans, and also the environment, so when they asked me to review their cutting boards - it was a no-brainer! I am picky about the companies I support and promote on my blog, but after meeting Monica, learning about their company, and receiving the product, I'm a full supporter of their work!

 My cutting board after I opened the box. The wrapping and presentation was very pretty.