When planning food for a party menu, I usually try too hard. Often, I want guests to be impressed: I think of dishes that will look amazing, use exotic ingredients, and be overly unique. And yeah, I’ll admit that it makes me a stressed out wreck for the beginning part of the holiday season. Over
I love any party that involves gougéres, also known as: cheese puffs! I’ll wager you know what I mean: those airy puffs of dough packed with an intense cheese flavor. And really, they aren’t too hard to make. The base is composed of a pâte à choux dough, butter, flour and eggs. Sounds like simple
Can you believe Christmas time is already here? I mean, actually here: like, it’s December. Not that fake kind of here-in-July when certain stores – I’ll refrain from naming – start putting out their Christmas decor. Ironically, this is just when it seems like I finally put mine away – joking, of course! When December hits, I
Do you dream about Christmas parties? Ok, I can’t be the only one! Surely some of you do too. And I don’t mean just any old Christmas party. I’m envisioning one of those idyllic parties you’d see in a movie. Maybe the setting is White Christmas (one of my favorites!) with a mix of The Holiday,
I create new Thanksgiving recipes every year. Some are far different from anything that would be considered traditional and some are simply variations on the usual. And growing up with my Mom and Grandma, I know better than anyone: you cannot mess with Thanksgiving traditions. That being said, certain items can be updated (or refreshed
Every year, I plant more and more squash and pumpkins. The patch started a few years ago with about 50 hills and this year I topped 80 hills. This probably seems odd to most people. I’m in my 30’s and live alone: what could I possibly do with all this harvest? It’s a fair question,
When it comes to my own kitchen, I love to experiment with food, use unique spices and “travel” the world through flavor. But when it comes to Thanksgiving, I’ve traditionally been in the “stay with what I know” crowd, recreating those staple dishes I’ve we’ve always had as a family. Sometimes that’s great but oftentimes,
Do you love caramel? I do! To me, there’s something purely magical about the process of cooking sugar. The process isn’t overly complicated; it just takes some patience. And when drizzled over a batch of these homemade caramel apples, it’s seriously so good. Plus, they’re the perfect treat to give out when trick or treaters stop