I mentioned in my Cuban Sandwiches post that my mom, Free Range Nana, and my sister, Jessamine, and I went to Cornell University to visit my baby sister, Airlia. What I failed to mention in that post is that Airlia is not just my sister, she is a braniac. Want proof? Here she is outside of the building where she has most of her classes and spends most of her free time. That's right folks. Nanoscale science. My sister is a PHYSICS major at Cornell University. She is currently building a machine to reduce light to its smallest state. As in visible only as a mere particle. Need another example? This is the stuff she does View Post
Individual Garlic Bread Braids
Visit our Bread Recipes page for more wonderful homemade bread recipes! Bread makes me happy. Garlic bread makes me happier. Individual garlic bread makes me even happier than that, but individual garlic bread that is braided makes me happiest of all. They hit all of the food points that make me nearly weepy*. You have a.) bread, b.) extra tasty bread, c.) cute bread, and d.) cute bread to the fiftieth power. *I cannot be the only person who starts feeling a little teary over food they love. Come on. Somebody say it's not just me... Everyone loves individual servings. It's like when you were a kid and you scraped together enough View Post
Roasted Red Pepper Spread | Gardener’s Delight Eggs
And POOF! Just like that, summer was gone. I am fully aware that it is still technically summer but the tell tale signs are all around us: breath is foggy in the morning, cozy socks are back at the front of the sock drawer, scarves and jackets are shaken out of storage, and the produce at the farmers’ markets is taking a definite pumpkin-y turn. This, my friends, is fall. That giant cosmic yawp you just heard came from my ever-optimistic beloved husband who views the turning of the leaves as a personal metaphor for mortality. This is the same man who spends the first official day of summer in mourning because it means that the days will View Post
Bacon and Eggs Candy
I love food with a sense of humour. Something silly that makes you giggle and screams, "EAT ME!" * *Well, unless something is actually screaming "eat me" which would be more than just a little disconcerting. It just doesn't get much cuter than these little "Bacon and Eggs" candies that I saw years ago in Taste of Home and again at What Megan's Making. And it doesn't get much easier, either. You need three ingredients. Just three. You need about ten minutes, including clean-up. In short, you get a big, adorable pay-off for a very small commitment. Let's talk options, shall we? I've seen them made with white chocolate or white View Post
Garlic Butter Soft Pretzel Bites
I declare soft pretzels in their many forms to be my all-time favorite snack food with ZERO exceptions. Sure, there are many other delicious things with which to satisfy a snack attack, but there is nothing to compare to the pure satisfaction of biting into a chewy, salty, warm, soft pretzel. With mustard. Lots of mustard*. *I suppose, strictly speaking, that the mustard is optional, but not for me. No way. I need a good schmear of mustard, be it fancy-pants grainy or generic yellow squeeze bottle variety. I've eaten soft pretzels that were hanging for goodness knows how long in glass boxes on metal hangers under heat lamps at hockey and View Post
Bacon Jam (a.k.a. Oooh-Mommy! Jam)
You know food is going to make you happy when it smiles at you. (Probably could've made a buck selling a smiling egg yolk on eBay, but honey? There was no way I was walking away from this breakfast. And even if I did, there were twelve people waiting to take over the job for me this morning.) My love of bacon has been pretty well documented (proof of my bacon-obsession) but I can honestly tell you that today's recipe, Bacon Jam, is the my favorite way I've ever eaten it. I'm just going to say right here -at the beginning- that this is one of the hardest pieces I've ever written. I've flogged my brain for hours, but the fact is, View Post
Spicy Cocktail Nuts
Aw, nuts! As in aw, nuts. As in I'm nutty. As in I'm nuts for you guys. As in... let's just make these nuts already, eh? Spicy, sweet, salty, and totally addictive, these nuts will become an instant necessity in your holiday food arsenal. You will dream about these. Years ago (and we won't say how many because I might be having an aging crisis), a friend brought these to an event that I organized at the office*. Let's just say that these didn't make it past my desk to the buffet table. They stayed with me. And my friend wasn't allowed to pass the desk until he jotted down the recipe for me. Because I'm just that kind View Post
Thai Sweet and Hot Garlic Dipping Sauce
...Does writing two posts in a row with a sweet and spicy theme say something about me? In actuality, I do believe I can blame this one on you all, you sweet and spicy wildcats. I did, after all, put it up for a vote on the Foodie With Family Facebook fan phage. (Yes, I know it should be page, but I got carried away with alliterative abandon.) The voting results were narrowly skewed in favor of this addictive Thai Sweet and Hot Garlic Dipping Sauce. Never fear, my salsa fanatics! We'll be back on the salsa train tomorrow. In the meantime, if you're looking for my first salsa recipe in my week long salsa recipe series, you'll want to View Post
Sweet and Spicy Chipotle Kettle Corn
A.) It's rainy. B.) It's chilly. C.) My husband was on a business trip this week meaning that I parented our five boys solo. D.) My husband got in from that business trip at 1:30 a.m. this morning. E.) I've been canning like a maniac for weeks on end. F.) I have a hole in my heart that was created by my utter lack of time to watch my favorite movies lately. G.) I spent all of yesterday at the Angelica Farmer's Market with the kids (who were selling their Mortar Men and Room & Linen Sprays) on what turned out to be, according to the market's coordinator "...the slowest day we've ever actually had at the Farmer's View Post
Homemade Ghee (Clarified or Drawn Butter or Beurre Noisette)
Welcome to part III of the series of component dishes (Part I, Candied Jalapenos, can be read here! And Part II, Homemade Greek Yogurt and Cucumber Yogurt Salsa [Raita] can be read here!) to make the transcendent 'Second to Naanwich' that still has me obsessed almost three weeks after eating it. In the next post, I'll share the recipe for the Tandoori Style Grilled Chicken and directions for putting together the you-know-what! I promised myself I wouldn't start this post with an excuse about why it's taking me so ever-loving long to get these recipes to you. I pledged I wouldn't tell you all that I've been hosting everybody and their View Post