Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet it is so often the most forgotten. Eating a smart breakfast leads to healthier choices all day long, which is true for me, even if the reason is less scientific and more guilt-driven. When I start the day with healthy fare, like Elderberry Ginger Pecan Parfaits, I’m that much more likely to make better choices throughout the rest of the day. When I start the day with bacon and pancakes, it’s…
Easy Chicken Cacciatore
Cooking for a Crowd, Cooking for One or Two, Recipes, Weekend Cooking, Worknight Dinners March 23, 2015
One of the tricks to being a good cook is knowing when not to overdo it. Several years ago I was cooking dinner for a then-boyfriend and decided that I wanted to make some sort of fancy seafood situation. I spent about an hour wandering around the grocery store before I settled on sautéed scallops and a simple risotto. Let me just say that neither of those ideas were simple. What would have been simple? Easy Chicken Cacciatore. …
Blueberry Elderberry Tart with Shortbread Crust
Breakfast & Brunch, Recipes, Sweet Treats March 19, 2015
If you love to bake, there is nothing more exciting than trying a brand new appliance or ingredient that you’ve never before used in the kitchen. We recently discovered Norm’s Farms, a family-owned business based in North Carolina that happens to be at the forefront of one of the most sustainable and exciting new crops: Elderberry. …
There is one fruit that is always in my refrigerator no matter what: blueberries. I buy them in bulk whenever they’re on sale at the grocery store and love mixing them in yogurt or oatmeal, or even popping them individually as a snack throughout the day. As it happens though, I have an extraordinary tendency to take even the healthiest of fruit snacks and turn them into a fattening baked good. In the case of this blueberry lemon walnut cake,…
If you’re like me and still have some of your Christmas decorations on display (I like to think of glittery snowflakes and gold ornaments as winter decor) then you’re probably feeling very ready for a spring refresh. One easy place to start is by replacing the centerpiece on your dining table, kitchen table or if you have one, kitchen center island. We rounded up a few of our favorite spring centerpiece ideas from around the web. …