Cold-Brew Iced Coffee

It is really hard to get back into the swing of things after being on vacation. For two weeks I barely sent a text message, hardly looked at e-mail, and didn't make a single phone call. It was truly a break.

We had a wonderful two weeks in England visiting Paul's family, touring the Lake District, and celebrating our wedding with family and friends abroad. I ate crazy amounts of food - market wares, home cooked meals by friends and family, delicious pub fare - and I have several recipes from our travels that I want to share.

But first things first - dealing with jetlag. After dinner the night we got home I made a joke about resting my eyes for a minute and put my head down on the table. Regardless of my intentions, I promptly fell asleep. Awkward.

I was hoping to post about this before I left but I was running around getting ready right up until we left and didn't get the chance. Homemade iced coffee seems even more appropriate now. Appropriate because coffee helps with the tiredness, but even more so because it's iced. It was 73 degrees when we left England and when we landed it was a whopping NINETY-FIVE DEGREES! And it hasn't gotten much better...

90º weather makes me want to grab a glass with some ice...

Smoked Salmon & Cucumber Wraps

I don't know about you, but I overdid it yesterday.  Yep.

I made a lot of delicious food but I didn't take any pictures of it because I was excited to be with my family after a stressful week before Christmas.

My normally dependable schedule for preparing my church's Christmas Pageant was thrown out the window when I discovered that all of our angel costumes were missing.  I called my mom to come out and help me look because moms always seem to have super powers when it comes to finding stuff.  Nope.  They were totally gone.

I didn't panic because I knew I had bins of white sheets and fabric, an old pattern for the costumes we already had, and a pretty decent knowledge of sewing.  As with so many things involving kids and scheduling, it was not smooth sailing.  Even with a costume for each angel at rehearsal, we didn't have enough when it was show time, but luckily a light beige tunic made a great substitute.  The pageant went off with out any major glitches and the kids were adorable.  In the end, a good time was has by all.  Success!

When it came time to finally kick back with my family, I relaxed and enjoyed everything Christmas had to offer, including Santa's cookies, fresh blueberry muffins, and (for some reason) the cheese ball puffs that were set around the room in big bowls just begging to be thrown in the air and caught in your mouth.

Today, with my pants feeling a little tight and my energy a tad lower than usual, I am ready to get back on track.  I genuinely like eating healthy foods that taste good and make me feel good.

Lunch today was really simple.  Pulled from one of my favorite cookbooks, it's a simple sandwich idea that you can whip up in minutes.  It's light, flavorful, filling, and you feel good about eating it.

Tonight, I'm going to make a big ol' pot of Magical White Bean Soup.  Without any fixin's it's a delicious gluten-free and vegan soup that fills you up without letting you down.

Chickpea Curry

When I'm away, Paul eats more fast food.  When Paul is away, I eat more delicious vegetarian dishes.  He's out tonight and we all know what that means:  Pajama pants, Love Actually, and a delicious vegetarian dinner.

Two weeks ago, my bestie Eleanor caught me looking at her Cooking Light magazine.  To our mutual happiness, she sent me home with a massive stack of Cooking Light magazines.  Once in my possession, I knew that if I opened one I would lose at least half a day to the stack and I had too much to do with Thanksgiving and the Advent Workshop approaching.  Both are now successfully behind me and as a reward I spent half of yesterday with magazines all over my floor, armed with sticky notes and a pen, blissful in recipe heaven.

I have a lot of food magazines that I've collected over the years, most of which have been read cover to cover but their recipes remain untested.  

It ends tonight!  

For my first magazine dinner, I decided to go with a gorgeous curry that was insanely fast to make.  It literally takes less than 10 minutes.  It's mild, creamy, and incredibly satisfying.  

Cheesy Spinach Pull-Apart Bread

Our friend Lindsay was home for Thanksgiving break from her first semester of college and we wanted to have her over to hear about what's been going on in her life.  We stocked up on Diet Coke (her favorite) and I wanted to make something fun to pick at while we chatted.  

I found a very intriguing recipe for pull-apart bread but wasn't a fan of a lot of the ingredients.  In a moment of boldness, I decided to change them!  The result was fantastic.

This is a great appetizer, game-day party snack, movie night nosh, or girls-night treat.  It takes a little time to put together, but it's serious fun when it's done.

Welcome to our Thanksgiving. Have some Cake!

Welcome to our Thanksgiving!  

Never say never!

For the first time in my life, my mom asked me to contribute to Thanksgiving dinner.  I also got to sit at the grown-ups table, which was nice, but I was secretly pleased that I still had a chocolate turkey waiting for me at my plate.

For 29 years I have heard my father lament the times he was forced to eat brussel sprouts as a child.  To this day, he swears he hates them and will not eat them.

In addition to a dessert, my mom asked me to bring a vegetable.

Challenge accepted.

Not a fan of traditional Thanksgiving dishes, I poured over recipes using brussel sprouts in interesting ways.  I brought my dish in its disassembled form, tossed it together just before dinner was ready, and made my dad try it before he knew what it was.  HE LIKED IT!

Pumpkin Scones and Extra Grandparents

When I was little, I had three sets of grandparents: my mom's parents, my dad's parents, and Grandpa Arden and Grandma Elsie.  It never struck me as strange that this older couple who had no relation to me were known as my grandparents.  They were sweet and loving, never missed our birthdays, and we never missed theirs.  They had children of their own who never saw them, and that right there is my mother's kryptonite.

"If you make some stuff with pumpkin again soon, can you make some for Gordon?  I think he'd really like that," my mom said to me the other day.  I was confused, not knowing who Gordon was, so she explained.  He is a neighbor of my grandparents that she got to know recently and is apparently just the nicest guy you could ever meet.  You need to bang on his front door like the place is on fire if you want him to answer.  He's jovial.  He carries a good, long conversation (a trait that is useful when talking with my mom).  He also has children who never see him.  With all those traits in his wheelhouse, I think we might be seeing a lot more of Gordon.

That stuff with pumpkin she wanted me to make, those are my pumpkin scones.  They're the perfect baked goodie to share with friends and neighbors, and I agree that they should be just right for an introduction to Gordon.  I have a feeling I might end up seeing him at the Thanksgiving table this week, but I whipped up a batch of scones to bring over anyway.

Pepparkakor

A few years ago I really wanted to learn more about my heritage and one of the ways I tried to do that was through food.  My mom's side of the family is Swedish so I was a little wary about what foods I was going to find.  Little did I know I would discover a cookie so perfect it would make all other cookies irrelevant.  (I may love gingerbread a little bit more than the next person.)

I would like to introduce to you Pepparkakor.  Traditionally, the dough is rolled thin, cut into shapes, and hung on a Christmas tree like ornaments.  I chose to use a giant cookie scoop and turn this velvety dough into spicy, chewy pillows from heaven.

Whole-Wheat Orzo w/ Artichoke Almond Pesto

On so many nights Paul asks the question: What do you want to do for dinner?

About 80% of the time I answer that I want "the orzo."  Tonight was no exception.

I have been going through a serious lemon phase recently.  I want it on everything (I even put one in a Yuengling - it was good), especially bitter greens and garlicky pasta, and there are more recipes to post on that front, but it all starts here.  This pasta dish makes great leftovers and I always look forward to having it for lunch at work.

If you're new to cooking, this dish will make you feel quite proficient.  This beautiful, rustic, nutty pesto is virtually impossible to foul up.

Okay, enough with the chit-chat!  On to the good stuff...

The Best Chicken Chili. Period.

It's that time of year.  The temperatures have dipped to the low 30's (it even snowed!) and half of my coworkers, myself included, have come down with a serious case of the sniffles.  It is definitely chili time.