February 2013
2 posts
Valentine's Day Fun!
Valentine’s day was a lot of fun for our family this year. Instead of my husband and I going out on a date, we had a family date night at home. I spent most of my day baking and decorating for the event. The kids were excited and I looked forward to spending time all together.
First I made Foodie Crush’s heart shaped rice krispies. If you have never made your own rice...
Cakes, Smitten Kitchen, and Seesaw Decisions!
My, my, it has been quite some time since I have written a blog post. Honestly, I hit a wall right during the Christmas season and felt overwhelmed with life. My three kids are amazing, but exhausting! Each one has such a unique personality and so many different needs, that by the end of the day when I normally write posts, all I wanted to do was lose myself in the TV and not think about...
November 2012
3 posts
Fall for Pumpkin Cheesecake!
First of all, I was a little bummed about yesterday. For a long time now I have been on a search for the most amazing pancake recipe ever. I am a sucker for buttermilk pancakes and I believed that I had found it! When I sat down yesterday to write about them, I could not find the recipe anywhere! Ugh, I searched high and low and could not find it. Shame on me for not pinning it when I had...
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
When cooking and baking, I try not to make it a habit of wasting ingredients. After dinner last night I had just about a full can of pumpkin puree to use up. What better way to use it up than a whoopie pie?
Traditionally, a whoopie pie is made from two chocolate cookie cakes with a sweet white frosting in the middle. There is a great debate over whether the whoopie pie was created...
1 tag
Oh My Ganache, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake!
Within the last week we had two birthdays in my family, my father in law and my husband. Two separate occasions and I made the same cake both times! Why the same cake? Well, this was not just any cake, it was a three to four layered chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and a chocolate peanut butter ganche slathered on top. Did you drool reading this?
I figured this cake would...
October 2012
7 posts
1 tag
Roasted Corn, Chicken and Ricotta Enchiladas
A few months ago I stumbled onto the Naturally Ella blog. Her food posts are seasonally vegetarian and often vegan if you lean that way. I’ve tried a few of her recipes but one of my favorites so far is the Roasted Corn and Ricotta Enchilada, and it also happens to be gluten free!
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This recipe boasts a combination of unique ingredients and offers your palette salty,...
2 tags
Petit Apple Pies and Hand Pies
For as long as I can remember, every fall, my mom, sisters and I have gone apple picking. We went to the same farm every year, chased kittens around the barn, and ate apples to our hearts content. I even learned to drive at an apple orchard, at the age of 14…shhhh! Since I have gotten married, had kids and even lived in California, my mom still managed to get me out to the orchard....
1 tag
Sugar Free Ultimate Vanilla Cupcakes
A few days ago I made the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcakes from Shauna Sever’s Pure Vanilla cookbook. When I posted the picture on twitter, my pastor jokingly asked if they were sugar free. I laughed and said, sure, and fat free too! He, unfortunately, cannot have real sugar. Like any good pastor, he reminded me that this month is “Pastor Appreciation Month,” which got me...
2 tags
Vanilla, Pure Vanilla that is
When I first moved to San Francisco, it was hard to find new friends. Luckily one day, there was only one other mom and her little girl at the park. We began chatting and I learned that she was a food blogger! Desserts mostly. Enter, The Next Door Baker. It was fun getting to know her and her daughter through various playdates and zoo visits. Our friendship inspired me to become a better...
1 tag
Buttermilk Poppy Seed Rolls
For dinner tonight I made a delicious filet with a sherry mushroom sauce, grilled asparagus, and meant to also have mashed potatoes and buttermilk poppy seed rolls. The mashed potatoes were a disaster and kind of chewy..seriously, how do potatoes get chewy? Well, dinner was delicious, we replaced the potatoes with some leftover butternut squash soup.
As for the rolls, here is where I...
1 tag
Me Oh My, Concord Grape Pie!
A few years ago, a neighbor of mine shared a recipe from her Mennonite cookbook, concord grape pie. I was baffled. Grapes in a pie? Quite intrigued, I made the pie, served it way too early, and though it was delicious, it was a hot mess, literally. I did not give it time to set up, so it spilled out of the crust and looked like grape soup with some crust in the middle. So here I am, a few...
1 tag
Triple Chocolate Cookie aka, The Tribbiani
I am not going to beat around the bush here, I LOVE chocolate. When it comes to cookies, I love a good traditional chocolate chip cookie, a little crisp outside and soft and chewy inside. Rosie from Sweetapolita posted an amazing triple chocolate cookie that she baked for her daughter’s birthday, complete with colored sprinkles. Well, its not my birthday, but I HAD to find out if these...
September 2012
1 post
1 tag
Cake Ball Cake and a Baby Gender Reveal!
Gender reveal parties are all the rage right now for new mommas. The parents-to- be entrust a friend to know the gender of their child and at a party amongst friends and family, the baby’s gender is revealed. This can be done multiple ways but my favorite is through cake! A few months ago a friend asked me to bake her a gender reveal cake, which was so fun. When one of my closest...
July 2012
1 post
1 tag
Late Summer Stone Fruit
Every summer I look forward to fresh peaches. I am in love with the peaches from the Brook Lawn Farm stand on the Lititz Pike here in Lancaster County. While living in California and visiting PA, I made sure to make a special trip for those delicious peaches. This last trip I definitely bought way too many for us to eat, so I’ve been mulling over what to do with them. Originally I...
2 tags
Peanut Butter Cupcake Surprise!
Today I hosted a baby shower for my dear friend, Jamie. A few weeks ago I had the special and amazing privilege of baking her a gender reveal cake. She has a beautiful 4 year old boy and now she is preparing for a baby girl!
I’ve known Jamie for about 6 years and one fact you need to know about her is that she loves peanut butter. At first I thought I’d make her the...
June 2012
3 posts
1 tag
Smoked Salmon Tacos with Avocado Salad
We recently returned from a family trip to San Francisco. It was my first time back since baby girl was born and I made sure to visit all of my favorite spots. One of my FAVORITE places to visit is the Omnivore Books On Food bookstore. You could say that I have a bit of a cookbook addiction. When I get in there my hands get all grabby, so many delicious choices, so hard to decide! I was...
2 tags
"Healthy" Deep Dish Deliciousness!
A few months ago my sister made what she called a “healthy” deep dish chocolate chip cookie pie from the Chocolate Covered Katie healthy food blog. I wondered how a deep dish cookie pie could possibly be considered healthy. When she directed me to the recipe, I was pretty shocked to see, garbanzo beans as a primary ingredient. Ha! Garbanzo beans, what are we doing, making hummus?...
May 2012
2 posts
1 tag
The PERFECT Spring Salad
As we approach summer, and I try to lose my baby weight, I’ve tried to become a bit creative/healthy with my lunches. One of my favorite sandwiches is the grilled asparagus sandwich I found on Pinterest. I basically have it once a week, and this week, I felt like shaking it up a bit. Why not try it out on a salad? I’ve actually made the salad twice this week, once with a hardboiled...
1 tag
The Morning Bun
Hey there food lovers! Its been a while. Life has been quite crazy here. We all have had quite an adjustment with baby girl, but things are finally getting back to normal. I have so many things to share with you from the last 8 weeks, so be on the look out for some new posts.
Today, I will talk morning buns, a treasure I discovered at the Tartine bakery in SF. The morning bun is similar...
April 2012
2 posts
1 tag
Gender Reveal Party!
Today I had the amazing privilege of baking a cake for dear friends to reveal the gender of their newest baby! Up until today, I have never attended one of these parties, but they are getting more and more popular. If I had amazing will power, it would have been fun to do for one of our babies, but I have no will power! Her ultrasound was yesterday and she had her doctor’s office call me...
2 tags
Go Bananas!
There are times when I cannot get enough bananas to eat. I’ll eat 2-3 bananas a day. That kick will last maybe two weeks, then I’m left with those three bananas that I just can’t bear to choke down. Banana craving over, browning bananas staring me in the face every day. I used to go with the obvious and make banana bread, but then, as I looked through my Ina Garten, How Easy...
March 2012
9 posts
1 tag
She's here!!
Hello there my dear readers. It has been quite a few days since I’ve posted and if you have not heard, my newest little princess is here! She was born on Sunday, March 25 at 2:38pm. We had a crazy weekend, including lots of emotions, crazy cravings, and finally, the birth of our baby girl!
Life has been pretty interesting. It has been quite an adjustment going from two kids to...
1 tag
Salted Caramel Marshmallow Madness!
While we lived in San Francisco, I found it hard to find new mom friends. I’d hang out at the playground with the nannies and on a rare occasion, meet a mom who stayed home just like me. Luckily one of these encounters was with Shauna Sever; you may know her as, The Next Door Baker. During the time of our friendship she began writing a marshmallow cookbook. Marshmallow cookbook you ask?...
2 tags
A Guinness and Bailey's Cupcake
For some time now, my dad has been on ancestry.com trying to learn more about our family history. What I know of my heritage is that I’m, 50% Russian Jew, 25% Slovak, and 25% euro mix. Part of that mix is British Isles, but not sure if its absolutely at all from Ireland. Good thing on St. Patrick’s Day, anyone can be Irish! Fun fact, St. Patrick’s Day was created to celebrate...
2 tags
Tartine's Amazing Banana Cream Tart!!
For quite some time now, since our move back to the East Coast, I’ve been wanting to try out my skill in making Tartine’s Banana Cream Tart. While in SF, we lived about 2 miles south of Tartine. I’d load the kids up in the stroller, hike up Guerrero, then park my self at a table with a giant latte and usually a morning bun. On a “special” occassion I’d reward...
1 tag
Grilled Asparagus Sandwich
Hi, my name is Jessica, and I’m a Pinterest-aholic. That’s right kids, it finally has happened. My pinning is under control, but I can barely wait a day or two to try the newest recipes I find! To keep myself organized, I’ve created a “Recipes to Try” folder, so then I can keep track of what I’ve made and liked, and what I have made and disliked. For...
1 tag
Springy Smoothie
In honor of the beautiful weather, I have decided to do a smoothie post! There has been a pineapple smoothie floating around my pinterest boards. Luckily I had some fresh pineapple recently cut up in my fridge and a banana laying around ready to be used. I made just a few modifications to the recipe. Enjoy!
Strawberry Pineapple Smoothie
- 1.5 cup diced pineapple
- 1.5 cup frozen...
1 tag
Oh my strawberry yogurt cake...
As my pregnancy is coming to a close, 36.5 weeks and counting, I’m trying to fit in as many recipes as I can before the long and tired nights begin. I may have expressed my love of strawberries before, but I think this next dessert took my love to a new level. I now give you, the strawberry yogurt cake.
When I found this recipe I was pretty excited because it is baked in a bunt pan. I...
1 tag
Thai Fruit Salad
Just the other day I stumbled across the new Bobby Deen show called, “Not My Mama’s Meals.” Bobby Deen is the son of Paula Deen and his new show takes her recipes and makes them lighter and healthier. I actually have never made any of Paula’s recipes, though I do use her knives. Her food looks delicious if not sinful, and I drool each time I watch her show. I’ve...
1 tag
Tartine's "Basic" Country Bread
The day has finally come for me to brag about my successful baking of Tartine’s “basic” country bread! After failing to make my first starter, I pushed forward and created a new one. Wild yeast can be finicky, or maybe I just did not grasp it well enough the first time around. My second starter had a better overall appearance and smell, and within 4 days of starting the...
February 2012
18 posts
1 tag
Poach an egg, you know you want to
Eggs are something that I have cooked since I was 10 years old. My mom taught me how to cook from a very early age, and there is not much easier to cook than an egg, especially scrambled. We made all kinds of eggs growing up, hard boiled, scrambled, “dippy,” and omelets. One thing we never did was poach the eggs. Thank you California for giving me a desire for a poached egg. A...
1 tag
Skillet Pancakes
For about a week, I drooled over David Eyre’s skillet pancake recipe. I had it open on my web browser, so every time I got on my computer, it was staring right at me. We finally had a cold weekend morning, which was perfect for a buttery, fluffy, and just plain delectable pancake. Did I mention buttery? Who would have thought that just a few ingredients could taste so sinfully good.
...
2 tags
Eat your heart out Auntie Anne's!
For the longest time I resisted the use of Pinterest, but as of late, a lot of my most delicious dinner ideas have been from various pin boards. A friend over at Honey Dearest (the cupcake queen), instagrammed a picture of pretzel hot dogs, an idea that she had from Pinterest. My sweet son is in love with pretzel dogs. We cannot go to a mall without him asking for one, no matter what time of...
1 tag
And the winner is...
My current baking craving had me sitting at my computer yesterday with three different websites open containing delicious recipes. First, a cast iron skillet pancake, another for strawberry muffins, and a final one for pumpkin pie white hot chocolate. All three were deliciously enticing. I figured making all three would NOT be so good for my ever growing figure or my blood sugar. The final...
Fasnacht Day!
If you are not from Pennsylvania Dutch Country, you may have heard of this day referred to as “Fat Tuesday,” “Pancake Tuesday,” or “Strove Tuesday.” Fasnacht day falls every year on the day before lent. In the past, it was celebrated as a way to use up sugar, lard, fat and butter, items often restricted during the lenten season. These ingredients were used...
1 tag
Meyer lemons and Soufflé Cakes
A while back, I was looking at my book recommendations on Amazon, most of which are cookbooks, and I came across one called, “Farmer’s Market Desserts.” It struck me because the picture in the top left corner is from the Swanton Berry Farms, where we picked our strawberries in California. The berry farm is located in Davenport, just about 8 miles north of Santa Cruz. Its a...
1 tag
Keep Moving Forward
“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” -Walt Disney
The above is my husband’s favorite quote. He loves it so much he has it tattooed on his arm. Though failing is never fun, its encouraging to know that when we do fail, we can learn from our mistakes and keep moving forward....
2 tags
Its macaron, not macaroon
San Francisco’s Ferry Building is more than just a ferry terminal. Within the building you can find some of the best little food shops in the city. During the week, you can avoid the crowds and enjoy a small farmer’s market, a latte from Blue Bottle, maybe a sandwich from Acme Bread Company, a cheese sample from Cowgirl Creamery, or a sweet treat from Miette. Miette is an adorable...
2 tags
Baking Addiction
This pregnancy has been interesting for me. I’ve had lots of different cravings that I did not have the first two times around. For about 2 weeks, I could not live without Pizza Hut pan pizza. Then, there was, and still is, the pancake craving. I could eat them any time of day. Baking is my newest craving! I find myself leafing through my cookbooks deciding when and what I will bake...
1 tag
"I love you, you know!"
With Valentine’s day fast approaching, I thought I’d try to get my family into the “loving” spirit. Last week while out shopping I bought myself some heart shaped cookie cutters, thinking that I’d use them to make the kid’s lunches into cute little heart shapes throughout the week. I love my kids, but actually using cookie cutters to make cookies with them...
2 tags
Chocolate Lovers Enter Here
I just recently joined Pinterest. If I’m perfectly honest, I was avoiding it for a long time because I did not need another thing to be addicted to! Well, the pressures of my peers, and all the lovely “pins” that started showing up on my Facebook wall intrigued me. Finally, when I decided to do this blog, my good friend and blogger extraordinaire, Cam, suggested I join. (You...
3 tags
Frosting Update
Last night I had six cupcakes that were frosted with the cream cheese frosting recommended along with the Brown Eyed Baker recipe that I used. It was tasty, better after spending the night in the fridge, but still not my favorite. Luckily I still had six left feeling a bit naked just waiting to be frosted. Irvin Lin of Eat the Love recommended his favorite cream cheese frosting, a recipe from...
1 tag
Fancy fancy
I am really starting to feel the weight of this pregnancy. It is getting much harder to be on my feet. That means the closer I get to the end, the less fun my food making may be. I guess I’m trying to fit as much in as possible before my life gets much more complicated.
Tuesdays at Central Market are inspiring for fun dinners. The last few visits, I’ve been stalking the beets....
2 tags
Are you ready for some football??
Okay, well the football is over, but I was so busy making all kinds of yummy goodies, that I did not get to post. This year we hosted a Super Bowl party for a great group of friends. It was fun because we had a fun mix of personalities and lots of good food makers! Pretty sure I’ll need to eat a few salads this week to compensate for all of the rich food I consumed like a starving pregnant...
1 tag
Snickerdoodle love!
One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning is bake a quick bread for breakfast. This past week Foodiecrush Magazine featured snickerdoodle recipes, including one for snickerdoodle bread. Of course it looked delicious, so I decided to make it this weekend.
You can make this recipe without needing to go to the store, as long as you keep your fridge stocked with unsalted butter. The...
1 tag
Left over tortillas? Extra Ricotta? No problem! ...
Over the last few nights, I’ve been inspired to create desserts without too much baking, using leftovers. Sound appetizing? Wait until you see what I did. First, I checked out what I thought may be hard to reuse without making the same dinners again. Ah yes, tortillas and ricotta cheese. I remembered a recipe I used back in high school for a dessert using both items, I think it may...
Happiest birthdays to Miss Dana!
Today’s post will be a birthday shout out to a very dear friend of mine, Miss Dana B.
While living in San Francisco, I think God knew I needed a friend, a mom friend who stayed home and who loved food. My food experience in SF may have been very different had I not met this lovely lady. I am pretty sure we were together at least once a week, due to our kids going to preschool...
1 tag
Eggplant Cannelloni
I love buying my produce at our local farmer’s market. Being a stay at home mom I can go on Tuesday mornings with minimal crowds, and even bring my stroller along. If you are a rookie farmer’s market shopper, you will soon learn that bringing your stroller to market on the weekend is just about impossible. If you must go on the weekend, try strapping that kid on you so you can...
January 2012
2 posts
1 tag
Buttermilk Scones
As I begin this blog, there will be some back tracking and some posts about delicious treats that I have previously made or eaten. That is not the case today however. Unless you count a day ago as back tracking. Two weekends ago was my son’s birthday where I made all kinds of treats and had leftover buttermilk to use up. What better to utilize this underutilized liquid than in buttery,...
Delicious inspirations
Through much encouragement of friends and family, I have decided to start this blog about my love of food. I am a stay at home mom with two kids, Elijah, 4, and Hannah, 2. We are also expecting our third to arrive the end of March, beginning of April. My loving husband and his career moved us to San Francisco for two years, where we developed an intense love of food from fried chicken and...
