Spending summers at a camp located in the back woods of Maine over-exposed me to maple syrup. On our drives up the east coast, we'd often stop somewhere in Vermont and load up on pure maple syrup. It became as welcomed at the table as ketchup or salt and pepper. So, you can imagine the excitement as I opened up a nice care package from Mohawk Valley Trading Company filled with their homemade Raw Maple Syrup. Getting ready to make the candies using pure maple syrup I couldn't wait to come up with some more test recipes using the new sweet … [Read more...]
Smoky Tomato Soup with Maple-Candied Bacon
February 3, 2012 By 4 Comments
I bet the majority of people polled would raise their hands when asked if they had a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup in their pantry somewhere. And I bet when asked how long that can of soup has been sitting in the pantry, most people would say probably more than a couple months. What's amazing to me (and hey, I had not one but three cans collecting dust) is that it doesn't take much longer to throw together a homemade batch of tomato soup than it does to watch the watery, canned soup cook on a stove top. Part of the challenge is just … [Read more...]
Cranberry Ricotta Pancakes
February 1, 2012 By 12 Comments
Meal planning has changed our lives! My dinner time meal stress is almost non-existent because all of the guess work has been taken out of the equation. I now usually know what I'm cooking, I shop for the ingredients once on Sunday evenings, and I factor the appropriate amount of prep time per meal. Our favorite meals usually fall on our Breakfast-for-Dinner nights. For whatever reason, my kids love selecting the breakfast meal that will grace the dinner table. Somehow that same un-welcomed morning food becomes highly anticipated when it's … [Read more...]
Rustic Pear Tart
January 30, 2012 By 7 Comments
My kids love fruit. Every morning for breakfast they're either eating strawberries, bananas, blueberries or sliced apples. However, I realized one fruit conspicuous by its absence from their diet: pears. We don't eat oranges regularly but we drink orange juice daily. We never eat apricots but we love apricot jam on a toasted bagel and applesauce with apricots. When watermelon is in season we eat it cubed or in an awesome watermelon, mint, feta salad. When did pears become so elusive? I think the last time my kids had pears was when … [Read more...]
