Pantry Revisited

I am a day late posting these.  Family just left yesterday from a fabulous holiday weekend. This is the end to a wonderful journey through Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan .   I started with the group three and a half years ago.  The first year I participated every week, but then had a few slack off periods.  I missed my first opportunity to host but was able to host later on.  Dorie has been very encouraging to our group along the way.   I have learned so much from all the other bakers, and wonderful friendships have grown along the way.  I'm not a fabulous baker by any stretch, and a worse photographer, but it has been a journey I am glad I took. The kids thumprints were very easy.  I chose not to roll them in chopped peanuts and I added some chocolate morsels to the centers instead of jam.  I love peanut butter and chocolate so it was a no brainer for me to do that.   Be sure to...

As our TWD group is ending, and we are finishing up Dorie Greenspan's Baking with Dorie cookbook, I wanted to bake a few of the recipes that I missed along the way.  Tonight, I am taking dinner to a sick friend and I wanted some sort of dessert.   My twitter friend Nancy hosted this Swedish Visiting Cake when it was her turn and she has made it several times since.  I have made a recipe similar to this years ago that I loved, so I decided to try Dorie's version today.  It will be the perfect dessert for our dinner tonight. I did not have a cast iron skillet as it called for in the recipe, so I used a heavy duty square cake pan and sat on top of a cookie sheet.  It was a really easy recipe to whip up.  No mixer required.  Easy ingredients.  My square pan made it thinner than I would have liked, so next time I will use a smaller round cake pan.  This is going to be my "go-to" cake this year.  I'm going to make several to sha...

My son writes beautiful poetry.  Because of him, I became interested in the flow of words and decided to try and see if I could write a verse or two.  If you have been following my blog, you have seen on Wednesdays my attempts at poetry.  Not sure if I like this one, but the substance and feeling is there. Holidays Thanksgiving. With great speed it comes, then leaves with a haste after a quick taste only to be followed by a rush of St. Nickolas. Christmas. Long wait and anticipation long lines and frustration decorations abound while Cards and boxes are found, Santa arrives, it's here they shout! only to find the fire has already gone out. New Year's Eve. One night out of the year streamers flying, horns blowing, breath freezing in the air can you make it til midnight for one kiss - do you dare? A new year begins. Holidays come and holidays go, but the warmth and love live on.

I have no food posts this week to share, but I will be back next week.  I want to wish all of you out in bloggerdom a very happy, healthy, and blessed Thanksgiving.  I hope you have good friends and/or family to share with, good food, and a fun day! As for us, we will be enjoying a quiet Thanksgiving with friends this year.  And a quiet birthday the next day for me!!  God's blessings be upon all of you during the holiday!  See you next week!

This is only my second time making something from Thirty Minute Pastas and I chose Penne with Asparagus and Proscuitto.   I do not have my usual Fusion +Friends post this week, hopefully will be back with a new one for next Thursday! This took very little time to prepare and was truly one of the best pasta dishes I have made in a while.  When I went to the grocery store, for some reason I had pancetta on my brain instead of proscuitto so there was a tiny substitution made. This was fabulous and I cannot wait until tonight to eat the leftovers!  May have to nibble a bit during the day on them.  It will definitely be on my rewind list to make again and again.  If you want the recipe, please email me. My twitter friends, Kayte and Margaret , also cook from this book on Thursdays so you should see what they have cooked up this week.  Join us!  There is no scheduled recipe each week and no rules other than just to post on Thursdays.

A Smile It costs nothing yet brings warmth to coldness, hope to despair, and light to darkness. An effortless expression that releases its power to the universe and becomes infectious. Pass the message of love without words to a stranger then pass one back to yourself.   

Hostess:  Jessica of Cookbook Habit   Check out her blog and get the recipe! Our Tuesdays with Dorie group is finishing up Baking With Dorie after almost four years.  It is hard to believe there are only a few recipes left.  I have learned so much from this group in the three years I have been a member and I hate to see it end.  I'm still not a great baker by any stretch.  I still make so many mistakes in the kitchen.  But I have learned a great deal and made a lot of baking friends.  It makes me a wee bit sad of course, but I hope we all stay in touch with our other groups.  I do want to go back and make some of the great recipes that were made before I joined.  When I first joined in July 2008, I figured I would last maybe six months.  Because of all the encouragement, I'm still here three years later.  Thank you all.  It is a great group of bakers! This week we had two choices, Bittersweet Brownes or Alsatian Apple T...