Time Marches Forward, Cookies for Friends & Gardens!

I am online today because when I woke this morning it dawned on me that I have yet to post a baking update for March. I enjoy writing here but life often takes me to other places and on other adventures.
My baking business will get busier soon as I start to sell at the Farm.
My recipe collection is underway and will hopefully be ready in time for sale at the farm table or directly from me by summer.
Last Friday I baked an orange pound cake to remind my office mates of my love for baking. It's a refreshingly moist cake. I've included the recipe in my recipe booklet. I sent dreamy island cookies to an old friend for her birthday. Today I'd planned to bake Biscotti but have decided instead to go to a friend's book-signing cocktail party at Bleu in Mashpee. I will bake the Biscotti tomorrow.
As for gardens, I am planting my own this year. My youngest goes off to Kindergarten next fall and I want to spend as much time with her as I can so I have invited her to plant the garden with me. Who knows, maybe I'll create some new recipes from what we grow.

Sharing Recipes & Unexpected Afternoons!

I love getting tried and true recipes passed to me from my friends. My most recent newly acquired recipe is a perfect pumpkin bread from a good friend out in California.
I often think about her enjoying sunny skies throughout the year.
When you live year round on the Cape you have to put up with gray skies and cold temperatures now and again. Except in the summer when this is truly the only place in the world to be.
Although, today is not one of those dreary days. It's bright and sunny-close to sixty!
So I don't have much time now for blogging or baking- I'll get back to that when the weather unexpectedly turns cold again as we are expecting a sudden storm this weekend.

'Fun'-due with a Four Year Old!

Our Ski trip to North Conway, NH got put on hold because my sons basketball team made it to the finals. They won 17-0 for the season then all four of the championship games.
One would assume that with the season championship behind us basketball season would be over for now. Although we now head full swing into 'post' season tournaments. Next weekend we go to Basketball City in Boston. It'll be good to get to go into the City.
In the meantime, I want to have fun with my youngest daughter while she is home over break. Yesterday we decided to make fondue which she calls 'fun'-due.
We melted a bowl of chocolate. We cut up fresh apple slices, bananas and grapes. She decided to try everything she could find in our pantry. We used large marshmallows and small and a handful of pretzels too. After awhile as I noticed the large ring of chocolate around her mouth it was all about the chocolate.
I'm into this 'fun'-due too. It's perfect if you end up with last minute dinner guests and don't have time to bake a more formal desert.

The Results are In!

Throwing a chili cook-off super bowl party not only turned out to be a lot of fun, but it was also a smart move on my part! We had a ton of food to share with guests but the best part is I didn't have to make it all!
I did make a delicious beer bread. It's kind of like a banana loaf bread or a pecan bread but I made it with a bottle of beer. Adding the beer just gives it a unique texture and flavor. It went great with all the chili.
I am pretty certain that over the summer I will up the ante for my friends a little and throw a summer salad and cocktail party!
As for the results, each entry scored pretty well. One entry was especially tasty because the maker put cumin and all spice which gave it a sweet taste. The prize turned out to be very simple-a sterling silver ladle, a cookbook and some tasty crackers that go well with the chili.
Although as I pointed out to the winner--it's the title of "best chili" that really matters.
My entry didn't actually win but I will say that the large pot of it that I served in my Crock pot through out the night was completely empty!

Super-Bowl Sunday & Chili Cook-Off

We've decided to throw caution to the wind and pull together a little bash celebrating the Super-Bowl. It's not that I am especially excited about any of the teams that are playing- the way I see it is most people are going to be hanging out watching the game anyways so mine as well get together and stuff our face with food and drink.
We can laugh at the commercials and cheer on our team of choice. We've decided to make it a chili cook-off contest. Guests have been asked to bring their best batch of chili and we will provide the 'fix ins', appetizers, drinks and desert. My kids like to make a squares chart and contend for candy bars as prizes.
Which leads me to my dilemma-what will I bake for super bowl Sunday? I could bake a cake in the shape of a football or a field. No, that is just not my style.
I think I'll keep with tradition and make dreamy island cookies, jumbo chocolate chip cookies and a batch of my cake balls. They're always a hit and so easy to pop in your mouth while sitting around watching the game.
As for the Chili cook-off I'll have to come up with some sort of prize for the most original and best flavor.

Lucky Me & Where Have the Days Gone?

I can't believe it is January 15th already. The past two weeks have been a mix of running the kids around town, cleaning up after the holidays and getting a fun writing project under way. I am in the process of putting together a select collection of my favorite recipes into a booklet just to have on hand because so many people ask me for different recipes.

My love for baking has brought me so many cool blessings. I often get to visit my kids classroom with some aspect of my baking.

About a month ago I stopped by to read "Eight Animals Bake a Cake" to my daughter Sophia's preschool class. At the end of this charming tale the animals drop the cake on the floor and end up eating a pineapple upside down cake. I baked an upside down cake of my own to share with the kids for snack.

Today I am heading to Bella's Spanish Class. She wants me to make empanadas for her classmates. The teacher is letting me come with a batch ready to pop in the oven and then the kids will do a small demonstration themselves.

As for being lucky, how many mom's get to stop by their kids junior high class to see what goes on while they are away each day?

It must be something about the food that draws people in. Because my son, an eighth grader at the same school, someone who often shies away from any type of public contact with his parents because it's just not cool said he'd stop by the school kitchen to say hi.

My New Year's Baby!

My new year's baby is no longer a baby! He turns fourteen this week!
In a way it's hard to believe so much time has passed. I remember the night he was born like
it was yesterday! I remember how strange it felt to leave the hospital with something so little and new. I didn't want anything to happen to him. It seemed unnatural to go out into the cold with such a fragile 'package'. The nurses just looked at me and said, "you'll be fine".
It wasn't so much me that I was worried about. It was the rest of the world--I couldn't control other drivers or the weather or any other danger that might cross our path on the ride home.
I have had two other children since then and I have to say it has gotten easier for me each time.
Although sometimes I still have the same worries. Now that he has grown and wants more freedom it's still not so much him that I worry about but what he might encounter when he heads out.
He has decided he wants to have a bunch of friends sleepover to celebrate his birthday. That will be a piece of cake. All I will need to do is clear out some space for them all to sleep and make sure I bake him a cake, some cookies and stock my fridge with sodas. Oh ya, and I will probably need to make sure I have an extra gallon or two of milk on hand.

Having Power Vs. Power-less!

Our electricity cut out last night from the storm around 8 p.m. and didn't come on today until around 2p.m. I had prepared myself for the worst since I'd been hearing so many horror stories about power being out around New England for days on end.
I gathered all my warm blankets, candles and flash-lights. I pulled out our propane stove from camping and put on a pot of coffee and made the kids grilled cheeses for lunch. We took all the items from our refrigerator and put them in coolers on the back porch.
We made numerous fires in the fire-place. Since I didn't know when or if the power would be coming back on I made everyone's bed with extra blankets early this morning so that when or if the house was without power everyone would at least have a warm comfortable place to go.
We planned to play board games by the oil lamp.
I suppose I managed it well because in all seriousness we weren't without power for that long- a night and a morning and into an afternoon.
I did manage to sneak upstairs throughout the day to wrap the rest of my christmas gifts.
My only regret is that I wanted to bake some banana bread with some very ripe bananas that are sitting on my counter but without having power I could not use my oven to bake the bread.

What a Difference a Week Makes & Baking Queen!

Remember the Abba song from the 70's, Dancing Queen? I feel like the 'Baking Queen' lately with the many delicious things I have been making for the holidays.
This week it's gift baskets for my husband's boss and their office.
I am also making these incredible sugar cookie balls with fresh chopped pecans and this amazing treat where you wrap cookie dough around a chocolate 'kiss' then roll it in flakes of coconut!
A week ago, I mentioned it was 14 degrees. Today it is in the 50's! I snuck in a walk in between baking sheets!
Feel free to order a half dozen of each of the cookies mentioned above at $12.95 (2 bags with six of each wrapped in cellophane bags and tied with a pretty ribbon).
And of course, calories not included for Christmas!

Mother, Daughter Projects & Winter

My daughter Bella is no longer a baby. She hasn't been for quite a while. In my heart what I remember most about her is the many nights I held her, changed her and fed her. Now that she is a 'teen' I find I am lucky if I can steal even a hug.
We are in the middle of putting together gift baskets filled with a sample of dreamy island cookies, cranberry biscotti and sugar cookies for old friends. We have chosen a number of mom's to send them to. Mother and daugther's in Dallas, TX that she and I have shared friendships with. It's been a great way for me to spend time with her. She is a good baker.
Hopefully, the Christmas cookie tins will leave Cape Cod by the end of the week and head South.
It has been freezing on the Cape. Maybe she and I can squeeze in there too and head south ourselves--it's a lot warmer there. As the kids left for school Monday morning our temperature gauge read-14 degrees!