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Apple, Ham & Smoked Gouda Galettes

January 22, 2012 By 47 Comments

“A HUNGRY STOMACH SELDOM SCORNS PLAIN FOOD.”  Horace

Have you ever been so busy that you forget to eat?  And then when you finally have a moment to realize that you are hungry, what you eat tastes so incredibly good.  Which leads you to wonder, was it really that good?  Or was I just really that hungry?!  I decided to try this humble galette today.  It’s made in stages.  First the dough for the crust.  Then it chills.  Then you fill it.  Chill it some more.  And then bake it for a half an hour or so.  And in between I kept myself kind of busy.  So at 4pm when the galette was ready..I realized that I hadn’t had anything but a cup of coffee today..and I was more than ready to eat it!  So simple yet flavorful.  A warm, flaky, tender crust, sprinkled with grated smoked gouda and just the right amount of pepper is filled with buttery apples, apricot jam, mustard and ham; lavished with an egg wash and a pinch of sea salt; and then baked to a golden perfection!  Yes…I was hungry…..but this was delicious! [Read more...]

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Baked French Toast

December 4, 2011 By 62 Comments

Welcome to another beautiful Baked Sunday Mornings!

I’ve been feeling bad that I have missed a couple of weekends with this awesome group because I really enjoy meeting the new people who are just as fanatical about cooking from this wonderful cookbook as I am!  It’s a great book – Baked Explorations – by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Fortunately, for me, it was a pretty easy assignment and I welcomed this after a rather difficult week.  And there really is nothing more comforting to me than a warm, chewy, sweet french toast.  I kept pretty true to the original recipe, making just a few changes to accommodate my fridge and pantry.  Here are a few more pictures with the changes that I made…….. [Read more...]

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Wild Blueberry Oatmeal in Warm Maple Cream

September 18, 2011 By 34 Comments

“YOU HAVE TO EAT OATMEAL OR YOU’LL DRY UP.  ANYBODY KNOWS THAT.”  Kay Thompson, author of ‘Eloise’.

Growing up in New England, and especially in the winters, my dad would very often make me oatmeal for breakfast.  To some, this may have seemed like the dreaded, dreary breakfast.  I think oatmeal has a bad rap of being a sticky, clumpy, heavy gruel.  But I have always loved it! Dad always served it with milk and maple syrup.  And I remember secretly wishing that he would be distracted while making it, because I was sure to find a lump or two in my bowl.  And I loved finding the sweet, unexpected texture of those lumps!

I still love oatmeal and eat it all year round.  And who says oatmeal can’t be sexy!  So I’ve tried to elevate it a little bit from it’s rustic form; while still giving a wink and a nod to my dad, who I miss with all my heart.  A neighbor gave me this recipe some time ago telling me how she tweaked it from when it was given to her.  And I did my own tweaking to get it to my personal liking.  Here are the basics, but I hope you will feel free to tweak away……. [Read more...]

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Pear and Gorgonzola Stacks

September 13, 2011 By 71 Comments

“BE MODERATE IN ORDER TO TASTE THE JOYS OF LIFE IN ABUNDANCE.”  Epicurus

HEY!  Who put the salad on my dessert blog?!?

I like to cook.  I love to eat.  But my PASSION is for desserts!  Sometimes I wonder if, because I write a dessert blog, people assume I’m eating desserts for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  (Ok ok….I won’t lie.  I DO like a little sweet something with my coffee in the morning!)  But I do otherwise eat well.  And I particularly love that fine balance of sweet and savory.  And this little salad, which I had for lunch today, was just that.  Again, the pear is perfect here because it is not an overly sweet fruit.  But add the contrasts of tangy and chewy cranberries, crunchy bacon bits, crumbled blue cheese, toasted walnut pieces, fresh greens in a citrus vinaigrette, and all of this drizzled with honey…..and you cannot imagine what a salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy, savory sensation this was!  Oddly….or maybe not….my favorite flavor combination here was the little chunks of blue cheese drizzled in honey!  Lots of room for variation here, too.  But this is how it all went down for me……. [Read more...]

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