I hope you’ll allow me one more festive holiday recipe. Honestly, these Holiday Spiced Nuts are so tasty, they can (and should!) be enjoyed all year!
Around Thanksgiving, I was in Lancaster, PA and popped into Lancaster Central Market. While there, I stumbled upon Totally Nutz, which sells various cinnamon glazed nuts. They were so addicting, I wanted to try my own at home!
This recipe includes a bit more of the “holiday” spices than just cinnamon and includes four different types of nuts: pecans, walnuts, almonds, and cashews for a tasty sweet and spiced mixture!
I recently came home after a weekend trip to some of the saddest looking bananas I’ve seen in a long time. Which means I spent my Monday making this super delicious Banana Walnut Bread!
This recipe largely uses typical pantry items, so the next time you find yourself with overripe bananas, there is a good chance you will already have everything on hand to make this banana bread — if you don’t have any walnuts, you can substitute another nut or omit them completely.
If kept in a sealed container at room temperature, the bread will last for 4 days so it’s perfect for breakfast for most of the week!
If you want to store it longer, you can also freeze the bread by wrapping it completely in plastic wrap before adding to your freezer.
Whiskey Cake is something that has shown up to family gatherings since before I can even remember. My mom makes this cake for basically all extended family celebrations, and it has become a favorite of mine. Recently, we were celebrating a friend’s birthday and I thought a Walnut Whiskey Cake would be the perfect birthday cake for him!
My version is a bit different than the one my mom makes, but the general gist is still there. I added some candied walnuts on top because, why not, but feel free to omit them.
The best part of this recipe is it is made with cake mix and instant vanilla pudding mix, making this cake both super easy to make and incredibly moist! Using a Bundt pan makes this cake look like it took you all day to make, but the hardest part of this recipe is patiently waiting for the glaze to soak into the cake before removing it from the Bundt pan.
Remember my insane beet purchase? I have finally cooked through ALL of the beets I bought! My last beet-filled meal was this Beet Kale and Goat Cheese Salad with Candied Walnuts, and boy, did I end my beet week on a high note. I had made a larger version (this recipe multiplied by 3) for my godson’s baptism and got rave reviews so I wanted to share it here as well, and luckily it finished off my remaining beet supply!
Roasting the beets takes a bit of time, but past that, this comes together really quickly. You can certainly buy pre-cooked beets to make this a quick recipe, I won’t tell.
Ingredients:
Salad (serves 4):
4 medium-sized beets, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup walnut halves and pieces
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
salt, to taste
4 cups baby kale
1/2 cup microgreens
4 oz goat cheese, crumbled (omit to make dairy-free/vegan)
Nearly a decade ago, I shared a recipe for a Bunny Carrot Cake. Although it’s super cute, I figured it was about time I shared a decidedly less creative dessert that is still perfect for Easter and spring in general: Carrot Cake Cupcakes!
These Carrot Cake Cupcakes are based off the original recipe I shared 9 years ago, but I substituted in walnuts for the raisins. They are topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and then sprinkled with carrot-shaped sprinkles to make them extra adorable.
Tomorrow, March 19th, is the Feast of St. Joseph, an important feast day in Italy or more specifically, Sicily. St. Joseph is particularly important to Sicilians, because he is credited with preventing a famine in Sicily during the Middle Ages through prayer. Each year, a large feast is prepared in his honor. Desserts typically include Zeppoli and Italian Fig Cookies.
Italian Fig Cookies, or Cuccidati, also tend to show up around Christmastime, so they are more of a “celebratory” cookie than linked to any specific holiday.
I wasn’t ready to conquer Zeppoli just yet, so I thought I’d try Italian Fig Cookies! This recipe is based off a recipe from Epicurious.
Note: I was sent a copy of AMERICAN COOKIE: The Snaps, Drops, Jumbles, Tea Cakes, Bars & Brownies That We Have Loved for Generations for review. Opinions are mine alone.
Every cookie recipe has a back story, from the chocolate chip cookie to thumbprint cookies. What’s truly interesting about these back stories is how they align with the shaping of American baking through the generations. I love cookbooks that provide a back story to the recipes, like AMERICAN COOKIE: The Snaps, Drops, Jumbles, Tea Cakes, Bars & Brownies That We Have Loved for Generations by Anne Bryn. Did you know that the first snickerdoodle cookie recipes were actually bars? Or that the first Girl Scout Cookies were baked at home to help raise money to send girls to camp?
Source: Penguin Random House
I assume I’m not alone in associating different recipes with different parts of my own life. I can’t look at a Peanut Butter Cookie without thinking of my family’s recipe, passed down from my great grandmother, or snack on a Neiman Marcus “$250” cookies without recalling many December weekends spent making them with my mom as a child.
I was first introduced to rugelach cookies — a cookie made by rolling a triangle of dough around a sweet filling — by my mother-in-law. She makes them every Christmas and has since my husband was little. So when I saw a recipe for Apricot and Raisin Rugelach in AMERICANCOOKIE, I knew I had to try them as a nod to my mother-in-law’s fantastic baking every December. This recipe differs from my mother-in-law’s version but the general idea is still there.
Rugelach cookies were first brought to America from Austrian-Hungarian immigrants, and has over time been adapted and modernized by Jewish-American bakers. Apparently, the original dough was quite time consuming to make. Somewhere along the line, cream cheese was added to rugelach dough, resulting in an easy to work with and flaky dough. Rugelach cookies have become a staple in many American households, and typically include raisins, nuts, spices and jam or preserves as a filling.
Ingredients:
Dough:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough
I’ve mentioned before that once warmer weather is here, I make it a priority to use my grill instead of my oven/stovetop whenever I can, like with this recipe for Grilled Lamb Pita Pockets. It keeps the temperature down in my house, and it’s super easy to grill! Plus, who doesn’t love the flavor that grilling adds to food?
I had a craving for lamb this week, so I decided to make grilled lamb pita pockets for dinner one night. I grilled lamb meatballs on skewers and then topped the meatballs with a drizzle of tzatziki and a Greek-inspired pesto sauce with some extra feta and cucumbers for good measure. I unfortunately didn’t have any tomatoes on hand, but would strongly suggest adding chopped tomatoes as well!
I absolutely love roasted vegetables, and Roasted Brussels Sprouts are a favorite of mine. Something magical happens in the oven!
I’ve had a hankering for Brussels sprouts for a while now, but was in the mood for a vegetarian version (a.k.a. not cooked in bacon).
This recipe for Pomegranate Mustard Roasted Brussels Sprouts balances the heat from stone ground mustard with tangy pomegranate molasses, a syrup made from cooked down pomegranate juice. Typically used in Middle Eastern recipes, pomegranate molasses can be found in most supermarkets today. Or, you can make your own at home; I have a recipe for it here. You could also substitute in honey, but use half as much; pomegranate molasses isn’t very sweet. To make a paleo-friendly version, look for unsweetened pomegranate molasses, or omit the sugar all together when making it at home.
The roasted Brussels sprouts are then topped with toasted walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds to finish it off. Yum!
Ingredients:
2 pounds Brussels sprouts
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoons stoneground mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or olive oil to make vegan/dairy free)
I am still working through my supply of pomegranates; I’m having so much fun finding different ways to use the arils!
This recipe caught my eye immediately during my search for pomegranate recipes. It uses both pomegranate molasses (made from pomegranate juice) and pomegranate arils.
Fesenjan is a Persian stew made with ground walnuts, pomegranate molasses, and typically chicken.
And, well, it’s not the prettiest dish I’ve ever made but the flavors are absolutely fantastic!
The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap hosted is by Lindsay of Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen. For the past five years, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap has helped raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a national non-profit organization committed to funding new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer, which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease.
Kourambiethes are Greek Christmas Cookies, but also show up for really any celebratory event, so they are an all-year kind of treat. They are nut butter cookies, typically made with almonds or walnuts, which are then rolled in confectioners sugar. The result is a shortbread cookie that melts in your mouth!
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DairyFree4All #CollectiveBias
I love frozen dessert. No dinner is complete without a little treat from the freezer!
So Delicious® Dairy Free Frozen Desserts are the perfect solution for me. Their frozen treats are made from cashew milk, coconut milk, and almond milk and are so tasty!
The So Delicious® Dairy Free Frozen Desserts are certified vegan, dairy-free and egg-free, and non-GMO Project verified with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives and no high-fructose corn syrup. They are also cholesterol-free and certified Kosher.
So Delicious® Dairy Free has been developing yummy desserts for over 25 years, using only the highest quality ingredients with many product being made with organic ingredients. Products are always 100% plant-based, and the company is committed to doing the right things for people and the planet. You can learn more at www.sodeliciousdairyfree.com.
I wanted to make a little treat this weekend, so I went to Walmart to pick up some of So Delicious® Dairy Free’s Frozen Treats: Cashew Salted Caramel Cluster, Cashew Dark Chocolate Truffle, and Coconut Vanilla Bean.
I made dairy-free cookies to make frozen treat sandwiches with these yummy flavors — Dark Chocolate Cookies for the Cashew Salted Caramel Cluster and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies for the Cashew Dark Chocolate Truffle. I threw in some Coconut Vanilla Bean sandwiches for the purists out there as well 🙂
Ingredients:
Dark Chocolate Cookies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder (or regular cocoa powder)
If you follow my Instagram, you may have seen what “tough” research I had to do this weekend for this post. With the 3rd Annual South Street Spring Festival just days away (Saturday, May 2), I visited Sweet Life Bakeshop at 7th and South to try their signature Banana Pudding.
This. Pudding. Is. Fantastic. I gobbled up the whole thing in minutes, so I’m surprised I even was able to get a photo of it beforehand!
Sweet Life Bakeshop’s banana pudding will be available at the South Street Spring Festival, along with nearly 30 other eateries, bars, and food trucks, so come hungry! From 11am to 8pm this Saturday, 8 blocks of South Street (between Front and 8th) will be shut down and turned into a huge (and free) block party!
Headhouse Plaza will also be in on the fun, so be sure to check out 2nd Street between South and Lombard. The plaza will be transformed into a giant lawn concert complete with grass, lawn chairs, games and beach balls!
Along with all of the delicious food, South Street will feature more than 40 bands on three stages and seven performance areas. Over 100 boutiques, small businesses and other other retailers will cater to your style, beauty, health, fitness and other shopping needs. In conjunction with the Festival, Brauhaus Schmitz will host the third annual German Maifest on the 700 block of South Street, with German beers, dancers, music, food, flower headbands and even a Maypole. Outside of Atomic City Comics (638 South Street) look for free giveaways and character appearances during Free Comic Book Day.
Whew! Ok so, to highlight one of the amazing offerings, I decided to make a spin on Sweet Life’s banana pudding — Peanut Butter Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars! This recipe is adapted from a Southern Living Banana Pudding Cheesecake recipe, but adds in some peanut-buttery goodness and then is topped with a drizzle of chocolate and some fresh whipped cream.
This cold weather just won’t let up, so my cravings for comfort foods keep on coming! This recipe for Braised Chicken Thighs with Wild Rice Pilaf comes from the March 2015 issue of Cooking Light. It takes a little longer to make (~1 hour) so it’s probably better for a weekend meal.
You brown the chicken thighs in the same pot that you make the rice in, so it adds a subtle roasted flavor to the rice as well. This Braised Chicken Thighs with Wild Rice Pilaf recipe is also a one pot meal, so less dishes! The pilaf is loaded with carrots, Brussels sprouts, and golden raisins and work surprisingly well together!
So, I’ve avoided making this recipe for months. Seriously, MONTHS. Black bean brownies always sounded really um… not tasty… to me.
This recipe is from a cookbook I received ages ago called Vegan Beans from Around the World: Adventurous Recipes for the Most Delicious, Nutritious and Flavorful Bean Dishes Ever. There are some seriously awesome recipes in here, from African Peanut Soup to Curried Dal with Cauliflower. But I was really curious about the Black Bean Brownies and wanted to make them. So after months of putting it off I finally tried it. And this recipe really changed my mind about black bean brownies! The consistency is spot on, and the chocolate flavor comes through really well. Who knew?
I adapted this recipe slightly from the original: I doubled the recipe to make a thicker brownie and used a different baking dish so the cooking time is different as well. I also limited the cinnamon because when I originally made these, I felt like the cinnamon flavor was too strong.
Ingredients:
2 (15.5 ounce) cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon freshly ground flax seeds
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lukewarm coffee (I just used what was left from my morning coffee)
