Peanut Butter Blossoms

When it comes to Christmas Cookies, I am a fair bit of an adventurer. I appreciate the traditional cookie, but I also find excitement in placing a new cookie out for Santa each year. One cookie that is a yearly must for me is the Peanut Butter Blossom. I wish that Santa kept a spreadsheet of the cookies presented to him each Christmas Eve. I'm curious as to just how many blossoms he receives.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Pumpkin Cream Soup with Oat Petals

It has been a long while since I last posted on either of my blogs... While browsing through one of the cookbooks that I gathered while living in Poland, I thought that it would be fun to start cooking through them. Not only will this help me to keep some of the memories of living there alive, but will keep my ever-so feeble attempt at speaking and reading Polish from dwindling entirely. I also have some posts planned for Who Stole the Kishka, so stay tuned!

Pumpkin Cream Soup

Hungarian Goulash

After our first trip to Budapest last summer, I spent some time in the kitchen with my mom preparing goulash. It was delightful to have a stew simmering that brought back childhood memories for her of times with her grandma. A bowl of goulash will surely provide an appreciation for those rainy or snow-filled days.

Kasha Porridge with Rhubarb Sauce

One of my new favorite discoveries here in Poland is kasha. The grocery story has an entire section of the grain and you can choose between several levels of grinds depending on what you may be using it for. In the States you can find it labeled as buckwheat groats. It has replaced oatmeal in my kitchen... Although the recipe sounds like several steps, please don't hesitate. It is really quite simple!

Kasha Porridge with Rhubarb Sauce

Bircher Muesli

Having spent the Christmas holiday away from home, we splurged Christmas morning and had breakfast at the hotel. The assortment of offerings was beautiful and my heart was instantly swept away by the Bircher Muesli. Easy to prepare, wholesome and fun to dress up - this is now my standard breakfast.

Bircher Muesli

Broccoli Soba Salad

A throw together salad that will make lunch the best meal of your day. Served alongside grilled flank steak, this salad would also be a perfect pairing for an easy yet elegant dinner.

Broccoli Soba Salad

Moroccan Lentil Soup

Looking for a way to use up some potatoes that had been sitting in the cabinet for almost too long, this soup was a delicious way to do just that. Not to mention it's simple and mainly composed of ingredients that are usually on hand. And the leftovers make an exciting lunch!

Moroccan Lentil Soup

Butter Cut-Outs

Very well my favorite moment in time was the backhaus at the Dresden Striezelmarkt. Watching Lottie pridefully prepare Christmas cookies was heart melting and a task that she took very seriously. For just four euros, children are given the opportunity to roll, cut and decorate a sheet pan of cookies. Half an hour later, they return to pick up their baked cookies that have been carefully packaged just for them.

Christmas Cookie Cutting

Pantry Pancakes

Our refrigerator died. I was left no choice than to throw all of the contents of the fridge and freezer away. I thought about offering them to the neighbor but I thought maybe that would be awkward. Then four days after throwing everything out, I realized that it is refrigerator temperature outside... I have very good hindsight vision.

Pantry Pancakes

Layered Salad

Nothing makes a holiday dinner easier than those couple of dishes that can be prepared the day before company arrives. This timeless salad does just that - making it a perfect recipe to add to your holiday recipe collection.

Layered Salad

Coconut Cream Pie

My super cool brother-in-law (actually, I have three of them in total) requested a Coconut Cream Pie for Thanksgiving. I was in a delightful mood (which is typical) and he asked so nicely, so I replied - you becha! Then Thanksgiving suddenly arrived and I never baked the pie... Thinking surely he'd forget and besides, who can be that sad when there are a bazillion other slices of pie available - I shelved the promise I made about the pie. Turns out he didn't forget about the pie that he had been anxiously counting down the days for and he cried. Well, almost cried.

Coconut Cream Pie

Miniature Elderflower Cakes

Lottie's first words this morning were "mom, I really want to make cupcakes". So, we came up with a recipe, she pulled up a seat on the counter and we baked cupcakes.

Miniature Elderflower Cakes

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

I'm always ten steps behind on holiday shopping... But Christmas cookies, they may never leave my mind. These dainty gems prepare rather quickly and provide a welcomed highlight to the old cookie tray.

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

Eating Europe

As apparent by the silence here, you may assume that I haven't been in the kitchen much lately... Although I have been, it's just that when I wander into that space, I've been working from the same recipe over and over it seems... But for a little inspiration, I have compiled some shots from our recent adventures.

Bacalao - Stavanger, Norway

The Norwegian Table

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Norway where days were spent gathered with family - sometimes around the table, sometimes alongside the sea and during the other times, exploring the beauty of the fjords.

Bread and Homemade Rolls with Jelly

Egg Salad with Chickpeas

This is not the ordinary egg salad that you were raised with. This is the best - crazy good - darn fantastic - most extraordinary sandwich filling from here to Timbuktu. The combination of eggs and chickpeas have brought a new life to the classic (not to mention a fiesta of seasonings), you'll want to pack this sandwich in your lunch every day of the week!

Egg Salad Sandwich

Banana Granola Bars

While I certainly love a slice of moist banana bread spread with a good layer of butter, with this weeks leftover bananas I was looking for something more wholesome. Looking through Pinterest for something a little different, I found these. They were the perfect base to work from. A wonderful little snack that can be packed for our next bike ride or picnic in the park and if you could have only been here to smell the warm oven air while they were baking. Pure American comfort.

Beet Salad

This is a down to the basics, very traditional and quite delightful salad. A favorite of Troy's, whenever he's along on a grocery trip he continually purchases a bag of beets hoping that I'll make him his own batch of salad. I then use them to make roasted beets or beet pesto... Well, this time his wish came true. A great side to accompany grilled kielbasa, it will make a summer grill-out all the more perfect.

Pad Thai

My favorite weeknight meal right now is Pad Thai. It comes together simply and I can keep most of the ingredients on hand. I never thought that while living in Poland, my cooking would become so Thai inspired - but my diet can only handle so much sausage and it's a section of the grocery store that is pretty well stocked.

Balsamic Strawberry & Broccoli Salad

Looking for a side dish for a grilled salmon dinner we turned to this recipe as inspiration. A fun twist to the typical broccoli salad, it will be one of my favorites throughout the summer.