Thanksgiving Essentials

I'm hosting Thanksgiving again this year, you may remember last years table.  I am thinking about all the lovely things I could add to my table setting.  I probably wont change it too much this year, maybe just a bit.  This tablecloth from William Sonoma is beautiful, I have a Christmas tablecloth from them and is holds up very well.  The animal place card holders from Pottery Barn are perfect for any fall/winter table setting.  Plus their turkey's are just so darn cute and rustic.  The small plates, with welcoming messages from West Elm, would make great bread plates or salad plates and I think they go perfectly with my table from last year. 

Weekend Food Ideas

This couscous salad from Shutterbean looks so delicious and fresh that it immediately made my must make this weekend list.  Enjoy Happy Weekend!

15

My oldest son turned 15 this past weekend and I honestly can not believe how fast the time has gone. 

I know I may be a bit bias but he really is turning into an incredible man, I could not be more proud of him. He is wise beyond his years and he so kind.  I am blessed.  

I had these pictures printed up at Staples.  I got the idea from Annie at Most Lovely Things, who got the idea from Paula of Two Ellie.  Aren't they a great?  They are super cheap, I think I paid about $12.00 for all 4 of these, plus they would be great for a graduation party or my Mother's 70th birthday coming up.  I think I may have went a bit overboard though, maybe next time I wont get them quite so big.

Clayton doesn't like cake, damn kid, so he requested cookies and ice cream sandwiches, which everyone seemed to enjoy.  When I make cookies I always use The Barefoot Contessa's recipes, I made chocolate chunk cookies and chocolate-chocolate chunk cookies but I used regular chocolate chunks instead of white chocolate.  I have been making these cookies for about 10 years and in my opinion, these cookies are the best. 

Non-Traditional Bar Cart Ideas

Bar carts are definitely all the rage and have been for quite awhile.  I saw this shelving unit on sale at World Market for only $89.99 and my first thought is it would make a great bar cart.  I really like the industrial look. 



                       
Love the look of this old industrial turned bar cart. 



This industrial cart from Hudson Goods is bit more pricey but would make a really fun bar cart.



Love the pop of green color on this bar cart.  Also, look at all that booze, I would need to do some major shopping, I tend to only keep wine on hand. 

Maybe its all the Mad Men I have been watching that has me thinking about bar carts.



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My Favorite Pizza

Whenever the boys have friends over they want to order pizza but I hate take out pizza. I just can't seem to find any pizza around here that I really enjoy. So I always end up making it. It taste so much better it is worth the effort. I usually use Tyler Florence's pizza dough recipe but any will work. I just add olive oil, tomatoes, mozzarella, Parmesan and a few spices, whatever I have on hand.  We also eat this meal when we are trying to cut back on meat.

Clambake Season

I can't stop thinking about this Clambake I saw in Bon Appetit via SF Girl by the Bay.  Wouldn't it be fun to have a clambake this summer.  One of the things I miss most about Florida is the fresh seafood that was so readily available.  




This Martha Stewart stove top recipe looks really easy and delicious. 

Watch Martha and Ina host a clambake together, I so want to go to that party and sit at that table setting.




Click here for Ina Garten's recipe for Kitchen Clambake. 

Barefoot Contessa's Salted Caramel Brownies

I was watching Ina Garten Saturday morning and she was making these unbelievable caramel salted brownies. They looked so good, I have a severe weakness for the salty/sweet combo, that after watching, I gathered all the ingredients and went to work. These brownies are so amazing that we not only ate them for dessert Saturday night, we ate them for breakfast Sunday morning too. These are to tempting have in the house.

                                                                 Ina's

                                                       
Mine, maybe I over did it on the caramel sauce?  Plus I only had Coffee Caramel Sauce on hand and man was it good. 

Come to Momma.....

Someday I will cook on a stove like this, my heart literally skipped a beat when I saw this stove. 

Happy Easter!

This cake has got to be one of the most impressive cakes I have ever seen.  It's too pretty to eat.




I can't stop thinking about these cookies.  They are so cute and look delicious.  I'm not very good at cut outs or decorating cookies but for these I may try. 

Sunday's Supper

This Sunday I decided to try Smitten Kitchen's gnocchi, in my feeble attempt to imitate her talents. It tasted amazing and to my surprise it actually came out the way it was supposed to. However, for me I'm not sure it was worth the work. You have to bake the potatoes, grate them, make them into a dough and then boil them in water. The processes wasn't hard but it was time consuming. The tomato sauce was excellent and would be great as an everyday pasta sauce.

For dessert, I made Bakers Royale's Kit Kat Cheesecake Bars. Damn, these are good. Luckily it doesn't make a huge amount because they are hard to resist. I didn't bother with the white chocolate decorative touch because I didn't have any white chocolate. Also, next time I make them I may skip the chocolate ganache layer on top. You really don't need it and it just makes them extra rich but you never know because the boys loved the extra layer of chocolate.

Kitchen Shelves Styling

I already have a stainless steel kitchen rack that I want to put in my kitchen, once I finally finish painting (hopefully this weekend). So I have been going through numerous pictures getting ideas and trying to figure out the look I want. I don't want anything to cluttered or too colorful. I want things white, simple and practical. I would like to actually use the stuff on the shelves. I love the look of white dinnerware and serving pieces and baskets to warm up the coldness of the stainless steel and white. I am not good at styling a space so I need all the inspiration I can find.

 

The majority of these pictures are from Restoration Hardware.

Weekend Food

Lately, I have had the urge to spend all day in the kitchen just cooking and baking away.  Maybe it is the result of the cold winter days, but this gnocchi in tomato broth keeps screaming my name, perhaps served with Salsa di Parmigiano and Francis Ford Coppola Cabernet Sauvignon.   


This winter salad on Studio Cuisine look delicious. 




Of course, I can't forget dessert, these Kitkat cheesecake bars look amazing.

Baked Fontina



Baked Fontina  from Alexandra's Kitchen has been my go to appetizer lately.  It is so easy and it not only looks impressive but it taste really fresh.  I made it this weekend for my birthday and everyone loved it. I served it with some fresh bread rounds and it disappeared quickly.   Recently, I have been focusing on cooking things that have a lot of flavor but not a lot of ingredients.  With this baked cheese you can really taste the flavors of the garlic, olive oil, cheese and fresh herbs.  Honestly, I could eat this with some fresh crusty bread and a glass of wine for dinner every night.

 

How come whenever I cook anything it just doesn't look as good as the original?  I could blame my

camera on my phone just to make myself feel better.



 

 

Scenes From Christmas

We had such a great Christmas filled with family and friends. I tried to focus on relaxing and enjoying all the sweet little moments that come with Christmas. I made some last minute gifts of orange ricotta cakes and snow globes, my son set up a hot cocoa station for Christmas morning, we received some Christmas cookies and Santa stop by delivering some lovely gifts.