Category Archives: comfort food

Chocolate Cherry Muffins

It’s the first day of the new year. I should be posting something wholesome and healthy, but one of my boys asked me to make scones for breakfast. Our butter supply has been completely depleted by Christmas cookie baking, so we opted for muffins instead. The fact that muffins are simpler to make than scones […]

Strawberry Vanilla Bean Jam

Our fingers are permanently stained pink. So are our mouths. Strawberry season is drawing to a close here in southern Wisconsin. What looked to be a fantastic season was hampered by days and days of soaking rains. While farmers were able to pick a fair amount to sell, the season was shortened and the u-pick […]

Naughty Bars

How can you resist a name like Naughty Bars? I found these a few months ago in the Penzey’s Spices catalog. I ripped it out and stuffed it in a cupboard  and came across it during some New Year’s cleaning. The organizing resolution soon became the downfall of the ‘eat less sugar’ resolution, as I […]

Thanksgiving Dinner: Cornbread Sausage Dressing

Are you ready? Either you have a menu planned and are gearing up for a huge grocery store trip, or you have your bags packed with elastic-waist pants to go visit relatives. Either way, a case of wine is definitely in order. I’m still browsing magazines, cookbooks and Leite’s Culinaria for some knock-out recipes. My […]

Pie Palooza!

  What a way to kick off November–eating pie! In my opinion, November 1 kicks off the official start of baking season, and pies are one of those things that people should make more often. They seem intimidating, but with a little practice, mixing and rolling out pie crust is a cinch, while pouring in […]