Tag: recipes

Apple Thyme

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We just returned home from a short (but wonderful) visit back to our old home town in Minnesota, so we’re going to keep this one brief. Along with our Gruyère Stuffed French Toast the other day, we  made another recipe from Washington. This one comes from the Washington State Potato Commission and is a twist on the typical hash brown side dish. You guessed it – Apple Hash.

We started by heating onions, salt, pepper and olive oil over medium heat. After a few minutes we added some chopped Yukon gold potatoes. 

We cooked the potatoes for about 10 minutes and then tossed in some apples, butter and fresh thyme. Continue reading →

Apple of My Eye

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It’s state night again. Time to get out the United States puzzle for Miss A. She loves puzzles. Before making her selection, she first took the puzzle apart. Then put it back together. Then took it apart, asked me to put it back together and then pointed to the big purple state in the Pacific Northwest, Washington.

Washington is known for lots of fresh produce and seafood – apples, potatoes, berries, and salmon. Given the time of year, we’re going to focus on apples, the McIntosh to be precise. We came across this recipe in our most recent issue of Cooking Light Magazine and had set it aside as one to make for breakfast soon. Little did we know that it would come in handy for our Washington adventure. So, without further adieu we give you what we’re calling Gruyère French Toast with Warm Apple Syrup.

We started by thinly slicing our McIntosh apples. Continue reading →

All Warm and Toasty

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After our good and filling Welsh duck dinner last weekend, we wanted our next recipe to be a bit healthier, and a bit less labor intensive. After flipping through our cookbook, Favourite Welsh Recipes by A. de Breanski Jr., we came across this recipe for Monmouth Pudding and knew it would make for a great breakfast.

The recipe is described in the book as one that was often served in Victorian times and was ideal for children and adults with “delicate digestions.” It’s basically a bread pudding that incorporates strawberry preserves. Traditional Monmouth pudding will reveal red and white stripes when served; however we opted to pick health over beauty with this one. While using white bread crumbs would no doubt make this a striking dish, the whole wheat bread crumbs don’t have quite the same aesthetic effect. That said, despite its lackluster appearance, it’s really a more healthy alternative. Continue reading →

Pass the Salt

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Now that all the birthday festivities are over, we’re back to our international cooking adventures. For the next two weeks we’re going to be cooking recipes from Wales. It was my pick this time. Wales has a place close to my heart. Not because I’ve been there. I know very little about the country on the south-west side of the island of Great Britain.

My love for Wales goes back to when Mike and I were dating. On one of our early dates, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the display of Christmas trees decorated from various countries around the world. While walking around, we came to the tree from Wales and leaning against the tree was a sign written in Welsh. Mike promptly began reading me the sign to which I was completely taken aback. This guy knew Welsh! I mean, who knows Welsh?!

We went on with our date and saw several more of the museum’s exhibits. It wasn’t until a few hours later that Mike owned up to the fact that he didn’t know Welsh. We both got a good laugh out of that one and enjoyed the rest of our date. Then I went home mortified – he must think I’m terribly gullible – but I hatched a plan. I went back to school (we lived several hours apart at the time) and composed a letter to him written entirely in Welsh. I painstakingly translated each and every word using an online Welsh-English dictionary. I’m sure the grammar was awful, but that didn’t matter. I sent the letter in the mail (yep – used good ol’ snail mail) and waited.

Mike received the letter, immediately knew what it was and ran right out to buy a Welsh-English dictionary. He spent hours deciphering the letter and called me instantly. The rest as they say is history… Continue reading →

The Cake

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Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. I had a great night with my family. The kids spent the evening in Grammie’s craft box making me bouquets of flowers, cakes, ice cream and decorative plates. They had so much fun! My dad worked the grill, as the sun finally poked its head out. He made a delicious barbecue chicken with Vidalia onion bbq sauce. It was super juicy and grilled to perfection. The whole evening was perfect – lots of great food, laughter and reminiscence.

In the kitchen with my dad. Now he’s a climbing apparatus for my kids!

But now on to why you came here today. The cake. It’s not fancy and it’s not a batter from scratch, but my goodness if this isn’t the best darn cake out there. Well, maybe there are better ones, but you’ll never convince me otherwise. It’s so moist and so darned full of wonderful pumpkin and spice flavors, and it’s covered in cream cheese frosting! Continue reading →

It’s the Great Pumpkin

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Okay, so it’s not quite the great pumpkin. It’s more like a tiny pumpkin. But if Mr. N and Miss A have taught us anything it’s that great things can come in tiny packages. 

Our cooking experience with Ecuador has taught us some helpful child rearing techniques. First we learned that serving popcorn with dinner is a way to ward off any complaints about dinner – even one that includes their least favorite ingredients, tomatoes and onions. We also learned that the quickest way to stop a three-year old’s tantrum in its tracks is to cut open a pumpkin. 

Our last Ecuadorian recipe on this little culinary tour is a dessert (of course!). We found tonight’s recipe, Dulce de Calabaza, while perusing Laylita’s Recipes and thought it sounded both fun and seasonal. The first step in the sweet pumpkin dessert is to remove the seeds and pulp from the pumpkin. I’m telling you, this step put an instant end to the so-called “witching hour” described by Parents magazine as “when the day’s stresses catch up with the whole family, turning well-mannered children into kidzillas.” Continue reading →