use real butter

Recipe: pailin’s ginger lemon cookies

One more day for Menu for Hope! The bidding ends tomorrow and then your are SOL. So be sure to get your raffle tickets for all of the lovely prizes being offered. Don’t forget – it is for a terrific cause!

Remember the batch of candied lemon peels that I bricked the other day? I successfully made a batch yesterday morning. Then I went into town to pick up some gifts for Jeremy’s administrative staff at a local cook/gourmet shop and what did I see? Candied lemon peel… for $3.25. Huh. Had I known they stocked this, I would not have gone to the trouble of making my own. Since I didn’t know, I tossed my head back and walked off feeling superior because I *did* make my own. But really, I was kicking myself on the inside.

Recipe: cranberry nut dessert

Just a reminder that Menu for Hope IV is underway as I type! Be sure to visit the full list of prizes being offered over at Chez Pim. If that’s too confusing for you, visit the various regional hosts at the end of Pim’s post – the prizes are being offered from all over the globe! Hurry up! Go! Bid! Do you really want someone else walking off with YOUR prize?!? Well then, get on it! [after you read the rest of my post] :)

Are you freaking out right about now? Maybe now? Maybe – NOW? It’s a big time of year for baking and cooking and feasting and festivities – no matter what the festivities may be. I typically find myself making all manner of sweets and baked goods to share with friends, neighbors, our slow but friendly small town post office, the Subaru dealer, Kaweah’s favorite kennel… When I add up the list though, there just isn’t the time to mass produce super fancy time-intensive confections for everyone. That’s why I love the goto recipes, the ones that are easy to make and delicious to boot.

Recipe: chocolate chip banana bread

I am not a banana enthusiast. If all of the fruits were lined up on stage for me to select one-by-one for eating, the banana would definitely be among the last remaining few, looking awkward and feeling self-conscious… I tend to prefer fruits that are juicy and refreshing. The banana makes me thirsty and drowsy. But I do know what is good for me and bananas are certainly that. I periodically buy some, hoping that the guilt of watching them rot will be enough incentive to chop one up to eat with some yogurt.