Green Chile and Goat Cheese Cornbread

Posted on July 18, 2012 • 3 comments

Have you ever “misplaced” something in your own home that you absolutely knew you had laid your eyes on just days before? It was right there, and then magically, or better yet, mysteriously, it went missing. You think you are loosing your mind. Well, suffice it to say that this recipe actually calls for blue cornmeal. Let me also say, that assuming you have blue cornmeal, and you don’t misplace it as I did mine, then by all means use it in this recipe. Continue reading →

Posted under Baking, Bread, Quick Breads, Savories

Ingredients butter, cornmeal, eggs, goat cheese

Chocolate “Cake” Bread Pudding with Dulce de Leche Bourbon Sauce

Posted on July 9, 2012 • 8 comments

Last we were together here on this blog I was lamenting about the “less than impressive” chocolate snack cake that Chloe and I had made. Just to clarify, it wasn’t at all “BAD”, it was just okay. It’s saving grace was that we decided to slather it with a chocolaty glaze – and let’s be honest – what isn’t delicious smothered under chocolate glaze? With enough redeeming qualities that it deserved another try, I wanted to come up with a way to use this cake as the star in a completely different dessert. My first idea was to make a trifle by layering cubes of cake in between layers of pastry cream dotted with fresh berries and then lavishly topping it with fresh whipped cream. Not a bad way to go. I think it was the “cubed” cake that actually got me to this bread pudding. I honestly can’t remember my exact thought process. Luckily, on the first try I was successful in coming up with something I felt was absolutely delectable. Continue reading →

Posted under Baking, Chocolate, Desserts, Pudding

Ingredients almonds, bourbon, cake flour, chocolate, cocoa, cream, dulce de leche, sour cream

Chocolate Snack Cake and Baking With Chloe

Posted on July 2, 2012 • 7 comments

Decades ago my heart took me West and in the process I left behind a very big family. There have been many additions to my family since then, both through marriage and birth – and honestly, it would take more like a “family forest” to map it all out for you. Sometimes in life we make decisions and it is only later that we realize the repercussions of those choices. Not for a minute do I regret that move, or marrying my husband who was the reason for leaving home – but it wasn’t until years later that it sank in just how much family life I missed by living so far away. Over the years I have traveled home quite frequently – especially during my daughter’s earlier years. Some years we made as many as six trips back to Kentucky. It was important to me that Jael know her relatives on my side, and it was just as important to me that I remain present in my parents, siblings,nieces and nephews lives. Retrospection is a funny thing. And hind sight leaves us no ability to change the past. Even if I could have glimpsed the future when making the decision to move to California, I would have found myself in quite a pickle. Family vs. Night in Shining Armor. Hum? Continue reading →

Posted under Baking, Cakes, Chocolate, Desserts, Quick Breads

Ingredients butter, cake flour, chocolate, cocoa, flour, glaze

Jam Shortbread Bars

Posted on June 20, 2012 • 6 comments

My cell phone rang just as I was about to deliver a tray of these bars to a friend of mine. Her daughter was graduating high school and the cookies would be my donation to the dessert buffet at her graduation party. I answered the phone – on the other end was another friend of mine. Almost immediately I knew there was something wrong. Knowing someone as long as we have been friends, you learn to pick up on these things. Sadly, it was bad news. Her father had just passed away. In an instant I knew that the same cookies resting on the car seat beside me destined for a party, would unfortunately be making an appearance at a funeral as well. Continue reading →

Posted under Baking, Bars, Cookies, Desserts

Ingredients almonds, butter, cake flour, jam, sugar

Travel, Family and Food

Posted on June 12, 2012 • 10 comments

Santa Rosa, California

Santa Rosa has become a second home to me. Having family there has made it possible to visit, explore, and connect with the breathtaking countryside of Sonoma County. Its weather calls to me; its landscape stimulates my senses; and the slower pace of life I experience there breathes new energy into my soul. There is a peacefulness, a connectedness, that I struggle to describe other than to say it feels like maybe I have lived there in another lifetime. My most recent trip took place during the week of Memorial Day. Since I make every attempt to squeeze in as many days as possible when my travels take me North, I arrived days ahead of the rest of my family who later joined me for the long weekend. Continue reading →

Posted under Bread, Desserts, Savories, Travel

Ingredients restaurants, travel