Mushroom and Shallot Quiche

Quiche Me

This weekend is our cookbook club dinner and I can’t wait. It seems like forever since we did the last one.

This time we are cooking from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. It is an entire cookbook of French comfort food. Or maybe it’s just MY idea of comfort food (mmmm…butter). The recipes are relatively easy, the food is uncomplicated, and the flavors are fabulous. It’s basically the kind of food you would expect if you were invited for dinner at a friend’s home—in Provençe. May we all be so lucky.

I have made a number of recipes from this book, and have never come across a bad one. One of my all time favorites is Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good which I love and have written about about in September of 2012.

Because the girls have been busy lately, I have decided to make the Mushroom and Shallot Quiche ‘cause I need to use up my eggs. I have always enjoyed a good quiche. They are pretty, easy to make, and a quiche is a great way to make use of the random veggies in your fridge. Paired with a tossed salad, and perhaps a glass of wine, and you have a tasty, très French lunch.

Mushroom and Shallot Quiche
Adapted from Epicurious
Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan Read more…

Crock Pot Oats & Amish Style Baked Oatmeal

Oat-Cuisine
I am a big fan of oatmeal—no matter what form it comes in: whether it’s steaming from a bowl, baked in a cookie with raisins and cinnamon, or crumbled on top of apples and served with ice cream.

The good news is it’s good for you, and you can easily justify eating oats no matter what it’s iteration. I will concede that if you add too much brown sugar or butter the health benefits are somewhat diminished, but it tastes so darn good!

Because it’s winter, and it’s cold, and it’s not yet rhubarb, peach or cherry season, my love of oatmeal has been playing out on the field of breakfast. I have been trying different ways of making my warm bowl of courage, and have been pleasantly surprised at all I can do. I have found my two favorites.

Sure, you can always go the traditional salted water boiling route. It’s comfortable. It’s a known. Or you could walk on the wild side, and get wacky like the Amish do and make Baked Oatmeal with Apples, Raisins and Walnuts. Jenn Segal had me at “bread pudding-like consistency”. I’ve never met a bread pudding I didn’t like—this will be good. The downside? It’s not something you can throw together on a weekday morning.

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal is the perfect solution for weekday mornings. There’s nothing like waking up to a hot bowl of oat-y goodness. I mess around with this recipe depending on my mood. I will add raisins, nuts, cut up apples and/or dried cranberries. Most times I leave the vanilla out and go with some combination of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. It’s a perfect way to make time consuming steel-cut oats during the week.

Amish Style Baked Oatmeal
Adapted from Once Upon a Chef
A traditional and comforting Amish breakfast casserole. There are endless variations—the recipe is easily adapted to whatever fruits and nuts you have on hand. Read more…

Holiday Cookie Basket

Time for holiday baking?

We are posting a cookie recipe a day–each day leading up to Christmas. Check out our curated list of delicious recipes from some of our favorite blogs. More recipes will be posted as Christmas approaches. Read more…

Anise Cakes

Spice is Nice

Have you noticed that you use particular spices at certain times of the year? I have. Some spices are a year round thing—cinnamon, cumin, thyme, and of course, salt. (What would we do without salt!) And others only make a short appearance during the holidays, then quietly go back into spice drawer obscurity.

I come from a very Scandinavian family therefore many of the things we enjoy for the holidays have a very Nordic flavor and nothing says I am a Viking more than the flavor of anise. Full disclosure: I am not a fan. It reminds me too much of black licorice, another Scandinavian obsession. Most people in my family agree. (I guess we should turn in our Longenhurden.) My sister though, loves it.

Growing up, we all had our signature Christmas cookies that my grandmother would make specifically for the lover of said cookie. My cookies were the Swedish Rosettes made by dipping irons into a thin batter, and frying the dough in hot oil. A quick dusting of powdered sugar and they were good to go. So good! (I mean, how can you go wrong with fried food?)

My sister’s signature cookies are Anise Cakes. They were hers because she loved them, and because no one else would eat them. Her cookies were always the last ones left on the table at Christmas Eve, but it wouldn’t have been Christmas without them. And, of course, there were the requisite pronunciation jokes. Were kids after all!

These hard cookies are meant to be dunked into coffee or tea, like biscotti–only a little bit more dense. If you love the flavor of licorice, give these a try with your morning coffee.

Anise Cakes
Makes 6 dozen 2-inch cookies Read more…