Irish Cream Pound Cake
It’s that time of year, time for me to dust off my Irish genes—which are mingled with Scottish, a bit of Cherokee Indian, as well as a few others that I’m not sure about—and enjoy a bit of my family heritage. We’ll have some Irish stew, Irish soda bread, and at least one dessert with some of our favorite Irish flavors: Irish cream and Guinness. Read more
Mini Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Nutella
Nutella lovers around the world, it’s time to celebrate World Nutella Day! The brainchild of Sara Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso, World Nutella Day started in 2007 and gave fans of the delicious chocolate hazelnut concoction a chance to share their devotion in whatever form seemed fit, whether spread on toast, crepes, rice crispy treats, put it in a king cake, or just licked off a spoon (my personal favorite). Read more
Bourbon Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake
Pumpkin cheesecake is one of my favorite holiday desserts and marbling the pumpkin filling with a bourbon vanilla filling takes it over the top for me. The recipe is my riff on the classic pumpkin marble cheesecake from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecakes book published in 1989. I found a wire bound copy years ago at a yard sale for 50 cents and picked it right up. The recipes aren’t fussy, just simple and good, with a mix of baked and no-bake cheesecakes. I’ve made a number of cheesecakes from the book over the years and we enjoyed them all. Read more
Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie with Whole Wheat Crust
We did it. I can’t believe it’s true, but we planted two pecan trees in our yard. We spotted them at Lowe’s in late September and selected a Sumner Pecan and a Stuart Pecan. We are slightly north of the growing zone for the Sumner, but our area has mild winters so it should do well. Pecan trees need another variety nearby to produce, and we planted these within 30 feet of each other. They got a little dry at one point and we were worried we might lose them, but it looks like they have taken to their new home. They don’t look like much right now, just a couple sticks about five feet (152 cm) tall since they lost their leaves, but they are full of promise, I can feel it. We have hopeful visions of harvesting pounds and pounds of pecans in about eight years. Yes it will be a long wait, but if the trees produce then my dream to grow our own pecans will be fulfilled. Read more
Chocolate Gelato with Hazelnut Praline
I have very fond memories of tasting gelato on my trip to Italy way back when, but my first taste of gelato didn’t happen in Italy; it was actually in Bogota, Colombia. Centro Andino was a pretty new shopping center when I lived in Bogota in the early 90s, and they had a gelateria that drew me in every time I visited the center. I always ordered the dark chocolate gelato with whole almonds because the chocolate was so rich and almonds were my favorite nuts. I don’t fully trust my memory of the taste of that gelato, after all it was 15 years ago, so I haven’t tried to recreate it, but I have been in search of a dark chocolate gelato that would satisfy my cravings. Read more
Strawberry Spinach Salad with Avocado and Champagne Vinaigrette
We truly enjoy strawberry season, and every time I start cleaning another batch of berries the boys are at my elbow begging for some of the juicy red fruits. I have to watch Monkey Boy and Top Gun because they will sneak the berries off to a hidden corner and get the sticky juice all over the furniture and floor. Read more
