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Father’s Day weekend was busy like whoa for us this year. We hosted Andrew’s fifth birthday party on Saturday (more about that next week), and Sunday we spent the day at a lovely party celebrating Ben’s grandparents’ 65th wedding anniversary where I was the unofficial official photographer. So yes, lots of fun but overall exhausting. The kids and I gave Ben a few gifts b
Happy Monday! Today I’m continuing my new series on baking with whole grains. As I mentioned last week, I have started this series as a way to learn more about baking everyday staples with whole grains. I don’t know about you, but to me this idea was a bit daunting initially. I’ve worked sporadically with whole grains but until now, hadn’t made a concentrated effort to
It had been waaay too long since I made ice cream. I’ve been too busy to notice, but Ben mentioned it recently and I realized he was right. I do believe red velvet with a cream cheese swirl was the last time…months ago! Well, clearly that wouldn’t do. I was in the mood for something fresh and summery, and we just happened to have lemons and raspberries hanging around. I also
This meal…oh, this meal. It is of the happy accident variety. Well, less “accident” and more “I stopped one day short on my meal planning and am suddenly scrounging to create something resembling dinner.” Waiting until the last possible moment to start dinner and searching through the freezer and pantry… If only all my in-a-pinch experiments turned out this
Baking with whole grains is something I do from time to time, but it’s an area I am not well versed in. However, it is most definitely a topic I am trying to learn more about. The more I make our food from scratch and try to make healthy choices, the more interested I am in finding whole grain versions of foods we eat day to day. Ultimately I would like to find whole grain versions of st
Despite the fact that I’ve become a far more adventurous eater in the last few years than I ever was before, there are some flavor combinations that make me hesitate. Even when I know it’s a classic pairing and one that many people love, sometimes I just have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. One of those combinations is strawberries paired with balsamic vinegar. I am always w
We’re all familiar with red sauce or white sauce to accompany pasta, but I think we need to pay more attention to green sauce. Traditional basil pesto is probably the most well known green sauce but it isn’t exactly healthy. This broccoli pesto pasta was the next green sauce we tried and it was such a hit, I knew we were on to something. I like to call this particular version “
Here’s a look at our May1. Submitted all my paperwork for my official full medical license, and received it the following week. Big check and mark! 2. Ben ran the Indy Mini Marathon for the second year in a row. Way to go, babe! We weren’t able to go downtown to watch so we made him a big congratulations sign to greet him when he came home. 3. Best.face.ever. 4. I knit this throw bl
That three day weekend we just had was pretty great. Can we do that again? Our weekend did not include most of the typical Hoosier Memorial Day activities such as going to the race, watching the race, or caring about the race in any way beyond avoiding all the associated traffic. Instead, we spent the majority of the weekend outside playing with the kids in mud puddles (their idea of paradise,
I can already tell, this meal is going to be our summertime jam. You know, like the food equivalent of whatever current song is the quintessential summertime anthem. (What song is that right now, by the way? I’ve been listening to board review lectures, This American Life episodes, and Justin Timberlake pretty much exclusively.) In any case, this meal has got it goin’ on. It’
Here’s a peek at what I’ve been loving this month! My schedule has been too packed for much pleasure reading lately, but a when I do have time, I use my iPad as an ereader. I bought this iPad case a couple of months ago and oh, I love love love it! Though I don’t see that this particular pattern is still available, the Etsy shop it came from (Pencil Shavings Studio) has TONS of
I suspect that many who consider themselves foodies may occasionally view holidays as both good and bad. On the one hand, yay for a holiday! Occasions to spend time with people you love, and that nearly always center around food of some kind. However, so many holidays have “classic” foods associated with them, it can leave little room for creativity or experimentation. Ham at Easte
I could pretend I’m super sophisticated and have extensive, meaningful knowledge about wine but that would be a complete farce. I’d say I’m just a step or two above Michael Scott, really. Some may turn their noses up at Riesling because it is on the sweeter side of whites, it’s all good. More for me! Really though, Riesling is my personal favorite and when I came across
Did you all have a good weekend? Mine was full to the brim with good things. Lots of fun time with the kids, nice weather for playing outside, a beautiful wedding of a friend of many years, and time cooking with some other great friends. Oh, and there was lots of great food, including this salad. It was definitely a highlight, even amongst all that goodness. So much so that I couldn’t w
When the first quart of spring strawberries arrived in our produce delivery bin a few weeks ago, Andrew immediately asked if we could bake something with them. I asked what he had in mind and after only a moment’s hesitation, he declared, “Strawberry doughnuts.” This caught me off guard. Doughnuts are a very rare occurrence in our house and the kid has probably had less than t
Cheesecake has long been one of my very favorite desserts. That rich and creamy filling atop a buttery graham cracker crust. Mmm, mmm good. Add caramel and toffee into the mix and we’ve definitely entered into the realm of irresistible. Let’s be honest – caramel sauce can give most any dessert an instant upgrade. Ben doesn’t have nearly the sweet tooth that I do, but h
Despite my best efforts, I fell into some sort of weird breakfast rut the past month or so. Nothing has sounded particularly good to me…I think in part due to the change in the weather. So many of the dishes I loved through winter are less appealing now. That coupled with having about two minutes available for eating breakfast each morning has led to an awful lot of smoothies and sad bana
Not too long ago, I mentioned my mini love affair with Taste Café in Broad Ripple. Well, it really hasn’t subsided. I meet up with friends, or coax coworkers to venture outside of a one mile radius for lunch, and whenever I do, we end up at Taste. The menu is extensive and they always have tons of great specials, but ever since trying their roasted salmon sandwich, it has been tough for m
With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, I thought I’d give you all a little reminder as well as a few suggestions of things you to make for your mom. It goes without saying that I often express my love through the preparing of food for my family and friends, and I have no doubt that if my mom were still here today, I would absolutely be planning a spectacular meal to share with her.
It may be cliché, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make churros in time for Cince de Mayo. Over the past year or so, I’ve become slightly enamored with them thanks to the fantastic churros at XOCO, one of Rick Bayless’ restaurants in Chicago. Really, fantastic isn’t an adequate word to describe them. They deserve their own superlative. A simple piece of fried do
1. At the beginning of the month, we took a family road trip to Atlanta to visit my brother and his fiancee, as well as my friend Josie! We couldn’t resist a trip to the Georgia Aquarium, and I loved this pic of Caroline with the jellies! 2. I posted a picture of this banana toast on my annieseats Instagram feed and one follower gave the best caption EVER: “Sad banana is sad.”
It’s the beginning of the week. The time when we start out with all our high expectations and all the best intentions. To work out every day, to eat good-for-you foods all week long, to organize every digital file on your computer into a fabulously streamlined system, etc. etc. Whatever your goals for the week may be, starting things off with a hefty dose of leafy greens that also happens
I’ve talked about my family many, many times on here, so if you’ve read for any length of time, you may have discerned that I have two pretty fantastic younger brothers. Even though they are most definitely adults, I will always think of them as my baby brothers. As much as I adore them now, it wasn’t always so. They are very close in age to each other, but several years young
For me, a good muffin for breakfast never gets old. Pumpkin, chocolate, lemon poppy seed, and of course, every type of berry we can get our hands on. Though many berries can be easily swapped out in muffin recipes, to me strawberries just aren’t one of them. Strawberries contain a lot more juice than other berries and release a lot of liquid during cooking. As a result, baked goods with
Today I’m dusting off an old recipe from the archives. One with an old photo that looked like…well, a humongous pile of chicken salad that had received the tilt treatment. (Looking back through old photos is equal parts cringe-inducing and hysterically funny.) But good photo or bad, it really doesn’t matter. This is my very favorite chicken salad recipe and in fact, it’
Happy Monday to all of you, and it is a happy day indeed because it is one of my favorite days of the year – Earth Day! If you’ve been reading the blog a while you may have gathered that at times I can be a bit of an eco-nut. This mentality was engrained in me from an early age, and every year around this time I try to evaluate our lifestyle and habits, recognizing what good things w
I love when one simple technique can elevate a recipe that is already great to something even better. We already have a basic turkey burger that we love, but recently we tried this version from Josie and we were sold. In a genius technique, this method involves grinding up dried porcini mushrooms to a powder and coating the burger patties with the mushroom mixture before cooking. It adds a nice
In general I avoid labeling any recipe as “the best”, “the ultimate”, etc. for a couple of reasons. First off, I of course haven’t tried every type of (whatever it is), so who am I to deem it number one? Second, I fully believe there are plenty of fantastic recipes out there for just about any food you can imagine, so it’s likely that more than one of them are
I promise I’ll quit yammering on about this soon but seriously, my little girl is growing up in the blink of an eye! She turned two just a couple of weeks ago and I swear, it’s as though some switch has been flipped over to big girl. The last traces of baby are slipping away. In yet another change to this effect, she moved up into the next age group class at daycare. I’m a bi
As I mentioned recently, I’ve been on a home organization/home decoration kick since the calendar flipped to January. We’ve been in our house for nearly four years now, but it’s all the stuff I’ve been doing the last several months that has made it really look and feel like us. It would come as a surprise to no one that I’m incredibly particular about most things, a
What do you love best about the salad you see here? For most people, I’m sure the answer would be the bacon. While I do like the bacon (definite progress from a few years ago), I am all about the hard boiled eggs. I love them. (Don’t even get me started on deviled eggs. They are my kryptonite. Gah!) But aside from my love of eggs, I love this salad overall. The components just
1. To start out the month of March, I finished up my last week of carrying the call pager of residency. Handing it off for the last time was amazing. 2. At work last month, I had the opportunity to culture my own cells and then visualize and karyotype my own chromosomes. It was so cool! 3. I got a flat tire on my car one evening that could only be fixed at the dealership while they ordered the n
When I planned the menu for Caroline’s birthday party, these bars were something of an afterthought. They helped round out the dessert portion of the menu, adding another berry treat for our little berry fiend. I suspected they would be good but oh.my.gosh, people, these were definitely the highlight of the spread. The buttery, crumbly crust with a hint of lemon and the amazing blackberry
Somehow it seems time has gone and played its tricks again, and our precious baby girl is no longer a baby at all. Suddenly, she’s a big girl. A big two year old(!) with a very big personality. It took some time for me to settle on a fitting theme for her party, but eventually I tried to just think about what she likes best. Of course as a two year old, she doesn’t have a great man
Here’s a peek at what I’ve been loving in March/early April! Just a few quick brushes with warmer weather have made me ever so anxious for spring and summer wardrobe updates. This J.Crew maxi dress was love at first sight/instant purchase for me. Last summer I bought one maxi dress from Target and I wore it all the time, so I know this will be a staple piece for me very soon. I boug
Throughout my childhood, our pantry had a near constant supply of various boxed snack cakes. Dad did an incredible job cooking for us practically every single night, but when it came to dessert, it was usually an ice cream sandwich or a snack cake. He generally rotated the supply between a chocolatey version, the zebra striped version, and occasional others, but it was always clear which was his
When I first began learning to cook, back in my college apartment with a couple of random cookbooks and a few recipes printed from the interwebs, I was aaaallll about pasta. I’d venture a guess that pasta was one of the first foods many of us prepared beyond cereal or popcorn. Plus, I knew I loved it. Who doesn’t love pasta? As my interest in cooking has grown, I’ve steered a
Soup, stew or chili or some kind is on our menu at least once weekly from the months of October through March. As much as I wish soup weren’t March-appropriate fare, it always is, as we are reminded this week. But as often as I serve soup, it can be challenging to keep accompaniments interesting. A salad and/or a hunk of French bread is typically our go-to choice, but recently I was feeli
I’m giving you this recipe just before the weekend for a reason. I think it’s important to start the weekend out with a lovely kind of breakfast, and these banana scones fit that description perfectly. They have the warm, comforting flavor of banana bread but the breakfast cred of a scone. And let’s not forget the browned butter glaze on top, which I’m convinced makes pr
Most of the time I have no problem eating a healthy diet. But, I’m still human, and some days I come home exhausted wanting only grilled cheese-mac and cheese-cheese pizza-cheese anything. On those same days, I usually do all sorts of mental backbends and end up convincing myself that making something healthy will take too much time or energy. (This, even despite the fact that I’ve
I’m not typically one to be intimidated in the kitchen, or to shy away from a challenge, but one thing that has long intimidated me is dealing with fresh coconut. I’ve looked longingly at the gorgeous fresh coconut curls atop pretty cookies, cakes, pies and more in magazines and cookbooks and finally I decided enough was enough. It was time to figure this out. As with so many things
My brother’s girlfriend totally rocks. She is super fun, as sweet as can be, smart, loving, incredibly gorgeous… She goes with me to Britney Spears concerts. She is my perfect teammate for Wii Pictionary (what what?!) And to top it off, she is a fellow brownie lover who really, truly loves brownies as much as I do. Her birthday was in early March and obviously brownie something or
It’s 3.14, people, and you know what that means. It’s Pi Day! It’s the one food holiday I make sure to celebrate each year. Sure, most of us make pies for Thanksgiving, but those tend to be the classics – pumpkin, pecan, etc. I like Pi Day because it gives me a chance to bake a new pie I haven’t tried yet, and the very date on the calendar is a perfectly legit rea
This past weekend, Ben and I enjoyed a kid-less weekend. (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) Don’t get me wrong, we adore our kids. Really, there isn’t even a strong enough word in my vocabulary to begin to describe how nuts I am for them. But, every once in a while, we need to hear ourselves think. Or breathe. Or have a conversation without having to shout or repeat ourselves five tim
Just judging by the sheer number of desserts I have shared with you over the years, it’s clear I have a bit of a sweet tooth. As much as I enjoy multi-step cupcakes or a rich, indulgent cheesecake, brownies and/or cookies are my constant craving. To me, they are the comfort foods of the dessert world. Usually no frills and little fuss, just a square of dense chocolatey goodness, you can n
Broccoli is a favorite veggie in our household, and we go through at least a couple heads of it each week. In general, it tends to play more of a supporting role in our meals as a side dish rather than take the spotlight in a main dish. But not this time. Just like roasted broccoli as a side, this pasta with a creamy broccoli pesto sauce has become an all-star. The kids rarely ask for seconds
1. We spent time at the end of January/beginning of February redecorating our playroom. These paper star lanterns are one of my favorite details! 2. As I mentioned, Courtney surprised me with a visit for my 30th. We were all so glad to have her here, and Caroline especially enjoyed spending time with her. 3. Testing out my first cabling project. It turns out cabling is SO much easier than you w
Ever since I mentioned my recent birthday, I’ve had a lot of readers asking about my birthday cake. Those who have been reading for a while know that it is a tradition of mine to bake my own birthday cake. Those who don’t love to bake have a hard time understanding this. Wouldn’t I rather have someone else bake it for me? Or have one from a bakery? No and no. When you love
Well, my littlest baby is rapidly approaching two. TWO, people. Which means it has been almost a full year since I posted about her first birthday party, and offered a tutorial on how I made this sign. Oops. Sorry it didn’t happen sooner, but better late then never I guess!I first saw a sign similar to this on Etsy but it was overpriced like whoa. I figured I should at least try my hand
I love the feeling after our weekly produce delivery and grocery shopping trip when the fridge is bursting with fresh produce. So many delicious possibilities. My goal is that by the following week, the fridge looks nearly bare again because we ate (and did not waste) all of those ingredients. It always starts out well enough since it’s the weekend. But then the week starts, work starts,
