Content
We’re on the cusp of a holiday weekend which means one thing: food! Well, for me this year, it means carrying and unpacking a never-ending mountain of boxes (yay new house!), but for pretty much the rest of the country, this weekend is the unofficial start to summer. It’s time for the grills to get [...]
I am a total kid at heart when it comes to Rice Krispies treats. I’ve always loved the gooey, crispy treats and never turn them down if I have the opportunity to eat one. Recently, I had lunch at Noodles & Company where I always, always get one of their enormous snickerdoodle cookies. Last week, however, [...]
Crab dip always makes me think of summer – warm, breezy days sitting somewhere near water and enjoying a meal without a care in the world. When my Chief Culinary Consultant lived outside of Washington, D.C., we did a lot of eating out at restaurants when I would visit for the weekend. Crab dip was [...]
I tend to think I’m a “regular Joe” when it comes to the type of desserts that I enjoy. You’d be surprised how many times I steal a handful of chocolate chips from a bag, eat a chocolate-covered pretzel left over from my last birthday, frequent the local soft serve establishment, and enjoy otherwise very [...]
Happy Saturday to you! Are you geared up for your weekend? Doing anything fun? I’m spending the bulk of the weekend getting things organized, purged and in order for our move this week!! So excited, but so much to do! I am looking forward to getting in, unpacking, and getting settled. Next week’s Weekend Dish [...]
1. I’ve always wanted to take photos of water droplets with my macro lens and a few mornings ago I saw some picture-perfect droplets sitting on leaves. I grabbed my camera and got a few good pictures. I take so many pictures of food, that sometimes I have to remind myself to expand my photography [...]
I have nearly a dozen recipes here on Brown Eyed Baker that call for marshmallow creme… things such as fruit dip, homemade Hostess cupcakes, six-layer chocolate cake with toasted marshmallow filling and malted chocolate frosting (yes, it’s a doozy!) and homemade Snickers bars, among others. Marshmallow creme is one of those things that I admittedly [...]
I have been a habitual drinker of diet pop (or soda, for everyone not from Pittsburgh) for a long, long time; probably since high school. I’m that person who will go through a drive-thru just to get a Diet Coke. I have never been a coffee drinker, so my Diet Coke fixes have long been [...]
Back when I was in college, fried chicken was just as much a “thing” as pizza, wings and (for some) Chinese. My freshman year, a girl that lived on my floor worked at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken, usually the night shift since she had classes during the day. On the nights that she worked, [...]
I was first introduced to the Katharine Hepburn brownie recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. The book includes many brownie recipes, and this was one of them. I’ve since seen the recipe in dozens of places online, in books and magazines. This brownie recipe was originally shared in the New York [...]
Happy Saturday! How has the first week or so of May treated you? Here in Pittsburgh, it’s been sunny, warm and the flowers and trees are finally blooming. Yesterday it even smelled like summer. Isn’t it crazy how you can smell seasons? My absolute favorite is when I get that first sniff of fall air [...]
1. Springtime is so pretty. I love that I live in a city that gets to celebrate all four seasons of the year. 2. Does anyone use Sulia? I’ve been poking around on it, but I’m not sure I get it yet. It seems like a cross between Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. Is anyone using [...]
I owe you a thousand apologies. For a large chunk of time, I thought that I had this – my very favorite recipe for homemade vanilla bean ice cream, which I make countless times per year – here on the website. I recently received an email from a reader looking for my vanilla ice cream [...]
During the summer when I was a kid, dessert on Sunday almost always meant angel food cake, strawberries and whipped cream. It was one of my favorite treats; even better were the Sundays when a pound cake magically appeared on my grandma’s table, along with the standard strawberries and whipped cream. We never had pound [...]
It may come as a surprise that I don’t have a very long history with homemade waffles, even though I now adore them. Growing up, my grandma had a few standard breakfast options available when I’d sleep over at her house that we never had at home. They were, in no particular order: Brown Sugar-Cinnamon [...]
This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day (already!), so this week I’m sharing recipes that I think would be perfect for celebrating Mom. First up is this amazing chocolate pavlova. A couple of years ago, I shared a traditional pavlova recipe that was served with fresh whipped cream and fruit. It was unlike anything I had [...]
Happy Saturday! Are you planning to watch the Kentucky Derby today or celebrate Cinco de Mayo this weekend? I always enjoy watching the pomp and circumstance of the Kentucky Derby, along with the beautiful horses. I also don’t need any encouragement when it comes to eating insanely large amounts of Mexican food, so I’m ready [...]
1. Tuesday was my sister’s birthday (Happy Birthday, sister!), so we all enjoyed a nice dinner out to celebrate. We went to 1947 Tavern in Pittsburgh, where I devoured that mac & short ribs dish you see above. Ordering that (with the helpful encouragement of my Chief Culinary Consultant!) was probably the best decision I [...]
The close proximity at which the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo fall in relation to each other means an agonizing array of decisions must be made. For instance, bourbon or tequila? Derby hats or sombreros? Dainty tea cake sandwiches or chips with salsa and guacamole? If all else falls, throw your hands up in [...]
This coming Sunday is May 5th, Cinco de Mayo… the day that makes it perfectly acceptable to consume nothing but chips, salsa, guacamole, and margaritas for all the live long day. Quite a lovely foodie holiday, isn’t it? I’ve wrangled together a list of recipes that are perfect for celebrating this very festive Mexican holiday. [...]
Raise your hand if you’re doing something to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this coming weekend. Maybe you’re going to make a Mexican-themed dinner… treat yourself to a margarita (or margarita cupcakes)… or sit down to watch your favorite show with a bag of chips and a jar of salsa? This year, I finally made it [...]
Back when I started on this food blogging journey, I was still making making a lot of casseroles for dinner and relying heavily on packaged foods for most of my meals. Over the last six years, I’ve enjoyed stretching my kitchen muscle into areas that were both unfamiliar and uncomfortable. I’ve learned more than I [...]
Happy Saturday! I hope the sun is shining in your neck of the woods and that you have some fabulous things in store for you this weekend. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on some spring cleaning of the online variety – getting my email inbox in order, streamlining my Twitter lists [...]
1. A beautiful spring day called for a nice long lunchtime walk in the park with my favorite furry buddy this week. We both enjoyed getting some much-needed sun and fresh air! 2. I have really been craving Mexican food this week. It’s a good thing Cinco de Mayo is next weekend; I’ll have a [...]
Black and white cookies and I have not always been the best of friends. To make a long story short, nearly five years ago I was tasked with making black and white cookies for a function for a family member. Easy enough, I thought. Turns out, I thought way, way wrong. The recipe I used [...]
Buttermilk pie first popped up on my radar a little over a year ago. I read about it on a few different websites and, honestly, was a little perplexed by it. I wondered if a pie that was flavored primarily by buttermilk could be all that great to eat. Sure, I love to bake with [...]
Believe it or not, I made it the whole way through college without ingesting any Chinese takeout. Maybe it was just the group of girls that I hung out with, but we were always way more interested in pizza than Chinese. I tasted it once or twice after that, but it just never did anything [...]
Cheesecake is one of my great loves. Given the choice between it and a myriad of other desserts, I will choose cheesecake everyday and twice on Sunday. I’m sure you’re not too terribly surprised, seeing as how I bombard you with more than my fair share of cheesecake recipes. I just can’t help it; I’ve [...]
Happy weekend! I’m not sure that I’ve ever been so relieved to usher in a Saturday. It’s been an emotional roller coaster of a week with all of the events that have transpired in Boston. I’ve consumed more ice cream in the last five days than I have in the previous five months. Whatever it [...]
1. I enjoyed a very sports-tastic weekend last week. You might remember that last week I mentioned my Chief Culinary Consultant and I had gone to the semifinals of the Frozen Four. On Saturday night, we went back to watch the championship game… it was a great game and really a lot of fun to [...]
I have not been to a Red Lobster restaurant since I was in high school; which is to say, I haven’t been to one in well over 15 years. That’s a long time, but for better or for worse, I have a pretty stellar memory. My taste buds do, too. They won’t allow me to [...]
After an entire winter of eating bananas, apples and pears, I love nothing more than walking into the grocery store on a sunny April day and seeing juicy red strawberries, melons and, of course, rhubarb. Rhubarb is a quintessential spring fruit, especially in my little area of the world. It typically comes into season during [...]
When I was a kid, chocolate mousse seemed like one of the fanciest desserts I could imagine. Weeknight desserts usually consisted of Jell-O with Cool Whip, and aside from that, there were sometimes cookies or Entenmann’s goodies at my grandma’s, and the occasional cake at a birthday party. I can only remember a couple of [...]
It’s officially spring, which means that finally the sun is shining, the birds are chirping and the air is warmer. It also means that I’m excited to add some pretty new summer pieces to my wardrobe… and I’m always on the lookout for unique, seasonal pieces to add to my kitchen collection. One of my [...]
Happy Saturday to you all! I hope you’re doing something fun this weekend and are enjoying some nice spring weather! My Chief Culinary Consultant and I are headed back down to the Frozen Four tonight to catch the championship game between Yale and Quinnipiac. I’m looking forward to stuffing myself with yet another soft pretzel [...]
1. Today would have been my dad’s 60th birthday. The photo above was taken when he was only 43, about two-and-a-half years before he passed away. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about him, but he’s especially on my mind today. I love you Dad, and miss you. (Hope you [...]
Tomorrow would have been – should have been – my dad’s 60th birthday. You may remember that last year on his birthday, I shared with you his very favorite cake, the one he would always request for his birthday. It’s a fabulous cake – a moist, chocolate cake with a river of cheesecake running through [...]
Are you a French fries person or an onion rings person? I’m almost always a French fries person, for the most part because I forget to actually check out other options. When I order a sandwich or burger at a restaurant, they usually ask “are fries okay with that?” and I always oblige with a [...]
Growing up in an Italian family, I ate pasta no less than once a week. If my mom didn’t make any during the week, I was sure to get my fill at my grandma’s on Sundays. The thing about traditional Sunday dinners in my Italian family? Pasta was always, always, always served with red sauce. [...]
These muffins were just the thing I needed to kill two birds with one stone. Number one, I had been staring at a mostly-used bag of macadamia nuts since I made the Macadamia Nut, Coconut & White Chocolate Blondies a couple of months ago. Number two (and more importantly), I’ve been craving fresh muffins lately. [...]
There are few things that bring me more satisfaction in the kitchen than pulling a warm, fresh loaf of bread from the oven. Most of the time, I make yeast-based breads, but I have also become quite fond of a number of quick breads that have secured themselves a permanent home in my recipe collection. [...]
When I think about warm, spice-laden molasses cookies, I usually think of chilly fall weather, mugs of hot apple cider and the smell of pumpkin. Perhaps it’s because our area has been stuck in a perpetual winter rut, but I have had an unseasonal craving for these cookies over the last few weeks. I finally [...]
Happy weekend to you! The sun is shining here, and it looks like spring has actually sprung. Finally! The couple of months between Easter and Memorial Day always seem like a time to slow down, catch a breath and reset. We’ve gone from the holidays to Super Bowl parties to Valentine’s Day to St. Patrick’s [...]
1. The Easter bunny gave me an Easter basket with some golf socks for my new hobby, peanut butter eggs, a gift certificate for a facial and a few other little goodies. That’s one awesome bunny! 2. I’m happy to report that I made it through all 40 days of Lent without a smidgen of [...]
The first day of spring has come and gone, which means that two of my favorite neighborhood soft serve stands have opened for the season. It may have only been 26 degrees when I went out yesterday morning, but that isn’t going to keep me from my ice cream. Once the local shops open, it’s [...]
A few years ago, I shared with you my grandma’s super-simple recipe for what she always referred to as “icebox cake.” It was an easy dessert that graced her table on countless Sundays – two alternating layers of graham crackers and vanilla pudding, topped with crushed graham crackers. Sometimes she’d throw Cool Whip on top, [...]
Happy Saturday and Happy (early) Easter! Do you have any big holiday weekend plans? Maybe doing some Easter baking, or having an Easter egg hunt for the kids? We are spending time today celebrating my grandma’s 80th birthday and tomorrow we’ll be with family for Easter dinner at my aunt’s house. No menu-making for me [...]
1. I blew out 33 candles on Monday and had a fabulous few days celebrating my birthday with my family and my Chief Culinary Consultant. That cake above is my absolute favorite from Oakmont Bakery; I need to work on recreating it so all of you can taste it, as well! Stay tuned! 2. A [...]
For the past few Easters, I have been wanting to make a coconut cake for dessert. It just seems to scream light, fresh… spring! Each year, I never get around to it and end up making something else. This year, fate intervened. I ordered the Flour cookbook a few weeks ago, which is the origin of the [...]
I’m trying to cover all of my heritage bases with Easter recipes this year My mom’s side of the family is Italian and that is where I get the majority of my Easter recipes; things like Italian Easter Bread, Pigu, Bacon and Cheese Easter Bread and Italian Easter Pie. On my dad’s side of the family, [...]
