Food Diary

Hello my friends.  We’ve made it to Sunday.  That in itself this week feels… like a bit of deliverance.  Just a bit.   I hope this finds you with a moment to unwind yourself.  I’ve felt pretty wound and bound this week.  The Senate hearings, the content, the tone, the spectacle, the opinions, it’s been PLENTY on top of life’s normal work and pay the bills hustle.  Can we take a moment to acknowledge that whether we want or have the ability to, we’ve carried a lot this week. Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 190! at Joy the Baker.

Dreaming of a Croatia vacation? Sibenik Croatia is a coastal town with charming streets and waterfall swimming at nearby Krka National Park. A few months ago Alex, me and our toddler Larson ventured out on a 3 week vacation to Europe. Most of the trip was on the Mediterranean coast, but we made a brief stop to the Adriatic coast in Sibenik Croatia. Why a Croatia vacation? Croatia is blowing up as a vacation destination for its charming Medieval cities and sparkling blue waters. And have you heard of the Croatia waterfalls? The more time we went in Sibenik, the more I grew to love this beautiful region. Should Sibenik, Croatia be on your travel bucket list? Absolutely .  Keep reading to learn why. Related:  8 Secrets: How to Take Better Pictures on Vacation  | Where is Sibenik Croatia? Croatia has become a hot spot for tourists lately. Sibenik is a lesser known Croatia destination, but it’s absolutely worth visiting (it’s pronounced Shib-en-ik ). We decided to visit Sibenik pa

Good shortbread cookies are always buttery, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture that keeps you coming back for that second bite. They tend to be simple cookies with short ingredient lists, where the butter is the star of the show. That doesn’t mean that you can’t add extra flavors to your favorite shortbread recipe, of course, and that is exactly what I did here. This Salted Toffee Shortbread has a classic buttery shortbread base, but is studded with sweet toffee bits and topped with a sprinkling of coarse salt. To make the shortbread, cold butter is cut into a mixture of flour, sugar and salt. I prefer to combine the ingredients in a food processor so that the butter can be very finely chopped into the dry ingredients, resulting in a very even-textured shortbread. The food processor also makes the prep for this recipe take less than a minute! If you don’t have a food processor, you also can cut the butter in by hand, but be sure to get it as fine as possible. The shortbread mixture w

Brunch for a group. Inexpensive dinner. Cook once, reheat through the week breakfast. Put a slice in a tortilla or between toast and you’re off. Frittatas are just the best. Especially for some who... Please visit Sprouted Kitchen to view this Recipe.

Carrot cake is a dessert that you can enjoy all year round, but I particularly enjoy it towards the end of summer and into the fall. During this season, the warm spices that I associate with carrot cake taste even more delicious. I’ve made carrot cake muffins and cookies, but Trader Joe’s just launched a new product that takes the love of carrot cake to a whole new level: Carrot Cake Spread. Trader Joe’s Carrot Cake Spread is exactly what it sounds like, meaning that it is a jam-like spread that is made up of the same ingredients that you would find in carrot cake! It contains dried carrots, crushed pineapple, golden raisins, molasses, vanilla and spices – in addition to a fair amount of sugar and apple juice concentrate for sweetness. The carrots, pineapple and raisins are crushed into very tiny bits, so they give the jam a lot of texture without making it as chunky as a traditional fruit preserve. It does taste like carrot cake, with a nice balance of sweetness and spice, and a ver

I bought my dad a milkshake yesterday.  Strawberry – a solid choice though I remember him ordering Pineapple Malts when I was a kid which tipped me off early to his playful food genius.  It’s pretty sweet sharing a milkshake with Dad, any flavor, any age.   The offering today is a milkshake – roasty, toasty, and sweet.  And while we’re past the summer days (someone tell that to the heat and humidity in New Orleans), and while we’re starting to fluff our sweaters and think about roasting our vegetables – the invitation is to subvert all that a make ourselves a small toasty milkshake.  I published this recipe years and years ago on my blog. Continue reading Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake at Joy the Baker.

Pumpkin pie is a fall classic that I bake on a regular basis throughout the season. As much as I enjoy my basic recipe , I still like to experiment with different twists on the traditional dessert. Fortunately, pumpkin is delicious with a wide variety of flavors. One of my favorite pumpkin pairings is caramel, and that is what led me to put together this Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Pie. This pie has a pumpkin pie base that is accented with the rich caramel sweetness of dulce de leche. It’s flavorful, easy to make and so delicious that you might not want to go back to your standard recipe. Dulce de leche is a rich caramel sauce that is most commonly made by caramelizing sweetened condensed milk. The caramel sauce is very sweet and has a unique, caramelized milk flavor that makes it both decadent and memorable. By adding it to the filling of my pumpkin pie, I added both extra sweetness and a few additional layers of flavor to what would otherwise be a very simple filling. Along with the du

This Chocolate-Swirled Vanilla Blueberry Bundt Cake is one cake that packs in a lot of flavors, making it a crowd pleaser for just about any occasion! The cake starts with one batter, but is divided into vanilla and chocolate portions. To the vanilla batter, I added a generous handful of blueberries (I used fresh, but frozen can also be used) and, to the chocolate, I added some mini chocolate chips to make it even richer. All the flavors come together beautifully in a cake that looks as good as it tastes. To create the swirl, the batter must be layered in the bundt cake pan. First, spoon in half of the blueberry batter and spread it into an even layer. Next, spoon in the chocolate batter and spread it gently so that it covers the batter beneath it. Finally, spoon on the remaining blueberry batter and spread it out as evenly as possible. You can give the batter a gentle swirl with a butter knife, but I like to see a slightly thicker stripe in this cake, so I typically skip the swirl a

I went to Greece this week on a whim.  On a whim, on an adventure, on a gut hunch that this sort of invitation was one to pay attention to, one that felt like a spark of LIFE in everyday life.  Gut hunches are the feels I pay attention. Where it’s hard to feel the difference between nerves and excitement.  That’s where the good stuff lives.  Greece is as generous and I’d imagined. Continue reading Julia’s Fried Pistachios with Lemon Yogurt at Joy the Baker.

Mug cakes are an easy option when you are looking for a quick, single-serving dessert that will satisfy your sweet tooth without a lot of prep work. You can make them from scratch , but they are even easier when you start with a mix. Trader Joe’s Chocolate Salted Caramel Mug Mix is a new option from the grocery chain that produces two  decadent chocolate cakes with gooey, salted caramel centers. The mix makes two individual mug cakes, so you can make one at a time or use two mugs to make both. There are two packets of cake mix, along with four of Trader Joe’s Fleur de Sel caramels. The caramels are delicious on their own, but are used here to be the molten center of each cake. The mix is extremely easy to make: just pour it in a mug, add water and stir. I was a bit skeptical of the fact that the directions only called for a short cooking time (20 seconds on high, then insert the caramels and then microwave for an additional 20 seconds), but the cake turned out perfectly. It puffed up

Did you know many fields where kids play in the US are sprayed with harmful pesticides? The movement to get rid of toxic chemicals in playing fields and public parks is spreading across the country! This post was created in partnership with  Stonyfield . All opinions are our own.  Did you know many fields where kids play are sprayed with pesticides? As you know, Alex and I are passionate about avoiding chemicals in food. That’s part of why we started this website in the first place! This space is devoted mostly to recipes and cooking inspiration, but hear me out on this one.  Did you know many fields in the US where kids play are sprayed with pesticides, including sports fields, playgrounds, and parks? Yikes . We didn’t. After becoming parents to sweet Larson (our model for all of these photos!), we’re even more passionate about doing  everything we can to make sure he and all kids around us are safe and healthy. The other day I jumped on the phone with Stonyfield Organic’s foun

Tiramisu is a dessert that I often bake for parties and other occasions where I need a dessert that can serve a crowd. Not only is it delicious, the layered espresso and cream pudding can be prepared in advance, so there is no need to rush around at the last minute. This Tiramisu Bread Pudding is a twist on the classic Italian favorite that captures all the flavors of the original in a “comfort food” format. As is the case with most bread puddings, this one starts out with quite a lot of cubed bread. You’re going to need about a half a loaf of white bread, challah or brioche. Brioche is always a good choice for bread pudding because it is so rich, giving the pudding an even more indulgent base, but white bread is a solid option if that is what you have in the kitchen. If you happen to have some ladyfingers – the light sponge cakes that make up the layers in a traditional tiramisu – you can substitute some of the bread cubes for them to being in a little extra authenticity. I prefer

I often get asked where I find the inspiration for some of my recipes and I often say that I’m inspired by other foods that I eat and drink, as inspiration really can come from anywhere. I found the inspiration for this Pumpkin Chai Spice Loaf inside of a mug – a pumpkin-colored mug that I just happened to be drinking a warm chai tea latte from! The Pumpkin Chai Spice Loaf is an easy to make quick bread that is accented with pumpkin pie spices and chai tea, perfect for slicing and serving up on a cool fall morning. To bring chai tea into the loaf, I infused some milk with chai tea bags. I recommend using two bags for half a cup of milk to get as much spice flavor out of the tea as possible. The tea-infused milk has a great spice flavor, but I further supplemented it with more spices in the bread itself. I added pumpkin pie spice, ground cinnamon and ground cardamom, along with vanilla and almond extracts. While there is cinnamon in the pumpkin pie spice, I always find that a little e

Hello sweet friends.   Welcome to your weekend!  I realize I did y’all dirty this week by mentioning that I adopted a dog into my tiny family of me and Tron without sharing a picture of our sweet girl.  Her name is Maggie and she’s a sweet little mama pup.  We’re learning how to be in the world together and it’s pretty great.  Also, it turns out that it takes a village to take proper care of a dog, so my friend and neighbor Nicole and I share Maggie and really… it’s super progressive and  so helpful. Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 189! at Joy the Baker.

Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies because I love the contrast of their crisp cinnamon sugar exterior with the tender center of the cookies. Since the flavors are very straightforward, it’s easy to put a twist on the classic cookie. One of the most unusual variations that I’ve made over the years was a snickerdoodle pie and, this year, I decided to give it a very seasonal twist by making a Maple Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Pie! This Maple Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Pie is inspired by classic cinnamon sugar-topped cookies, but it has a pumpkin filling and a maple cinnamon topping that make it perfect for fall. The filling is made with pumpkin puree and has a tender, cakey texture that references the original cookies. It has a touch of pumpkin pie spice that really highlights the pumpkin puree. It is topped with a maple cinnamon syrup that bakes into a crisp, caramelized layer in the oven, creating the contrast that makes the cookies so addictive – even though this pie is far more f

Looking for Italy beach towns? Tellaro Italy is a hidden gem and one of the best places to visit in Italy. Here are tips for visiting this coastal town. A few months ago, Alex and I took a dream trip to Italy, Croatia and Spain with our toddler son Larson. The first stop on our trip was magical Tellaro Italy, one of the best coastal towns in Italy. If you’re like me, you’re wondering: where the heck is Tellaro? Since we wanted our first city to be all about sparkling Mediterranean waters, Alex spent hours visiting some of the best beaches in Italy. He came up with Tellaro, a coastal town near Cinque Terre. But unlike Cinque Terre, it’s relatively undiscovered. As a family group of 8 people including 3 adventurous kids (Alex’s mom, brother and sister in law, and our niece and nephew were in tow), we ventured to this stunning little town. And all 8 of us fell head over heels for it. Keep reading for photos and everything there is to know about Tellaro Italy. Related:  8 Secrets: How