Welcome to my blog! My name is Stephanie and I was born, raised, and still live just outside of Boston. I’m a stay at home mom of two children that don’t really need me to stay home anymore, especially since one of them is in college. So I currently spend my days with my three insane dogs while owning a very small antique business. I love and appreciate all things old, whether antiques or architecture, and love to give items new life by repurposing.
I love food, too much, and I get immense joy from how my food can make others happy. One of the best compliments I have ever received was my daughter telling me that my cooking has ruined everything else for her. I’ll take that!
I’m much more of a baker than I am a cook. Not that I don’t like cooking, I just wish I didn’t have to do it every day. I’d much rather cook when I feel like it. But, since I don’t have a personal chef and my family is picky about eating every day, here I am. Part of the motivation behind this blog is not only to give me someone to talk to during the day other than my dogs, but to be able to share some of the recipes I’ve tried and really enjoy.
I also love to take pictures of every day things that just make me smile. So this blog is just going to be about “my slice of life” and I hope you’ll enjoy some of it!
If you are looking for a healthier alternative to potato salad, try using cauliflower. I have made mashed cauliflower numerous times but never thought to use cauliflower in place of potatoes for potato salad until last night. It went perfectly with my homemade pulled pork and was delicious! The added bonus was my son that won’t eat potatoes ate the cauliflower, Mom for the win!
I mixed together all the same ingredients I would for my potato salad except used cauliflower in place of potatoes. If you feel like using potatoes, these measurements were for one head of cauliflower so you may need to increase them depending on how many potatoes you use.
Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. spicy brown mustard
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Celery – shopped
1 hard boiled egg
Red onion – chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Whisk the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper together in a mixing bowl and set aside.
Cut up the cauliflower florets into small bite size pieces. Chop the celery, onion, and egg and put aside.
Bring water to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. Add the cauliflower and keep boiling for about 4-5 minutes or until it is slightly soft. Drain the cauliflower and run under cold water in a colander to cool.
Add the cauliflower, celery, red onion, and egg to the mayonnaise mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for an hour or so for best flavor.
Chicken Fried Rice is a quick, healthy, delicious meal that you don’t have to get at a restaurant. Even though it is not even remotely like Southern Fried Chicken, every time I make this meal I have the song “Chicken Fried” by the Zach Brown Band on repeat in my head. Maybe they could sing a different version “You know I like my chicken fried… rice”. Yeah, maybe not.
Anyway, you can use brown rice or white rice, or even leftover rice. What is great is you can cook the rice ahead of time and then just whip up the rest when you are ready. Super easy.
Ingredients:
4 cups of cooked rice
1 lb. boneless chicken breast
1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil, divided
1 tbsp. canola oil, divided
1 1/3 cups frozen peas
1 1/2 tsp. of minced garlic
2 large eggs lightly beaten
4 – 5 tbsp. soy sauce
salt and pepper
Cook rice as directed on package. Set aside.
Clean chicken and cut into small pieces.
In a large frying pan heat 1 1/2 tsp. of sesame oil along with 1 1/2 tsp. of canola oil over medium heat. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper and cook about 5 minutes or until no longer pink.
Once the chicken is cooked transfer to a plate and set aside.
Add remaining 1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil and 1 1/2 tsp. canola oil to the pan and keep at medium heat. Add peas and cook for 1 minute, then add garlic and cook for an additional minute.
Push the peas to the edge of the pan and add eggs in the center. Cook to a scramble.
Return the chicken to the pan and add the cooked rice. Add soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve and enjoy! You know I like my chicken fried…..
I can officially say this is my favorite cake, and not just my favorite cake recipe, but my favorite cake. It is better than a bakery. While it is very time consuming to make, it is completely worth it. Unfortunately the vintage lighting in my Maine cottage was not very good for photos 😦
Carrot cake was my wedding cake and every year on our anniversary we would buy a carrot cake from the same bakery. When they stopped offering to bake the cake without walnuts, instead of looking for another bakery I decided I would just bake a carrot cake for our anniversary. HUGE thank you to that bakery because this cake is so much better! Now every year on our anniversary we have this cake.
Even though I do not use walnuts you can absolutely add them to this recipe if you choose. I also only use 1/2 cup raisins because no one in my family likes raisins except me. If you enjoy a carrot cake with more raisins you can increase that to 1 cup.
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
3 extra large eggs (room temperature)
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour (plus 1 tbsp)
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. carrots grated
1/2 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease two 9″ round cake pans, line with parchment paper, then grease and flour the parchment paper.
Peel the carrots and grate them using the fine side of a hand grater, you do not want the carrots shredded. Once grated put them aside. This is my least favorite part of making this cake, and pretty much the only reason I don’t make this cake more often.
In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and oil and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.
Stir in the vanilla.
In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture while beating on low speed with the electric mixer. The batter will be thick.
In a third bowl combine 1 tbsp. of flour with the carrots and raisins and mix well. This helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cakes.
Have you noticed the vintage Pyrex bowls yet? These were my mother’s, I love everything vintage.
Stir the carrot mixture into the cake batter and pour into prepared pans.
Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes and then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.
Once the cakes are cool it is time to frost these delicious cakes with cream cheese frosting!
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 stick of butter softened (1/2 cup)
1 8 oz. block of cream cheese softened
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar (or more per taste)
Using an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter and cream cheese until well mixed and smooth. Add the vanilla and beat just until combined. Beat in the powdered sugar.
You may like the frosting sweeter and if so, just add a little more powdered sugar.
Place one of the cakes upside down on a dish or cake stand and start frosting the middle.
Place the second cake round side up on top of the first cake and finish frosting.
Make sure to keep the cake covered and refrigerated.
I have had this Pooh Cookbook since I was a child in the 70’s and the only recipe I ever remember making from it were the Popovers For Piglet. Despite the fact that I can no longer get the popovers to actually pop, I refuse to make any other recipe because every time I make these the memories make me smile. Not to mention it’s Pooh and how can you not smile with Pooh?
I feel like they used to pop, maybe? I have tried them in two different ovens and they don’t pop. They are delicious regardless, but not going to win any awards for tallest popover lol. One thing that seems to be a little different than other Popover recipes I have seen is that these contain honey. Of course they do, because Pooh loves honey!
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. melted butter
2 large eggs
Sift together the flour and salt.
Stir in the milk, honey, and melted butter.
Beat in the eggs.
Fill greased muffin tins just under half full.
Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes until the sides are rigid and tops are brown. Do not open the oven before they cook for 25 minutes or they will fall. However, mine never really popped. Hmmm.
While they may not be the most perfectly popped popovers, they are delicious!
Rice pudding is a dessert I have loved since I was a child and I always got so excited every time my mother would get ready to make it and take out her Betty Crocker cookbook. This is one of those childhood desserts that regardless of whether another recipe make look or taste better, I am sticking to this recipe because I want my rice pudding just the way it was. It may not look as creamy or appetizing as some others I have seen, but it is delicious and to me there is no better. My mother and I loved rice pudding, and now my daughter and I are the pudding fans in my family. My husband and son do not like it which just means more for us girls!
I needed a little pick me up with this gloomy weather and rice pudding was just the thing to do it!
There have been a number of different variations of this recipe over the years, but this is the Betty Crocker recipe my mother made when I was a child.
Ingredients:
2/3 cup uncooked white rice
1 1/3 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup raisins
Cinnamon (or Nutmeg)
Combine the rice and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered until all the water is absorbed. Around 20 minutes.
While the rice is cooking start preparing the rest of the pudding.
Whisk two eggs in an ungreased small casserole.
Add the sugar, milk, salt, and vanilla and whisk together until combined.
Add the rice and the raisins and stir well. Sadly I can never put in the full 1/2 cup raisins because I am the only one in my family that likes them.
Sprinkle the top with cinnamon (the original recipe calls for Nutmeg, but I like Cinnamon better).
Bake at 325 degrees for about an hour, stirring occasionally until a knife comes out clean.
I prefer the pudding cold so I chill before eating. I also prefer it with whipped cream on top. Yum!
I hope my childhood memories bring back some of yours as well 😊
I can be a very finicky eater especially when it comes to fish, and I will never try anything new. I basically only eat Haddock and no matter how many times my husband said I would love Halibut, I still wouldn’t try it. Recently we were given Halibut instead of Haddock at the grocery store and after I cooked it for my husband I gave in to his coaxing and tried it myself. There aren’t that many instances where I like having to tell my husband he was right, but this was one instance that I was happy he was. Not only was he right, but Halibut is now my favorite fish. If you have never had Halibut, it is a delicious white fish that is actually much better than Haddock.
The first time I made it I baked it with my normal Haddock topping which is seasoned breadcrumbs, melted butter, and seasoned salt. As I said, it was delicious. Then the second time I made it I used this Dijon crumb recipe and it was extra delicious. Amazing, trust me.
I used about a pound and a half of Halibut filets, which I removed the skin, rinsed, and put on a baking sheet.
I mixed together all of the ingredients for Topping #1 in a small bowl and spread evenly over the filets.
Topping #1 recipe:
1/4 cup mayonaise
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1 tbsp. prepared horseradish
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp. parmesan cheese
Then I combined the ingredients for Topping #2 in another small bowl and sprinkled it evenly over the first topping.
Topping #2:
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1 tbsp. parmesan cheese
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
Then you just bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes or until the fish is flaky. So, so good!
Years ago I veered away from the classic Nestle Toll House cookie recipe and started trying to find a better chocolate chip cookie recipe. Although I love a good Toll House cookie, I just kept finding they were a little too crispy for my personal liking. This recipe is quite different but they are soft, delicious and have become my new favorite!
When I realized I was out of the regular size chocolate chips and only had minis, I was initially very disappointed. Well, that turned into such a good thing because I loved them even more with the small chips! Give it a try if you never have and see what you think.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. hot water
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups flour
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Cream together the butter and sugars until smooth.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. This is the only recipe I have ever had to do this with.
Add baking soda water to the batter with the salt and combine well.
Stir in the flour and chocolate chips ( I used mini chips).
Drop onto ungreased pans. I decided to use the large cookie scoop this time, go big or go home!
Then bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until edges start to brown.
Last night I had intended on just making pasta with pesto for dinner, but then had a craving for something a little more creamy. I decided to add a little cream sauce spin to my homemade pesto and it was absolutely delicious! If you are like me and love cream sauce, you will love this creamy pesto. The addition of the cream is subtle and not as heavy as an alfredo sauce, but satisfies that craving for creaminess you may be having.
First I will give you the recipe for my pesto, then further down the blog you will see how to make it into a cream sauce.
Here are the ingredients for my regular pesto:
4 oz. of fresh basil
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp. minced garlic
Pepper to taste
Add basil, cheese, garlic, and pepper to a food processor.
Turn on the processor and add the olive oil slowly.
Let it run until the basil is finely chopped and all the ingredients are combined.
Oh that smell, wow!
Since nothing goes better with basil than tomatoes, I decided to cut up some grape tomatoes to add to the pasta and pesto.
This is where I would usually stop and be so happy with this meal. I love fresh pesto on pasta.
But I didn’t stop, and this is where things started getting crazy and I decided to bust out the heavy cream.
Heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream and 2 tbsp. of butter in a saucepan until the butter is melted and the cream is starting to boil while being careful not to let the cream burn. Whisk in a 1/2 cup of grated cheese and simmer for a few minutes until it starts to thicken slightly.
Whisk the pesto into the cream sauce mixture and cook for a few minutes.
Doesn’t that look pretty?
Pour the sauce over your pasta of choice, add the tomatoes, stir, and serve.
If your family is anything like mine, you will be listening to happy eating sounds and praises through the entire dinner. Yum!
My daughter and I put our flavor cravings together and came up with this AMAZING cake. We knew we wanted to incorporate coconut and raspberry, and were first thinking of a chocolate cake to go with them which I think will be the next cake we bake. Ultimately we decided on a yellow cake and cream cheese frosting to compliment the two flavors, and were we happy that we did. Wow!
Most yellow cakes have so much butter and eggs in them that you can feel your arteries clogging from just reading the recipe. Since I didn’t really want to use 100 eggs for one cake, I went to the Betty Crocker yellow cake recipe I have been using for years. Simple, moist, delicious, and it only uses one bowl. You really can’t get better than that.
We only had about a half of a bag of coconut so we decided not to put any in the cake batter, only in the middle and on top. I’m sure a little extra in the batter would have been delicious. Here is how to make this yummy cake.
Cake Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups milk
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
3 large eggs
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9″ round cake pans.
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer for 30 seconds on low speed, and 3 minutes on high speed.
Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Once the cakes are cool you can make the cream cheese frosting. If you have read some of my other blogs you know that this frosting is my absolute favorite. It will be yours too, trust me.
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Combine the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.
Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Then add the powdered sugar and continue beating until smooth and completely mixed.
If it doesn’t taste sweet enough for your liking, add a little more powdered sugar.
To frost the cakes, place one of the cakes upside down onto a plate or platter.
Spread some of the frosting on the top of the layer.
Spread a thick layer of Raspberry Preserves, try not to get too close to the edge so it doesn’t ooze out when you place the next layer on top.
Sprinkle some coconut on top of the raspberry layer, we used Baker’s Sweetened Coconut.
Top with the next layer with the round side facing up. Then start to frost the top and sides of the cake. When finished frosting sprinkle some coconut on the top.
Refrigerate for a little while before eating, it tastes better slightly cold. Then dig in! So good!!!!
This baked french toast will be your “go to” brunch recipe from the moment you taste it. I started making this years ago for Easter brunch, and it has become a dish that my family looks forward to all year. It has become such an awaited favorite that I am pretty sure I would be disowned if I ever were to decide to make something else. No joke, it’s that good.
This recipe makes enough for a large and a small glass baking dish of french toast. Since this year it was only the four of us, I started to just prepare one dish and the evil stares I received from my children made me quickly realize that was a bad idea. I guess if you wait 365 days for something, you want as much as you can get. A few days extra of this yummy treat for breakfast was a small price to pay for my children’s happiness.
To make your new brunch favorite you need:
2 large French breads
8 eggs
2 cups of milk
1 1/2 cups half and half
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
3 tbsp. light corn syrup
Butter a large and a small glass baking dish. Cut the french bread into 1″ – 1/2 ” pieces and arrange in the baking dishes.
Whisk together eggs, milk, half and half, cinnamon and vanilla in a mixing bowl.
Ladle over the bread ensuring that every piece is covered.
Cover and refrigerate overnight so the egg mixture can absorb into the bread.
The next day combine the brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a saucepan over low/medium heat until everything is melted.
Spread the mixture on the french toast until evenly coated. I never use it all, but that is up to you.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, sometimes longer, until the egg is fully cooked. You may need to cover with aluminum foil near the end to prevent excessive browining.
Absolutely delicious! You will see why my family counts down the days until I make this french toast again.
