Food

My new office gives us unlimited hot drinks. Most days, I stick with my favorite earl gray, but the past couple afternoons, I’ve indulged by sipping a couple pre-packaged hot chocolates. Those little packets bring back memories of building snow forts and giant snowmen in my front yard.

For my daughter’s first birthday, I decided to make a homemade funfetti birthday cake for a couple reason. First, it’s cute and looks pretty. Second, I made a low-sugar healthy smash cake for my son’s first birthday, and he didn’t dig into it like I had hoped.

I’ve been on a soup kick lately. Maybe it’s because it’s winter (but it’s like 80 in Phoenix today, so cold weather isn’t the motivator). Really, I think it’s because soup is so comforting.

I love cooking in our crock pot, especially on the weekends. You throw everything in first thing in the morning, and by dinner time, you have a hot and hearty dish. Crock pots dishes are just so easy to make and not at all fussy.

Over the holidays, along with sugar cookies, I made some of my childhood favorites — puppy chow and special k bars. If you haven’t tried these no-oven-required recipes before, you should. They are ridiculously easy to make and really yummy. The perfect chocolate and peanut butter desserts recipes ring in the new year and a new year of life.

I’m always looking for new ways to connect with my Italian heritage—most of the time, that involves trying a new recipe. I first heard of Florentine lace cookies, while watching America’s Test Kitchen.

For me to choose a favorite Christmas cookie is nearly impossible, but one of my absolute favorite Christmas flavors is ginger. Gingerbread men and ginger snaps would rank up there near the top of my Christmas cookie list.

Whatever you call them, snowballs, Russian tea cakes, Italian wedding cookies, or even Italian Wedding Christmas cookies, these powdery nutty cookies are a mainstay on most Christmas cookie platters. Despite their popularity, I had never made them before. My mom didn’t make these at Christmas, and I only had them a few times when we received cookies from other holiday bakers.

As a kid, my Thanksgiving plate was basically white — turkey breast, mashed potatoes, and a dinner roll. It’s not that my family didn’t have more choices on the table, it’s that my midwestern palate just never got very developed. I never ate the cranberries, the gravy or the stuffing. Being the baby of the family, my parents never forced me to try things I didn’t want to try, so my experience with food was limited, at best.