There’s just something about homemade tomato soup in the winter (yes, even in LA) that warms me to my toes. I was never a fan of the canned stuff growing up, but real tomato soup is the perfect accompaniment to almost anything. When my friend served us this family recipe one night last year, I was blown away by how perfect it was and I’ve been making it two to three times a month since that dinner! Her recipe is a little creamy, a little tangy and a little spicy. It also freezes well which has been a lifesaver during busy months. I recommend pairing it with a grilled pimento cheese sandwich or sweet corn muffins! Continue reading
Simply Wonderful Tomato Soup
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Delicate Milk and Rice Flour Pudding
Longing for something simple and creamy, we ordered “rice pudding” for dessert from our favorite Mediterranean restaurant one evening. What we got was anything but simple and I immediately became obsessed. After lots of recipe research, my best guess is that it is actually called Malabi, an Israeli milk and rice flour pudding. The texture is smooth, creamy and soft. It holds its shape easily like a flan, but the rice flour and rose-water gives it a light, delicately floral flavor. The restaurant drizzled their version with a rose water syrup and sprinkles it with coconut and pistachios, but the flavors and toppings vary from recipe to recipe. Once I found my favorite version of the pudding itself, I made it a few times to perfect my version. It is extremely quick and simple to make…and our toddler adores it, so it’s a great recipe to introduce new and exotic flavors to a child who might be a little skeptical. Continue reading
Give Love!
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On the 12th Day of Christmas…Keep Traditions Alive
Cookies for Santa and raw veggies for the reindeer.
There comes a time for a lot people when they decide to stay put for the holidays instead of heading to see their families or traveling to familiar places, whether it’s because of money, work or having kids of their own. For all three of those reasons, this was our first year spending the holidays in Los Angeles instead of North Carolina with our families, so holding onto the traditions that I love so much was even more important to me. Continue reading
Give Love!
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On the 11th Day of Christmas…Craft!
I can’t count how many times someone asked me where they can find a good ugly Christmas sweater this year. Um… Hello?! Get a hot glue gun and make one or better yet, make something just as tacky that’s actually original! Take for instance this crown I made for my Christmas party…equal parts delightful and hideous. I cut antler shapes out of heavy chipboard and coated them liberally in 24k gold glass glitter (and then prayed it didn’t blind me half way through the party). I hot glued them with some jingle bells, shiny balls, and plastic glitter pine needles (all from Michael’s) to sparkly gold elastic. When I put it on the first the time, there were gaps between the stuff where the elastic stretched…so I just hot glued more stuff to the other stuff to fill it in! Boom. Done. But for Pete’s sake, if you do go with a store-bought ugly sweater, don’t buy the sexy fitted one…it really defeats the point and kills the whole funny thing.
Give Love!
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On the 10th Day of Christmas…Get Kitschy in the Kitchen!
It’s pretty rare that I get to bake elaborate and ridiculously fun things in the kitchen, so when Christmas comes, I like to go big…really big. I had some leftover trees and a skiing Santa from the year’s snow-globe wreaths, so for our annual Christmas party, I made a ginormous ski slope cake bordered with a gingerbread cityscape and little candy house cupcakes! I spread the baking out over a week to make it less stressful and it came out just how I had envisioned it…equal parts kitschy, homey and magical. Continue reading
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On the 9th Day of Christmas…Wrap and Stuff!
I love beautifully wrapped gifts…so much so that my family brings their gifts over to me to wrap for them! I’m not a traditionalist at all when it comes to wrapping and I definitely don’t think that every piece of clothing needs a box, but I do love adding a little flair to each one. This year, since my son learned his letters, I thought labeling each gift and the stockings with a monogrammed letter would be a great learning experience as well. That way he can find a “G” on all his gifts and hand out everyone else’s gifts. Continue reading
Give Love!
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On the 8th Day of Christmas….Slow Down and Slow Cook.
I love my crock pot and I use it all the time, but when winter comes, I like slow cooking in the oven instead to warm up the house. Our friend made garlic confit last year for her New Year’s dinner and it’s taken me this long to finally ask her for the recipe for our Christmas party. I couldn’t believe how simple it was to make, not to mention the glorious, warm, sweet smell of roasting garlic that filled my house. Continue reading
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On the 7th Day of Christmas…Speculaas!
Okay, I’m not gonna lie. Speculaas cookies are a total b#*@h to make…but you can’t deny it, they are so lovely. I tend to shy away from things that take a lot of time, but I’ve had my speculaas molds for about 6 years and they were still brand new. Not anymore! I did it. I spent 12 hours pressing, cutting and baking these puppies to ship out to friends. Now my molds can go back into the cookie cutter drawer for another 6 years until I conveniently forget how tedious they were to make and then I’ll try again! I know I’m not really selling this to you as a cookie recipe, but what good is winter if not to zen out a whole day and make something completely beautiful in the kitchen? Continue reading
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On the 6th Day of Christmas…Hot Cocoa!
I ordered cube molds and bamboo spoons on Amazon for a few bucks to make them a consistent size.
I’ve been trolling the hot cocoa sticks recipe on Pinterest for years now, so I figured it was finally time to try her out. I used the King Arthur recipe but altered it a bit to make a fragrant and slightly spicy Mexican hot chocolate and I made a bunch to ship out to our friends and family on the east coast. It was a teeny tiny bit tedious the way I did it, but I have to say…it’s makes pretty freaking delicious hot cocoa! Continue reading
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On the 5th Day of Christmas…Decorate!
Our gorgeous tree!
I love weird, quirky and vintage holiday decorations the best, but honestly, I can get behind pretty much anything Christmas-y. The first thing most people notice about my tree is how many ornaments are on it…as if they expected me to be tastefully spare! HA! While all of mine have a lot of meaning and sentimental value, I also believe there can never be “too many ornaments”. It’s Christmas! It’s supposed to be just a little tacky in my humble opinion. After the jump, see how my friend made a gorgeous wreath out of paper around their apartment and check out the ornaments I made for my store this year! Continue reading
Give Love!
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