Lemon Marmalade

Marmalade, typically made with oranges, gets an extra zing when made with Meyer lemons. This recipe makes a wonderful sweet and tart accompaniment for toast or croissants, and it can also be used as a glaze for broiled meats or seafood. With your custom-designed labels on the jars, lemon marmalade becomes a great gift for just about anyone. This recipe makes a marmalade that is the perfect consistency - not too thick, not too thin. Meyer lemons have a sweet, fragrant taste and a thin skin with … [read more...]

Homemade Pizza Sauce

As soon as the days become noticeably longer, I start spending all of my time outside; and I thereby start neglecting the kitchen. So many evenings during the winter months are spent cooking at my leisure and to my heart’s content- but I feel the mood changing. I want to be bike riding around town, reading in the park, and gardening. If you start feeling like I do when the sun stays to chat rather than just peek out, you want quicker meals. My favorite thing to do is to precut a medley of ingredients … [read more...]

Owl Party Favors

My daughter recently celebrated her first birthday! It's hard to believe its been a year since she arrived. Watching this little girl grow and learn has been an amazing journey. Most will agree that the first birthday party is not only a celebration of life, but also a day to commend those hardworking parents for a job well done. Finding a party theme can be difficult sometimes, but really all you have to do is look around. I found inspiration for Roxy's party in a hat! That's right...a hat. She … [read more...]

Citrus Salt

When I saw this recipe for citrus salt on 101 Cookbooks, I knew it would be the perfect host/hostess gift for an upcoming dinner party that my husband and I were invited to. This salt is particularly amazing because it can be used in so many different ways, and works especially well as a finishing salt for fish, chocolates, caramels, or the rim of a margarita glass. My personal favorite way to use it is over air-popped popcorn with a smidge of sugar and melted butter. For this batch, I decided … [read more...]

Kylenari Wedding Cookies

When our son Kyle and his fiancée Ari got married, David and I, as parents of the groom, made bottles of lilikoi liqueur to give out to all the guests. It was very special, we felt quite satisfied and looked forward to the wedding with anticipation. But as the wedding date approached, something began to nag at us, something about the children guests... What about them? They were not going to get liqueur. If I were a child at this wedding, I would be most unhappy to be one of the few who would not … [read more...]

Homemade Coffee & Berry Liqueurs

Spring is a great time to start crafting a homemade liqueur. The bottles can age for a few months and be ready for a summer wedding, or for a few months longer and be perfect to hand out during the holidays. The recipes we've included are surprisingly simple and provide a good excuse to spend an afternoon in the kitchen... and several evenings doing taste tests! Served in (or given with) tiny glasses and paired with chocolate, these liqueurs become special gifts for loved ones, or festive thank-yous … [read more...]

Easter Egg Cookies

One of my favorite things to do every year for Easter is to decorate Easter egg cookies and give them away as gifts. I personally enjoy making my cookies giant sized (4” x 5”) so that there’s more room for frosting and icing, but you can make them any size you want. And since I don’t have an oval-shaped cookie cutter, I draw myself an egg-shaped template on cardboard that I cut out with scissors, and I use that to assist while I trace shapes out of the dough with a paring knife. Over the … [read more...]

April Fools’ – Snakes In A Can!

Ever since I was a kid, I've been a little bit of a trickster. I loved being a little devil. All mostly harmless of course, but there was nothing more fun than watching someone turn rosy out of embarrassment from a well placed whoopee cushion. I used to love going into magic shops and novelty stores to buy all the gags I could. Fake mustaches, color changing gum, soap that makes you smell bad, a dollar bill on fishing line - I loved all the classics. And now that I've grown up, not much has changed! My … [read more...]

Yogurt Covered Berry Clusters

I’m so excited for the arrival of Spring! In Orlando, this close to the equator, I get to receive it pretty early, (as a Portland native, I’m still getting used to it). Spring weather quickly melts into the hot and sticky summer of the South. I intend to celebrate the fleeting - cooler and more bearable - sunshine by turning some ordinary dried cranberries and blueberries into melt-in-your-mouth morsels to share with friends at work. I experimented with a few different recipes before deciding … [read more...]

Homemade Sauerkraut

Every year for St. Patrick's Day, my family serves traditional corned beef for dinner. I quickly found out, much to my dismay, that my husband doesn't like it. He will however eat the leftover corned beef in a Reuben sandwich, and what's a Reuben without sauerkraut? It may not be an Irish dish but it compliments Irish American dishes with its tangy crunch. So for St. Paddy's Day this year I'm gifting all my friends with a jar of homemade sauerkraut so they can start new Irish American traditions … [read more...]