Dinner, Fall, Lunch, Main Dish, Savory, Sides, Summer, Vegetables, Vegetarian

charred corn polenta with herb + tomato salad

It is officially PSL season (pumpkin spice latte, in case you didn’t know), which means it should be time for all things pumpkin, right? While I adore pumpkin and pumpkin-flavored things, I have a hard time switching gears so rapidly from summer cheeseburgers and popsicles, directly to warm and hearty pumpkin-filled fall dishes without anything to bridge the gap between the seasons. In my neck … Continue reading charred corn polenta with herb + tomato salad

AmandaSeptember 20, 2015September 16, 2015Leave a comment

Dinner, Fall, Lunch, Main Dish, Sandwiches, Savory, Summer, Vegetables, Vegetarian

national sandwich month: sweet potato grilled cheese with ricotta + sage

August is upon us, which means National Sandwich Month is here! I absolutely adore sandwiches, and will be bringing you recipes for many delicious versions as the month goes on. Stick around, it’s sandwich time! There’s something so comforting to me about the combination of sweet potato, ricotta, and fresh sage. I first encountered this combo in the form of a pizza from one of my favorite … Continue reading national sandwich month: sweet potato grilled cheese with ricotta + sage

AmandaAugust 2, 2015September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Candy, Cookies, Dessert, Drinks, Fall, Holidays, Snacks, Sweet, Winter

last-minute christmas treats!

Christmas is just a few days away! Are you ready?

There are some people who finish their holiday shopping by August. They’re the super planners, the people who make copious to-do lists, whose vocabulary doesn’t include the word “procrastinate”.

Then there’s another sort of person. One of those people who waits til Christmas Eve to finish their shopping. Someone who ends up rushing around at the eleventh hour in search of the perfect gift, only to be met with empty shelves at the store. Yep, I’m talking to you! What if you could quickly create the perfect gift that your friends and loved ones would absolutely adore? Good news! I’m here to save the day.

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AmandaDecember 21, 2014September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Breads, Breakfast, Fall, Fruit, Holidays, Sweet, Winter

marzipan stollen buns with crunchy sugar glaze

Well, Thanksgiving is over! Time for ornaments, twinkly lights, Bing Crosby Christmas music, and piles of baked goods. Why not start with this one, perfect for wintry morning breakfasts?

I don’t remember the first time I had stollen, but I think it might have come from Trader Joe’s, of all places. I was hooked immediately! Traditionally made into larger loaf shapes, these little fruit-packed German stollen buns are like a more refined version of fruitcake. All the familiar flavors are there, but instead of a sugar soaked “cake”, the fruits are jammed into soft, lightly sweet buns, sharing space with a sweet center of almond marzipan. Doesn’t that sound good to you? It sure does to me.

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AmandaDecember 7, 2014September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Dinner, Fall, Holidays, Main Dish, Party Food, Savory, Sides, Snacks, Vegetables, Vegetarian

sweet potato, sage + ricotta tart

Hooray, Thanksgiving is almost here!

For the most food-centric holiday around, I wanted to come up with a dish that wasn’t the usual green bean casserole or sweet potatoes with little marshmallows on top (though I do love both those dishes dearly!), but that still encompassed all the flavors and colors of Fall. I have to give props to one of my favorite Phoenix pizza joints, Federal Pizza, cause they came up with this flavor combination before I did, and I adore it!

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AmandaNovember 23, 2014September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Dessert, Fall, Fruit, Holidays, How-To, Sweet, Tips and Tricks, Winter

thanksgiving pie tutorial!

Pie is the unanimously expected Thanksgiving dessert. The meal just doesn’t feel complete without a slice of pie at the end! I’m sure most people would argue that pumpkin is the best pie to serve at Thanksgiving, while others might think of pecan or maybe apple. In my eyes, my favorite Thanksgiving pie is mince — meat-free, please!

I have fond memories of waking up the day after Thanksgiving to grab a leftover slice of cold mince pie for breakfast. My mom never made it from scratch, it was always Sara Lee out of a box, but it was delicious to me!

Do you err on the side of safety (and your sanity) and go the frozen/store-bought pie route during the holidays? Do you consider your pie crust efforts to be a surefire recipe for disaster? If so, I’m here to help! Pull on your aprons and turn on those ovens because it’s time to make some delicious, gorgeous, impressive pies of your very own! I’ll show you how to make an ultra buttery and flaky pie crust, a sweetly spiced homemade mince pie filling, and three different finishing options — a full top crust, a lattice crust, and a pecan streusel crumb topping! Let’s get started, huh?

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AmandaNovember 16, 2014September 13, 20152 Comments

Dinner, Fall, Main Dish, Savory, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Winter

creamy polenta with gouda, portobello mushrooms + tomatoes

When I first saw the dish that inspired today’s recipe, I couldn’t wait to make it myself. Kenji over at Serious Eats sure has a way with food! I’ve always loved creamy polenta, and the skirt steak on top with those pretty tomatoes just looked killer.

Go ahead and check out that photo. See what I mean? Doesn’t it just look amazing? I wanted to create it myself, but thought I’d do a vegetarian spin on it by substituting baby portobello mushrooms for the skirt steak. It makes a super hearty, rich and creamy dish for colder weather! Gouda in the polenta lends a nice, smoky quality and the seared mushrooms are the perfect alternative to meat, still keeping that savory and satisfying component to the finished dish. The bright and fresh tomatoes have the perfect acidic twang to cut through all the richness of the cheesy polenta. Make it yourself, I dare you! I know you’ll love it as much as I did.

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AmandaNovember 9, 2014September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Candy, Cookies, Dessert, Fall, Holidays, Snacks, Sweet, Winter

pumpkin-gingersnap s’mores

Happy belated Halloween! I hope you all had a fun, safe time filled with piles of candy!

The days after Halloween always usher in sort of a strange time. Now that trick-or-treating and ghosts are out of the way, it’s time for Christmas, right? Nope. There’s still a while yet. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here.

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AmandaNovember 2, 2014September 13, 2015Leave a comment

Dinner, Fall, Holidays, Lunch, Main Dish, Meat, Savory, Vegetables, Winter

sweet potato, sausage + apple pot pies

Holiday traditions are a huge deal for me. Growing up, Halloween always meant creating that perfect costume, trick-or-treating with my sisters and the neighbor kid across the street, and visiting the school’s Halloween carnival before going home and passing out in a sugar coma. In the days leading up to the holiday itself, it meant carving pumpkins and watching It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and the Garfield Halloween special (“I’ll have you know, Halloween is my middle name! Gar-Halloween-field….”) from the video tapes my mom had recorded many years before.

Every year when Halloween rolls around, I still look forward to watching those silly cartoon specials of my childhood, carving jack-o-lanterns and admiring their flickering candlelight in the dark outside my house, and my new tradition — making tasty things to eat. These adorable Fall flavor-packed pot pies are everything a Halloween meal should be, complete with festive orange sweet potato, autumn-appropriate sage and sausage, and the perfect jack-o-lantern face grinning up at you as you eat. Can your Halloween meal get any cuter? I submit that it cannot.

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AmandaOctober 26, 2014September 13, 20151 Comment

Cookies, Dessert, Fall, Holidays, Macarons, Sweet

pumpkin spiced jack-o-lantern macarons

Going out trick-or-treating for Halloween candy was something I looked forward to every year as a kid. I always hoped to get lots of fun size Snickers bars, and always scoffed at the ever-present rolls of Smarties candies that would accumulate in my pumpkin shaped pail. Come on, those things were barely even candy!

These days, living the life of a gal who’s pushing 31, my trick-or-treating days are long behind me. That doesn’t stop me from still carving jack-o-lanterns to set out in my front yard, watching John Carpenter’s Halloween every year (and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown — it’s a classic!), and occasionally buying a mixed bag of Halloween candy to ~~snack on~~ hand out to potential trick-or-treaters.

The older I get, the more I embrace those nostalgic Halloween traditions. Living life as an adult, I get the added perk of making my own classier, grown up-friendly Halloween treats, like these adorable pumpkin spiced macarons! Yes, pumpkin spice is everywhere, but I promise you, these actually taste like real pumpkin and spices!

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