Rice is a staple in our household, but I always like to try new ways to make it.  I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give brown rice a try.  Brown rice hasn’t been on the top of my ‘recipes to try’ list, but I was pretty confident it would be a health benefit to my family.  Did you know that brown rice contains more nutrients than white, like fiber and magnesium?  There’s an interesting write-up I found as I was searching for ways to convince you all to really give this recipe a try (ha!) so here’s the link if you want some scientific and nutritional convincing! The only convincing…

If you’re looking for a refreshing dessert that doesn’t require an ice cream maker, this is the one for you!  The tartness of the lime paired with a buttery shortbread is a great combination.  Or just make the shortbread to savor with a cup of coffee.  We had company this weekend so I broke out the china for our  meal.  Instead of using ice cream dishes (which I don’t have), I decided to serve the granita with a cup and saucer.  It worked out well because when the granita has melted, you can easily drink the remaining juice instead of trying to lap it up with a spoon.   Enjoy…

A few weeks ago I picked up a magazine that I spotted while checking out at the grocery store.  I don’t normally do this, but this Better Homes and Gardens special caught my eye.  It’s titled, ‘garden fresh recipes’.  Since we have a garden this year, I decided I could use some inspiration on how to cook some new recipes.  So far, I’ve not been disappointed.   The magazine is on display until August 16, so if you want one, go get it! For some reason the picture won’t rotate in blogger, but this is what the cover looks like. This pork dish uses cherries, which are not from our…

I never wrote down a Summer Bucket List, but a few things were on my mind to do this summer.  One of them was to make a cherry pie with fresh cherries.  The stores around us have been marking cherries down each week and this week they’re even more on sale, so it must be cherry season somewhere in the Northwest!  I’d encourage you to go buy some cherries and find some great recipes with cherries while the season lasts! A lattice pie crust has always intimidated me because it looks so beautiful and I figured something like that must be super complicated.  Good news:  it’s NOT!  This pie is…

  Knowing that this recipe comes from Paula Deen, do you even have to wonder at its goodness?  Simple, delicious, buttery, and sweet. Recipe:1 loaf French bread8 large eggs2 cups half-and-half1 cup milk (I used 1 1/2 cups of half-and-half and 1 1/2 cups milk)2 tablespoons sugar1 teaspoon vanilla extract1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon ground nutmegDash saltPraline Topping (recipe below)Syrup Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch thick each.  Arrange slices in two layers, in a generously greased 13×9-inch baking pan, overlapping the slices.  In a large bowl, using a wire whisk, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and dash of salt.  Once combined, pour over bread slices,…

Today was my husband’s turn to bring breakfast for the weekly men’s Bible study he attends at our church.  They meet at 6AM, so I was excited when I found a breakfast casserole that could cook in the crock pot overnight!!  There is now no need to get up super early to put your pre-made, refrigerated overnight, takes more time to cook than you think because it’s cold, breakfast casserole in the oven just in time to feed a hungry morning crowd.  Simply put all the ingredients together the night before, dump in the crock pot, and enjoy the smells coming from your kitchen when you wake up the next…

*Don’t forget to enter my GIVEAWAY, which closes tonight at 9PM*  Having out of town guests is always a great excuse to make goodies that I don’t normally bake.  When our friends decided to come into town at the last minute for the 4th of July weekend, we were ecstatic!  We love spending time with them, and now that we’re back on the East Coast, we’ve been able to see them a bit more, which has been great!  And, they seemed to enjoy my baking, which was encouraging.  They even helped in the kitchen!  Here they are assembling chicken skewers one day: I’ve been wanting these cookie bars for a…

Can I have a blog about cooking from scratch without posting a recipe of this classic summer salad?!  Absolutely not!  I have always loved this salad,  via Simply Recipes but one thing that wasn’t quite right for me was the fact that I had to cut every bite in order to enjoy it, which meant more time before it actually hit my taste buds.  Solution: chop it all up before serving!  The best part of this recipe is really in the dressing, so be sure to read the whole post, or at least scroll to the bottom, for the best balsamic vinaigrette ever! Gather four tomatoes, one ball of fresh…

Eclairs have always been one of my favorite things to purchase from a bakery, so when I came across this recipe I tucked it away to try one day.  If you like coffee and chocolate, this is for you.  The coffee flavor of the cream filling is a bit strong, so be prepared, but otherwise I found this to be quite delicious.  The process of making any pastry is time consuming, but it’s definitely something worth trying and isn’t as complicated as it might appear.  Also, don’t forget to enter the Burlap Giveaway that’s going on!  Some readers have mentioned that they’re not quite sure how to follow a blog.…

I wish I could have transported you to my kitchen yesterday while my bread was baking in the oven.   But since that isn’t possible, and smells cannot be shared via the internet, I’ll just share this easy bread recipe with you.  Making homemade bread does not have to be a long process.  In fact, if you’ve never tried it before, this recipe is a perfect place to start, because you’ll have some fresh baked bread in about 2 1/2 hours, with only 30 minutes or so of hands-on time.  My only warning is that if you make this for those you love, you might never be allowed to buy…