holiday brunch with monday sewing ladies

cozy baked pasta

color wheel fruit salad

garlic olive oil marinated mozzarella (with herbs from my garden) and tomato salad

snow day still life with amazing nuthatch mittens my mom knit, hot chocolate

maclet cheese petit

smitten peppermint hot fudge

nut butter with cinnamon and vanilla

 

caramel hot chocolate

I'm sure that, like me, you sometimes find yourself with ganache, caramel sauce, and milk in the fridge all at the same time. Fear not, gentle reader! You can put these three items together and make a tasty caramel hot chocolate.

I heated 2/3 cup skim milk in a small pot on medium heat and stirred in two or three tablespoons of ganache until the chocolate melted and the hot chocolate was steaming, but not boiling. (For a thicker drinking-chocolate style, use four tablespoons.) I poured the hot chocolate in the mug and stirred in about a tablespoon and a half of caramel. I could have topped the hot chocolate with whipped cream and then added more caramel on top, but that seemed a little decadent.

i'll take one in every color

A graphic designer will make a color wheel out of anything.

taste the rainbow

There are so many amazing tomatoes at the market these days! This sandwich is rustic bread, lettuce, pesto, tomato, brie, salt, and pepper.

popsicle-palooza

Peach blueberry: kind of tasty, but a bit gritty. These two are happier in pie.

Peaches and cream: loved this one! Greek yogurt, peaches, cream, and sugar. It would probably be creamy enough without the cream. After food processing, I added in additional diced peaches.

Pineapple: very refreshing. I also tried this one with pineapple and coconut milk, but the balance of flavors did not come out quite right.

Watermelon stripe: because I cannot resist a stripe. Frozen watermelon tastes just like watermelon. I actually prefer fresh watermelon if it is plain, but think that watermelon lime or watermelon mint might be nice.

Lemon creamsicle: this one was great! Greek yogurt and lemon curd.

adventures in popsicle making (blackberry maple Greek yogurt)

we got the beet (salad)

strawberry-palooza

Two strawberry picking adventures in one week resulted in much freezing for future smoothies, strawberry syrup, and the happy eating of many, many fresh strawberries.

mother's day potsticker making adventure

At the suggestion of my wonderful Mom, the two of us spent Mother's Day afternoon and evening making spring vegetable potstickers. For our potsticker filling, we used carrots, celery, tiny beets, beet greens, chives, garlic, ginger, and tofu. Our dumpling wrappers were square instead of round, but everything held together well. After the potstickers were fried then steamed, we served them with a dipping sauce of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger. Tastiness all around! And a wonderful way to spend time together.