Baseball Season!

A couple weeks ago we tailgated for the first time this season. It was a blast! There's not much better than enjoying good food outside and then heading on in for a Brewer's win (which didn't happen that evening. . .). Molly had never been to a Brewer's game before so we HAD to take a picture of her with one of the racing sausages--a Wisconsin tradition.

I made a nice little hamburger with guacamole--it was so good! I'm craving one of these right now as I watch the Brewer's game on TV. Yum!

Relaxing--with Tea

It's a Sunday afternoon and I have so much I could be doing (i.e. laundry, working outside, studying for my grad class) but instead I'm going to nurse my head cold by watching a movie, checking facebook and enjoying some tea. Lately I've gotten into some different types of tea. Today, I'm enjoying a spiced tea from Harney & Sons. It is delicious! I'm finding it to be a lot of fun to experiment with different teas. And, I'm meeting a lot of tea drinkers along the way. Maybe I should start a club, TEA DRINKERS UNITED!

Cream Cheese Cranberry Muffins--Better Late Than Never

As you can see from the picture below, Jon and I had a scrumptious little breakfast last week for Christmas. We made these awesome Cream Cheese Cranberry Muffins and I would encourage all of YOU to try making these in the near future. Boy, were they good!

Ingredients:
1 c. butter
1 (8oz) package cream cheese
1.5 c. sugar
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
2 c. flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 chopped pecans (we didn't have any so I used walnuts)

Preheat Oven to 350.

1. Cream butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla
2. Add eggs, mixing well between each
3. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt to mixture
4. Fold in cranberries and nuts
5. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake 20-25 minutes

Christmas Breakfast!

We started off our Christmas with a delicious breakfast this morning. We made porridge, cranberry nut muffins and mimosas! It was amazing!! I've got to run to our first Christmas celebration so be looking for a Christmas breakfast recipe soon.

Merry Christmas!

Cookie Weekend 2009: Done

One of my favorite weekends of the entire year is the weekend where my mom and I get together to bake Christmas cookies. We bake, and bake, and bake. The first year we made about five different cookies on a Sunday and had so much fun that we decided to extend the weekend to two days last year. This year my mom came over on Friday and just left (it's 5:30 on Sunday) and we baked over 15 different kinds of cookies! Crazy! Some of our favorites this year were mini cheesecakes, double chocolate kiss cookies, peppermint bark, santa's sugar cookies, and strawberry pastry twists. One of our favorite finds this year was Taste of Homes Holiday Issue. They had MANY simple and delicious recipes we tried out this year and all of them were a success. Try their cranberry nut fudge recipe. You won't regret it. Happy Baking!

A Taste of Decorah

I just got back from one of my most favorite places in the world--Decorah, Iowa. There is this brand new (to me) restaurant and it was fabulous! If you're ever in the area, make sure to check out McCaffrey's Dolce Vita. The pizza was absolutely delicious and the ambiance was inviting (the owner even sat down to share a glass of wine with us as we finished our meal).

Pumpkin Cookies

I'm thinking back to this past weekend when my mom and I made some delicious pumpkin cookies for my great aunt's 80th birthday. They were delicious! You can find the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies Issue. I'd definitely recommend!