updated chocolate cake recipe

Last night we had dinner with some new friends here in MN, Krisitin and John. Many thanks to them for hosting us – we had such a good time! We were on tap for dessert, so I asked Mike what he thought would be good. After a few seconds we decided on chocolate cake – [...]

Norske Nook: fabulous pies

Whenever anyone comes to visit us here in Minnesota, we try to tell them to stop at this place called the “Norske Nook”, which is famous for their pies. The bakery is in this tiny town called Osseo, Wisconsin, which is off I-94 between Tomah, WI and Eau Claire, WI. We stopped there on the [...]

Best Brownies I’ve had in a really long time…

I have no excuse other than that I am chasing after a 15 month old but he’s in bed now (7p) so I am going to make an entry because this recipe is definitely worth sharing.  I can’t take credit for the recipe, because it’s from our clinic’s receptionist, Mary B., who makes these for [...]

menu: squash ravoli, broiled salmon, and carrot cake

Fellow Foodie Masako was visiting here yesterday with David and Dexter, so of course we had to whip up some good eats. In an effort to use some CSA veggies, we came up with the following menu – two were adapted recipes from other websites, and then one we made up on the fly. Thumbs [...]

WGRS: Pumpkin Roll, Svarovsky style

Mike’s mom handed this recipe down – IT’S SO FANTASTICALLY GOOD. Think pumpkin cake Ho-Ho, with better filling, and you’re on the right track! Just try not to eat the whole roll at once. Try.
Cake:
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
4 eggs
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon iodized salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose [...]

WGRS: gina’s apple crisp

Nothing says fall like apple crisp, and this one is pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The secret is the topping – there’s a lot of it, and it’s tasty!
Ingredients:
6 large tart apples (I used Granny Smiths)
1 tsp lemon juice – optional
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white [...]

birthday dinner: shepherd’s pie and chocolate cake

Last night was my husband’s birthday! I asked him what he wanted to do for dinner, expecting him to say that he wanted to go out. To the contrary, he requested one of his favorite meals, Shepherd’s Pie, which is a good winter comfort meal (but not so much a summery classic). I was happy [...]

Sauteed cherries, Bittman-style

Mark Bittman’s “Bitten” blog post today is for sauteeing cherries and eating them with ice cream.  It looks delish… but cherries aren’t in season yet.  Maybe in a month or two…
Read the recipe here.

key lime pie, pure and simple

Today I am making a Key Lime pie for my husband to come home to after his golf outing. I will be out with a friend when he gets home, so I thought this little surprise on the kitchen counter would make him smile.
The recipe is super simple, again from foodnetwork.com, but this [...]

Cherry soup

A recipe from a colleague who brought this soup to the Vanilla Fest of last weekend – the annotations are also hers. It was delicious! You can use it for a main course during a hot day, or as a dessert. Mmmmmm…..
Hungarian Cherry Soup
2 bags frozen cherries (I used sweet, but [...]