

Honey Gingerbread (for colored dough)
Gingerbread houses are way more fun when you give the dough some color, but it is tough to do that with the dark brown gingerbread cookie dough you traditionally use. I substitute honey and granulated white sugar for the molasses and brown sugar in this recipe so you have a lighter gingerbread that you can add food coloring to. For the roof (or anything else … Continue reading Honey Gingerbread (for colored dough)

Caprese Gnocchi
We literally eat this almost every week. It’s fast, yummy, and nutritious. And as a bonus, our kids love it and will eat an entire bowl! Ingredients 16 oz Potato Gnocchi 1 pint Cherry Tomatoes (halved) 8 oz fresh Mozzarella Pearls Fresh Basil, chopped Garlic Powder Olive Oil Balsamic Reduction or Glaze Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese Black Pepper Direction Cook the gnocchi according to the … Continue reading Caprese Gnocchi

Sheet Pan Pizza Dough – Roman Style!
Pizza is by far my favorite food, so when we were in Italy earlier this year you can bet I ate a lot of it. While we were in Rome, we discovered Pizza al Taglio. The bread of the pizza is thicker, similar to focaccia, and it is baked on a sheet pan to get a super crispy crust. It is then cut into rectangles. … Continue reading Sheet Pan Pizza Dough – Roman Style!

Danish Æbleskiver
My mom’s side of the family emigrated from Denmark to Idaho in the early 1900s. We were only a few generations removed, so a bit of the Danish culture stuck around. One of my favorite things were the little Aebleskiver (apple slices) we would have for breakfast. Little warm pancakes balls that are stuffed with apples, dusted with powder sugar, and dipped in jam. It … Continue reading Danish Æbleskiver

Mom’s Whole Wheat Hotcakes
I grew up with a mom who had a big barrel of wheat in the garage and a wheat grinder to make it useful. One of my favorite things she made often were these whole wheat pancakes. These are best with some raspberry or strawberry jam (which my mom always made herself), but feel free to drench them in syrup if you’d like. They’re simple … Continue reading Mom’s Whole Wheat Hotcakes

Fresh fettuccine egg pasta
I avoided making fresh pasta for way too long. It looked too hard and required kitchen gadgets that were way too expensive. And then I went to Rome and took a pasta-making class at Pastificio Faini. It changed my life! Or at least my life in the kitchen. Suddenly, making fresh pasta became as easy as buying it from the store, and I didn’t need … Continue reading Fresh fettuccine egg pasta

Amatriciana sauce
Seriously, keep this simple and take your time. I’ve seen so many recipes for this sauce online that overcomplicate it. What makes Amatriciana sauce so delicious is its simplicity–don’t cover up the taste of the guanciale and cheese with garlic, onions, basil, or parsley. Splurge on quality meat, cheese and tomatoes and forget the rest. This it the perfect sauce to let slowly simmer on … Continue reading Amatriciana sauce

Finding the best gelato in Rome
So. Much. Gelato. 10 days and five-ish new pounds later, I’ve successfully ate my way through Italy. We ate more pizza, pasta, and pastries than I can even recall, but Italian gelato was definitely a food highlight of the trip for me! I’ve loved gelato ever since discovering it in Germany about 20 years ago. It’s so amazingly good when done right. I love … Continue reading Finding the best gelato in Rome

Better Burgers on the Traeger
There almost nothing I like more than cooking out on my Traeger in our backyard. I use it nearly year-round and swear that it can make anything I cook taste 10x better. With one big exception. The first few times I tried cooking any meat I wanted seared and cooked quickly at a high temperature–think steaks, hamburgers, etc–I was sooo disappointed. My steaks turned out … Continue reading Better Burgers on the Traeger

Swiss Cheese Sandwich Bread with Black Olives
Sunday is baking day and sometimes when I bake bread I like to mix it up and throw in some things from the fridge that are leftover from last week’s meals or shopping. Sometimes it ends up meh…but this one turned out fantastic. It was fantastic warm, right out of the over, but also good toasted a few days later. Continue reading Swiss Cheese Sandwich Bread with Black Olives