cooking and baking

i tried a new recipe out tonight from this pampered chef cookbook i received for christmas from jason's oma. it was delicious. we enjoyed our paninis with ginger carrot soup.
i also made pumpkin bread with chocolate chips, trying to use up some left over pumpkin.
pumpkin and chocolate is just so tasty!

turkey panini with onion-cranberry marmalade

4 slice multi grain bread
vegetable oil
4 slice havarti cheese
4 oz slice turkey
onion cranberry marmalade
1/4 granny smith apple, cut into slices

brush bread with oil. arrange in order on the the bread, cheese, turkey marmalade, and apple slices. top with remaining cheese. place in panini press or grill pan, oil side down.
cook 3-4 minutes

marmalade

pour 2T. hot water over 1/4 c. sweetened dried cranberries. let stand 5 min.
meanwhile, heat 1t. vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat.
add 1 c. thinly slice onion. cook and stir for 5 min. add 2T. cider vinegar. stir to loosen browned bits. add 2T. orange marmalade, cranberries and any liquid from soaking. bring to a boil. reduce to a simmer 1 min.

sunny on the inside

i pulled out the yellow tablecloth today. trying to soak up all the yellow around me, its quite swampy outside and with very little hope of letting up.
i've been enjoying this new single from matt pond pa. you can enjoy it for free here! happy for good music, that inspires me on these gloomy days.

slow down sunday

the husband and i have been enjoying a sunday breakfast tradition since we were dating. it use to look like him coming over to my place, me cooking breakfast and reading the sunday paper together, before scampering off to church. here lately, jason has had some duties at church, that take him out the door long before i get up on a sunday.
not today!
we lingered under the cozy covers, took a morning walk, and had a little feast of french toast, all before we had to be out the door.
i was relishing every moment.
i've missed these sunday breakfasts. it is our only day to have the morning together since we both work on saturdays.
here's to taking a step back and slowing the pace down a bit. learing to find balance in life that, allows us these simple pleasures.

in the process of...

many projects going on yesterday. only a few of which made it onto here. jason and i have been working on rigging up a contraption for my brownie duaflex camera to start taking through the viewfinder photographs! its something i've wanted to work on for quite some time now, but am just getting around to. this was jason first attempt. not half bad. we ran out of materials, so the tube was a little to short. more pictures to come!i made risotto for the first time! i've known about this lovely little rice dish for quite some time now, but yesterday was the day of firsts. its the classic version from the joy of cooking! it turned out better than i imagined! i've found a new favorite. thanks to suki from gilmore girls who peeked my interest int the dish in the first place! oh gilmore girls i miss you.
one 1/2 of a fingerless glove. for me this time. jason took a liking to the other pair i made last year. they fit him better anyway, so he gets to keep them and i am working on this lovely yellow pair for myself. now if only i could perfect the thumb hole without having to sow up some holes i left behind. knitting, as with most of my endeavors are learning processes. that is what i keep reminding myself.

huevos rancheros dinner and dreaming

we have been talking about taking a roadtrip for some time now. actually long before we were married. we are hoping to make that dream come true in may! so we sat down last night with some dinner, a tablet, a laptop and lots of ideas to begin planning our trip around the usa!
we have quite a long list of places we'd like to visit and few people to see along the way!

yosemite
death valley
bryce canyon
yellowstone
badlands
mt. rushmore
las vegas/ hoover dam
arches in utah
the redwoods

to name a few!

oh the possibilities that await us! its exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

sea salted caramel bars

these were quite a delicious surprise. jason and i had gone to a fancy little candy store one time, to get a treat or two and discovered caramels with sea salt. the combination of salty and sweet was so good. so when i saw this recipe i had a feeling it would be just as good! they turned out wonderful, i love the shortbread bottom too.

hide away sundays

last evening we had indian for dinner and i remembered we had mango in the freezer! feeling inspired for and indian themed dessert, i threw some mango in the food processor to make a mango sauce to go with frozen yogurt. yum. there's only one problem with all of this...
CHIPS our cat. he loves food and being still a kitten and new to our house, thinks all food we have must be for him to enjoy. he gets right up in your face or food, to which we swat him away.

so we took our mango sundays and retreated to the bedroom, to enjoy our food in peace.
this isn't a normal occurrence and hopefully chips will begin to understand to leave our food alone! all the same we felt a little sneaky and adventurous eating our ice cream in bed, and chips on the other side of the door.

morning muffins

good morning.
i had some leftover cranberries and thought i'd make some cranberry orange muffins. hope you're having a lovely little monday.