flurrious food

Today we had another taste  HUGE helping of Old Man Winter [I may post some pics tomorrow]. They were calling for blizzard conditions so we remained inside all day. Daddy made the girls pancakes for breakfast. The girls baked a Red Velvet Valentine's cake with dark chocolate icing and sprinkles. For lunch, I made a Moroccan Lentil Chickpea Soup with crusty-buttered bread (Wegmans recipe... my new favorite grocery store). This recipe calls for some lovely, fragrant spices including turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, coriander and cayenne pepper... A Perfect Soup for a cold, snowy day.

photo courtesy of Wegmans

While I'm on the subject of FOOD (one of my favorite pass-times), Wegmans opened a store in our area a few months ago. I'm beginning to rely on the Wegmans for planning my menu. They make it so easy by including the recipe, photos, and pictures of the ingredients in their magazine... and the best part? When you walk in the Wegmans store, the display items include the ingredients for the recipes in the magazine. Even better, there are coupons in the magazine for a good-bit of the ingredients. It makes grocery shopping for specialty items EASY. A grocery store that does marketing right!

 

our sliding glass door is beyond the cake stand... notice all the WHITE!

My winter wish is for Old Man Winter to go slip sliding away. I'm looking forward to Spring!

Stay Warm,
xo

Let Them Eat Cake!

Sydney and Sophia cannot resist a yummy dessert when we are dining-out. Sydney is known to clean her plate no matter how big the dessert!  They both love baking at home..... especially when it's cake, cupcakes or cookies with ICING and SPRINKLES!

Sydney celebrating her 3rd Birthday on the Disney Cruise:

Sydney (3 years) @ Marly's BYO Phoenixville PA... sampling each dessert with Aunt Becky & Mommy:

Sydney (3 yrs) and Sophia (2 yrs) @ Basta Pasta in Skippack PA: ICE CREAM!!

Sydney and Sophia @ Bucca's: Cheesecake!!!

Sydney and Sophia @ Inn at St. Peters, St Peters Village PA: ICE CREAM with fresh berries for Sophia....

Apple Tart with Ice Cream & whip cream for Sydney....

and yes, she ate the whole thing...

Baking Apple pie's or tarts (???) with no recipe ;) @ HOME in the kitchen:

Finished product.... a Cinnamon Apple thing with ice cream....

You are (both) the apple of my eye!! I love you... and love that you enjoy food as much as Mama!!

Missing Summer already....

The past couple days have been dreary... we've begun our winter hibernation, rarely leaving the house except to go to the grocery store (plus a few work trips for me and archery hunting for Bob). Today, we are missing the outdoor activities that we do as a family all summer long...

Feeding the ducks & eating ice cream at Suloman's Milk.... 

Goofing off with Daddy in the pool....

Grilling and eating Bob's yummy burgers on the deck....

and Mommy's fresh berry yogurt parfaits...

Relaxing outside after dinner with a nice glass of wine...

while the girls ride their bikes or run ramped on the deck before bath time....

Summer weekends with family and friends....

.... and did I mention great, fresh food!... all summer long...

a simple summer routine that we love, miss and look forward to.

...

I hope to make the best of the cold months... it's not all dreary--we are looking forward to the Christmas season and a few good snowfalls (and spring to come quickly!).

Reading Terminal Market

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning (when there is nothing else planned) is a trip to the Reading Terminal Market in Philly. The intoxicating aromas and atmosphere and the diverse people (more about that later) make it a wonderful place to stroll. More importantly, it is something fun and at the same time relaxing that both Sophia and I can enjoy together.

We browsed the merchant stands for a couple hours, picked up a few items at “Amy's Place” including Sophia's “mouse” apron (see "Sticky Bun" pics below) and lugged a tub of raw honey out for Aunt Becky (I think she bathes in it). We ended with brunch which was a disaster because Sophia SPILLED OJ all over the table… luckily the OJ matched her outfit.

THEN this older man, who was eating at the Down Home Diner counter, started to to talk to me and Sophia... then proceeded to stalk Sophia. He followed us from the diner-juke box, to the bakery. I politely put up with him for approx 10+ minutes UNTIL he made a derogatory comment about SARAH PALIN (who I really really like and believe she will be a great VP). His comment came out of left field which was really weird. It had nothing to do with anything we were doing... I was speechless (go figure!). I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly, but didn't want to ask because it would only prolong the stalking. The guy "was not all there" either.... so I grabbed Sophia and politely went on our way to the licorice counter. ...

(I know what you're going to say Aunt Becky... because this is the second time that an old man in RTM took a fancy to Sophia... I'm not being naive.... ok it's a little strange, but I'm hoping he was just a nice man).

the nice piano man gave Sophia a lollipop...

GO PHILLIES!!

(yes,we bought some cupcakes... how could I not... she just stood there and stared until I bought some)

we picked up a 1/4 lb each of two types of BLACK LICORICE for MY MOM... HER FAVORITE!! they had around 20+ types of licorice to choose from (entire top row of canisters in the pic below!!).

I'm learning how to use my video editing software (I have a long way to go)....

press the arrow to play the video

("stalker guy" on video asking Sophia which cupcake she wants... notice I'm not saying a word!)

Hot Buns!

Sydney was away for the weekend visiting Aunt Linda in Havre de Grace Maryland. Sophia had my full attention all weekend long (unfortunately that does not happen often). On Saturday morning, we went to the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. On our way home, we stopped off at the King of Prussia mall to purchase a few new winter outfits (will blog the "Saturday" RTM excursion sometime soon).

Today, after DRAGGING myself out of bed from a late night (2am!!) watching the PHILLIES, Sophia and I made sticky buns for breakfast. I saw the recipe on "Seasons of my heart". This is the EASY abbreviated version... mine are not as perfect looking (this is why I mentioned below to be sure to repair the "crescent seams" which I DID NOT DO... the slits started to open when I was rolling it up). However, I will say that they did taste amazing... extremely gooey!!!

I had a great little helper. She never waned, not one second.

A short video below that Bob took, the morning after a Philly World Series Game 3 Win, when Sophia and I were making HOT BUNS....

Apple-Pecan Sticky Buns (makes 9)
2 large (or 3 small/medium) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 thick
1¼ C plus 1 TBSP packed light brown sugar
6 TBSP of butter, softened
1 pack of Pillsbury Crescent rolls
1 C chopped pecans
2 TBSP honey
¼ tsp salt
½ C heavy cream
½ tsp ground cinnamon

1. Prepare oven @ 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
2. Place the peeled apple slices, 1 TBSP brown sugar and 1 TBSP butter on a bowl and cook on the stove until the apples are soft. Let the apples cool.
3. In a small bowl, mix ½ cup brown sugar, the pecans and cinnamon.
4. Unroll the crescent roll and “repair” the seams so its one big rectangle with no visible dotted seams.
5. Sprinkle the brown sugar pecan mixture on top and then cover evenly with the roasted apple mixture.
6. Roll up the dough (“jelly roll-style”) and cut crosswise into 9 slices; place the round slices in a prepared baking pan.
7. Cut up 2 TBSP butter and place a dot on the center of each round bun
8. Bake until golden, 35-40 minutes..
9. While the buns are baking in the oven, in a saucepan, bring the remaining 4 TBSP butter, ¾ cups of brown sugar, ½ cup of cream, ½ tsp salt and the 2 TBSP of honey to a boil, stirring. Whisk until reduced, about 2 minutes. Let cool slightly. Drizzle the warm sauce over the warm buns.

Sophia chopping pecans
Sprinkle, Sprinkle....
turning on oven light to check on the sticky buns...
YUMMY sauce



....
STICKY SWEET PERFECTION...

Daddy LOVED the sticky buns.
If you are a Pecan Pie AND Apple Pie lover.... you will Love these Apple-Pecan Sticky Buns too!

....

Besides who doesn't like butter, brown sugar and heavy cream???