This has been one horrible, no good, very bad week so far.
I know this isn’t why you came here. You came here for doughnuts, not to hear about how my car’s windshield wipers stopped working in the middle of a snowstorm, or how I broke my new necklace the first day I wore it and [...]
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Let it be said that this time of year, the most wonderful time of the year, is meant for caroling and baking cookies and decorating trees and putting up lights and skating on lakes and wrapping our hands around mugs of hot cocoa.
Let it be said that this time of year is meant for celebrating [...]
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There are so many cookies in my life right now.
Seriously — I’ve got pepperminty candy cane cookies, fudgy chocolate crinkles, peanut butter balls and snickerdoodles coming out of my ears. You’d think — and normally, I would think, too — that this is a Christmas miracle, but I’ve come to learn that my sweet tooth [...]
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Look at my wit! Look at my skill! Look at how I took two different types of food and made them into one!
OK. Enough on that. I cannot tell a lie: I made a blunder. A culinary blunder. And yet one that turned out to be just as delicious, albeit not what I had intended.
If [...]
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Holy snowfall, Batman!
That’s right, we had our first snow here today (well, more like a rain/snow snot — yes, snot — but snow was involved). We also had the most insane wind gusts — so insane, that my poor umbrella became a casualty. I’d show you the remains, but I maintain respect for my beloved [...]
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It’s been a long month.
I feel like I say that a lot. Or maybe, I’ve just been saying it a lot to myself these past few weeks. The truth is, I’m amazed I came out of October without a scratch or a dent on me, without dying my hair orange or learning a new shared [...]
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Hi, my name is Stephanie, and I’m a recipe collecting addict.
Hi, Stephanie.
It’s true. The recipe book in my cabinet is a serious mammoth, lurking, just waiting to devour more cut-out magazine articles, online printouts and handwritten recipes collected by word of mouth or out of my brain. The biggest section is, of course, the bread [...]
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I can’t tell you the next time it will rain. I can’t tell you if the way you see orange is the same way I see orange, and I can’t tell you if you’ll get a pony for Christmas.
I can’t tell you if you’re going to get the phone call for that dream job, your [...]
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I’ve been feeling a lot lately. Nostalgia, pain, joy, sadness, exhaustion, exasperation, peace, ambition, complacency, anxiety — it’s been quite the week, the month, the summer.
You can imagine that, with all those things floating around in my head in addition to normal day-to-day life, I’ve been doing a lot of staring into space. In short, [...]
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Did you know there are different names for desserts depending on their toppings?
For instance, a crisp is topped with a streusel-crumb mixture, a.k.a. magic.
And a buckle is a type of crumb cake that cracks and “buckles” as it bakes. No joke.
And a betty is layered with cubed bread or breadcrumbs. Amazing.
But this? This blueberry and [...]
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There have been a lot of changes around here, lately.
First, there’s the fact that winter immediately skipped over spring and handed the baton over to summer (Hello, 90-degree heat wave! My perspiring armpits salute you.) Then, there’s the fact that I recently turned 24 and don’t feel a day over 40. There’s also the fact [...]
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As of last Friday, we’ve been living in Iowa City for a year.
I still can’t believe it.
I thought about making cupcakes to celebrate the occasion, but alas, I made them instead for a co-worker’s birthday and was too cupcaked out to repeat the process for myself. I thought about making a cake, but [...]
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Often when I’m typing these posts, I’m singing to myself. These days, it’s generally a mix of Ra Ra Riot, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Cold War Kids and Cloud Cult. Sometimes, when it’s rainy and drab outside, it’s all Bon Iver, and when it’s sunny and warm, it’s Los Campesinos. In any case, [...]
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Taking a week off from work is the best medicine.
So is laughter. And visiting friends in the city. And drinking strawberry milk on an unusually warm spring afternoon.
And so is comfort food, like these muffins.
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I’m not a huge proponent of Valentine’s Day. It’s never been one of my favorite holidays. I’m not going to rattle off a spiel on how bitter I am about how our culture fuels an irrational need for us to spend millions of dollars each year on a single day to prove our love to [...]
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Greetings, dear friends —
I apologize for a delay in recipe posting. I’ve been in a coma for a few days after eating my weight in bourbon bacon pancakes. You understand.
I also took a mini break from my daily obligations to visit my dear friend Ashley (see above) in her homeland. Which used to be [...]
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Oh yes.
Yes, I did.
I really needed an excuse to buy bourbon, you see. Scratch that — I really needed an excuse to make pancakes. Fancy pancakes. Pancakes with pizazz. And what better way to give your pancakes pizazz than to mix them with bourbon (yum) and bacon (double yum)? There is no better way.
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Ah, the new year. A time for celebration with friends, a time of remembrance of things past and a time to look forward to what the future holds. A time to make resolutions and promises and (hopefully!) not break them.
Normally, I’m not one to follow the trend of making New Year’s resolutions. This is mostly [...]
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It’s Christmas Eve. Duh. I’m sitting around the table with my family — Grandpa’s making his famous rouladen, Mom’s making deviled eggs, Grandma’s making her delicious dumpling soup… it’s a typical Christmas.
A lot of the traditions in our family (as you can probably gather) revolve around food. It’s not Christmas without Grandpa’s rouladen. It’s not [...]
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They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
I disagree. I say when life gives you lemons, throw them away (or use them to clean your garbage disposal, and then throw them away) and make challah bread.
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You may recall we just welcomed a new member to our family — Percy.
He was once a sweet, cute little kitten. He once lounged around all day and left me alone to bake (as you may also recall). In fact, he left me alone most of the time, unless he wanted to cuddle/rub his body [...]
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I have to apologize for these photos. I know, they’re terrible. Let me reassure you though; I have plenty of excuses.
One: I was watching Glee while making this cobbler. It was the Britney Spears episode. My eyes were glued. It’s understandable, right? Right.
Two: It was nighttime. Duh. And I had a random, overpowering hankering for [...]
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Back in the day, I worked at a bakery/coffeeshop (OK, it was only less than a year ago, but it feels like forever). I worked the 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift, prepping the front of the store in the wee hours of the morning, getting all the coffees ready (regular, dark roast, flavor, vanilla [...]
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I’m taking a (short!) break this week from baking — but don’t worry, I’ll be back in the kitchen as soon as you can say… see, I’m already back.
I’m currently obsessing over non-bread related baking items, like homemade apple chips. Yum. SO good with my new-found love, almond butter. Yes please.
But when I get the [...]
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I’m going to tell you another story. Are you ready? Get ready. It’s going to be rad.
This is where we were last week, on vacation. Lutsen, Minnesota. It was lovely.
We had time to relax, sleep, eat and take awkward pictures of ourselves. Like this one. (So, so far away.)
When we got home, I had a [...]
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When I look at this loaf, I think of the word “peasant.” Like, a peasant bread. Like something you’d see coming out of the hearth in the background of “A Christmas Carol,” while poor Tiny Tim tries to cut the single pea on his plate in half. (Probably one of the more devastating scenes I’ve [...]
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Friends!
I forgot to tell you (OK I didn’t forget, I just haven’t gotten around to it. There, I said it. Confession.) — I’m posting recipes on Tablespoon again. So far: Blueberry Muffin Bread, Avocado Quick Bread and today, Mom’s Zucchini Bread (yes you, Ma. Love you!). And there will be more, even yummier recipes on [...]
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I am going to tell you a story. Get ready.
This is Ashley. She is my best friend. She came to visit me this weekend from the faraway land of Chicago. Lakemoor, more specifically. She is not proud of this.
Ashley got to bake with me this weekend. First, we had some reading to do.
Then, we [...]
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As promised, mama’s back on her home turf. And it feels good to be home. No, I didn’t kiss the hypothetical ground of my blog, but I did celebrate. With lard.
OK, not lard, literally, but essentially its relatives. Shortening, anyone? Cheddar cheese? Butter? You bet, baby — all three in one fluffy biscuit. Butter inside [...]
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Dear Ina Garten,
If ever you feel the need to invite a big fan of yours to your lovely abode in the Hamptons and fill her up with fine cheeses and wine, I wouldn’t be opposed to accepting your invitation. Just saying.
Sincerely,
Stephanie
P.S. Tell Jeffrey I said hello.
Though I truly love the Midwest and wouldn’t want to [...]
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After mourning the loss of my old kitchen and all it’s brightly-lit wonders (and pretty counter tops), I decided to come to terms with my new kitchen, its electric stove/oven and dim, grim non-windowness. (I’ve also taken to making up my own words.) And in order to come to terms with my new kitchen, I [...]
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I would just like to note that it’s breads like these that make me wish it was sunny all the time. I understand nighttime is of supreme importance as well, but when I have a bread recipe that spans over a 24-hour period, is it too much to ask for a little sunshine from, oh, [...]
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I promise, a new recipe is on the rise! (I really stretched for that one, I know) While you continue to salivate, I thought I’d add in another little feature to my blog. This time I’m writing about someone else’s writing, meaning I’m highlighting an article, link, post — whatever — that I found that [...]
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It’s a beautiful thing when healthy, tasty and quick-and-easy all come together to form a bread. Elliott happened upon this beer bread recipe while visiting the Planet Green Web site and, seeing as he loves all things organic, and beer, and organic beer, I was immediately informed of his find and was asked — nay, [...]
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If ever there was a tasty bread baked for instant gratification, this is it. I was having one of those “Good Lord I reeeeeeeally don’t even want to lift a finger today” kind of days, but my internal deadline was nagging at me about how “it’s been almost two weeks and [...]
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