RWood

Crispy tofu sandwich with cilantro slaw and avo. Trying for more veg options for my mother. Wasn’t bad, might need a little more spicy in it next time.

Had enough left ☺️

Orange Olive Oil Cake with cranberry curd. Came out better than I thought. Was gonna gripe at America’s Test Kitchen because the layers seemed wonky.

Finally got all the chocolates done. I have 15-12 piece boxes filled, plus extra if I forgot anyone. Espresso Pecan Dark Hazelnut Salted Caramel Passion Fruit Peanut Butter Peppermint

Sorry ☺️

Quick birthday cake for my moms friend. Shooting for a winter, snow drift theme since it’s December.

This year it will be lasagne, salad, garlic bread and tiramisu or a yule log. I put my foot down for Thanksgiving and made other people do some of the work. I'll have to make the lasagne and dessert, but the rest is up for grabs. We decided to have a nice quiet Christmas Eve dinner for just me, my mom, my cousin and my dad. I'm looking at a ribeye roast, my aunt's au gratin potatoes and not sure what else yet. This way the chaos of my prima Donna cousin and the out of control grandkids of my other cousin can be whatever it is. We can be civilized the night before. I'm trying to get chocolates done, along with a few other gifts. Cocoa Bomb shells are done, just need the cocoa mix and marshmallows made. I need to get two boxes in the mail to CA in the next week. The decorations are almost all up, and we have one trip to Orlando to see Mark Tremonti sing Christmas, then three days later to Birmingham to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I'll be glad when it's over 😵‍💫, I'm already tired.

At our house as usual. But I made other people do some of the work. Turkey, cornbread dressing, Hasselback sweet potatoes, my grandmothers cranberry relish, my aunt’s fried okra/squash combo, Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes. I made gravy from ATK no drippings gravy. Was really tasty. Dessert was almond torte with cherry compote and crispy almonds. No one really likes pumpkin here 🤷‍♀️.

Rigatoni with pancetta, asparagus, garlic, browned butter, chili and pine nuts. Was so good!

Arugula, gold beet and burrata salad. I got a new bottle of Clementine olive oil I used for the dressing. Red onions and walnuts too.

Our last hurrah for the summer. Supposed to drop to 28F in a couple of nights. Got the Ooni out and made pizza with pesto, castelvetrano olives, artichoke hearts. Topped with burrata and arugula and basil with lemony dressing. So good!

Halloween Chocolates Skull-Coconut Zombie Eye-Pistachio Pumpkin-Salted Caramel Frank-“Cookie Dough”

Got a few Halloween cookies done.

Spanakopita, didn’t get a photo before diving in 🤷‍♀️. Had a lot of spinach to use up.

Breast Cancer Awareness Cookies. My mom wanted me to make them so she could give them to the people at the cancer center here.

Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies. Part rye flour, rye whiskey, lots of vanilla, toasted pecans and some sea salt. Tried Aldi chocolate chunks. Tasty!

Just meze for dinner tonight. Burrata with an olive, sun dried tomato, garlic and Calabrian chilies. Baguette and Chardonnay.

Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells. Used my homemade marinara from my freezer stash. Simple salad with vinaigrette.

Thanks! The poppies are the flowers on top that are made out of gum paste, which is a sugar paste that can be rolled very thin. It will dry hard, so it can be shaped and dried to make flowers plus other things. I made these a few years ago, and they have held up well, surprisingly. Even survived going cross country and Georgia humidity. While the paste is edible, I wouldn't eat it. You would have to dodge floral wire and thread in the stamens. Probably wouldn't taste that great anyway.

Tried The Pizza Bibles version of a New Yorker for my cousins bday. I made the Calabrese honey sausage (tasty!), pepperoni, roasted garlic, Parmesan and ricotta.

Birthday cake for my cousin. She requested coconut. Gum paste poppies I had made awhile back.

Homemade pistachio frangipane. The recipe as written is a little wonky. It called for 5 small plums, and I used six, still needed more. The frangipane is especially tasty though.

Pistachio and Plum Galette. Tasty!

Finally got the gas leak fixed! I’ve missed pizza (mine ☺️). Got the Ooni out. Italian sausage, Vidalia onion and mushroom. It does go well with Prosecco.

Decided to start cooking through a list of saved recipes. This one is a keeper. Pork milanese, lemon parm basmati rice, arugula salad with a creamy lemon vinaigrette.