Now We're Cookin'

I've really become a homebody in the past year or so. I credit a lot of that to marriage, but a big chunk of it is because of these frigid nights we've had lately. I pass the time by baking and cooking, both of which I'm really growing to love. One of these days when I'm old and gray, I'm going to buy a cabin in the woods, stock up on baking and cooking supplies and go kitchen crazy in my old age.

Here are a few of the things I've been making lately. All are fattening, Southern and delicious.

Home made chocolate chip cookies (hint: buy Butter Flavor Crisco and use the recipe on the box. You CANNOT beat this recipe. Moist and delicious. The pan of orange stuff is pumpkin bars.

I took all of these treats to work and everything was gone by the afternoon. I love sharing goodies with people.

Best sweets ever, made with Reese's. If you want to fancy up the name, call 'em peanut butter tarts. Ingredients: peanut butter cookie dough and Reese's cups. Easy, delicious, super fast.

Buttery, chocolaty goodness

Zucchini bread. This recipe is from my grandmother's church's cookbook. Talk about good food, there's not a bad recipe in that cookbook. After all, the contributers are older Southern church women. You can't go wrong there.

A few more zucchini bread ingredients. I love my Sophie Conran by Portmeirion pouring bowl, by the way. Beautiful and timeless.

Zucchini bread final product. Moist and delicious! That's served my breakfast needs most days this week.

Onions + garlic + pesto spices = best smelling kitchen ever. This was a topper to our spaghetti and chicken dinner this week.

Apple cider with Aspen Mulling Spice. I've had the spice in my pantry for awhile but just got around to fixing it this week. I added a little bit of unsweet tea to it. Perfect for a cold, wintry day.

White chili! Chicken, chili beans, Rotel, chicken broth, sauteed onions and garlic, oregano, half and half, sour cream. Yums.

 And we got this great package in the mail yesterday from our monk friends at Subiaco.

Monk Sauce! Hot pepper sauce lovers rejoice!

This liquid fire is delicious but dangerous. One or two drops will do ya, so use caution. You can order this habanero sauce online. It's made by the Benedictine Monks at Subiaco Academy. 

In related news, we've acquired quite the supply of hot sauces. Man, these are so good. Here's a quick note on three of my favorites: (1) Louisiana Hot Sauce is my best friend on Cajun food and now on pizza. (2) We received the Shut Up Juice (second from left) as a Christmas gift from our friends who grew up in Cabot. The town has a restaurant called the Mean Pig, and it is notorious for inventing this mouth-burning sauce. Watch my friend J.R. try it during a segment for KNWA. Poor guy. (3) Melinda's hot sauce (far right) was made in Costa Rica, where my husband and I vacationed in 2010. It's a sweeter sauce but has the habanero kick we love.

That's it for this week's food post. If we get another snow day soon, feel free to stop by my house. You'll likely find me in the kitchen cooking up a storm, and believe me, there will be plenty of food to go around.

Bits & Pieces of My Future Place

I journeyed to my folks’ house recently to spend some time with my family. The Sunday morning before I left, we got on this huge home-themed topic and wound up talking houses for about two hours (that’s my kind of conversation). We discussed planning and building a home, particularly which features to include and which to avoid.

My parents have built two homes together, and they currently live in the second one. They did their research and wound up with two beautifully built, well-planned homes. They really have a knack for working together to bring great ideas into fruition. Now if only my husband and I could get along so well in matters of decorating taste.

In my initial thinking, daydreaming and wishing, I’ve come up with a few of my own must-haves for a future home. Well, I suppose I should call them “wants,” but whatever. We love our current place to death, but as with any dwelling, there are some things I’d change or add. Here are the biggies:

• Spacious, three-car garage with ample space in front of and behind vehicles
• Large laundry room with built-in ironing board and hanging clothes closet. We’re tall. We hardly throw anything in our dryer for fear our clothes will shrink. I’m avoiding highwaters and exposed midriff at all costs.
• Open floor plan; our current home has an open floor plan that I adore. I can whip up something in the kitchen and connect with company in the living room at the same time. It’s wonderful.
• Farmhouse sink. Country charm and friendliness meet easy elegance – definitely my taste.
• Built-in shelving in the living room
• Mudroom. This is lower on the list, but it would certainly be convenient to have, especially to hide away the coats, boots, wet clothes and other things that I don’t want guests to see. I’d be more apt to build one of these when kids come along.
• A transparent, glass cabinet or two in the kitchen. Not gonna lie – this scares me.
• A neutral color scheme. I know, I know. It will be impossible to keep clean once we have kids, but I can dream, right?
• Hardwood or polished concrete floors. Dark, wide-planked hardwood is just gorgeous, but I recognize it’s a horror to maintain and keep clean. Polished concrete would be easy to maintain but a little more modern and cold on the feet than I’d prefer.

As you can tell, I’m a wishful thinker. The house of my dreams would contain all of the above, but when it all comes down to it, I’d rather be practical and build a standard home than go nuts and wipe out our bank account. A gal can always dream, right?

Open floor plan - 2005 HGTV Dream Home via www.hgtv.com

Farmhouse sink - white only for me. Google Images

Mud room - Google Images

White and neutral everything! Bedspread from Anthropologie.  From Country Living, this is TV's Monk's cottage getaway.

Glass door cabinets via Country Living

Dark hardwood floors via Country Living

Living room shelving - Google Images

I'm dreaming of a white, snow-capped home in Vermont

Ahhhh, the 2011 HGTV Dream Home. This dwelling truly is the stuff dreams are made of. My dreams, at least.

Exterior. Looks fabulous already.

Nestled in the Adirondacks, this home is furnished in a more modern, uptown type style than one would expect, but it’s absolutely gorgeous, inside and out. As usual, the designers pulled out all the stops for this home, thinking through every light fixture, kitchen convenience, storage solution and accessory.

I’ll admit that it’s a little more contemporary than my taste, but if you’re going to do contemporary, this is definitely the way to pull it off. Would that I only had half the creativity of one of these designers. Sheesh.

This year’s house is a contemporary lodge set in the mountain town of Stowe, Vermont. A ski destination, Stowe attracts visitors to because of its towering peaks and smalltown perks. The home is built to entertain, with plenty of room for a master and guest bed and bath, as well as a ski lodge type room that sleeps eight. There are two inside entertaining areas, plus a dining room and plenty of outdoor entertaining space. The dream home also boasts a mudroom, a laundry room with two sets of frontload washers and dryers, a dorm-style bathroom for several guests, and to top it all off, a six-person outdoor hot tub.

Mudroom

Gathering room (or as we say in the South, the den)

Living room 

Ski lodge

Dorm style bathroom

Hot tub/terrace

My favorite room has to be the kitchen/dining space. This kitchen is equipped with everything a hostess could ever need: industrial appliances, two dishwashers, two ovens, a warming drawer, a wine cooler, plenty of counterspace, and a TV/computer workstation (I would use the heck out of the “techie corner” by pulling up The Pioneer Woman’s recipes on that screen).

I have these dishes. Score!

The dining area is very modern, but still really fits the lodge theme well. Did you see the lighting above the table? To die for. Plus, they don’t block a cook’s view of the mountains. Good thinking, designers. The nine-foot long Appalachian cherry table fits up to 10 guests, and each diner has her own office chair. This area opens to a beautiful back deck with a clear view of the snow-capped mountains.

You can register to win this bad boy every day until February 18 here and here. All I ask if you win is that you invite me to your Northeastern hideaway from time to time. Thanks in advance.