Red Velvet and Confetti Cake Battenberg
Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.
For this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, we were introduced to the Battenberg Cake, something I’d admittedly never heard of. When I first saw the photos of it, I got pretty excited, because what a pretty way to design a cake! What I found is it’s not so easy to make it as beautiful as in those introductory photos, but I certainly gave it a shot. (more…)
Summer Vegetable Gratin
It’s Secret Recipe Club reveal day again! Is it just me, or did the last month (or rather, the last SIX months) fly by in the blink of an eye?! I don’t know where the time goes! But SRC reveal day is always a whole lot of fun, so let’s get to it. I have something wonderful and summery to share today! This month, I was assigned the blog Fabulously Fun Food, written by Melanie. On her site, Melanie offers a wonderful variety of recipes to peruse, everything from breads, appetizers and breakfast dishes, to sides, veggie and meat mains, soups and stews – and of course some tasty sounding desserts (always my favorite). However, I decided to change things up this month and make something savory. In fact, I narrowed my list of possibilities to four recipes that I thought sounded great, and they were ALL savory! Go figure. (more…)
Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest
This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest at The Armory in Somerville. The event, put on by the Sustainable Business Network and the folks from Boston Local Food Festival, featured a variety of local brewers and winemakers, as well as some local food vendors. There was a great turnout, and I had a lot of fun trying some new (to me) local craft beers! (more…)
Rhubarb Strawberry Jam
Strawberry Rhubarb is easily one of my favorite flavor combinations EVER. I love it in pies, cakes, pop tarts, bars, jams – any way I can get it. I’ve actually never made my own jam before, but when I acquired about 5lbs of rhubarb from my Grandpa, I needed something to do with all of it! So I decided it was high time to make some jam. (more…)
Common Ground
A few weeks ago (I’m playing catch up on this here little blog – please bear with me!), I attended blogger lunch at Common Ground in Allston. When I went to Boston University, Common Ground was a popular late-night bar place, not really well known for great food so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Truth be told, late-night partying wasn’t really my thing, so this was my first visit to Common Ground! Since my college days, Common Ground came under new ownership, got a menu makeover, and wanted to share that with some bloggers who would appreciate their new eats. (more…)
Homemade Granola
Granola is such a fun thing to make, because it’s very forgiving, and you can make it a thousand different ways. I’ve noticed a significant drop in interest for my blog since I started posting gluten-free recipes, which is a little sad but also understandable, so I’m sharing something today that is still gluten-free, but much more approachable and mainstream. It doesn’t use any funky flours or starches or anything out of the ordinary, so you probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen. And truth be told – I used regular oats – so they aren’t technically gluten-free, but you can easily make this totally gluten-free if need be. (more…)
Gluten-Free Pizza Dough
A couple of weeks ago, Kevin and I were craving pizza, so I went in search of a good gluten-free pizza dough recipe. I’ve made gluten-free pizza dough once before, and it actually tasted pretty decent, but it didn’t even slightly resemble regular pizza dough. This time, I wanted to find something that would fool me into thinking it just might have gluten in it. I know gluten-free baking is just so vastly different from regular gluten baking that I should accept the differences and move on, but I’ve come to find that I really enjoy the challenge of making something gluten-free, that doesn’t look like it. (more…)
Grand Ten Distilling
A couple of weeks ago, Lena organized a small group of bloggers to visit the new Grand Ten Distillery for a tour and tasting. Their premier spirit is Wire Works gin, so being a gin lover I was excited about the chance to check it out. Grand Ten is tucked into a warehouse space right next door to Peter Welch’s Gym, in a building that used to be home to an iron foundry. Owners (and cousins) Matt and Spencer have reworked the space to make it suitable for distilling, but also to make it a bit more visitor-friendly, with vast wooden doors and accents. (more…)
Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies, Gluten-Free
Chocolate chip cookies are practically a staple in my life – you know, alongside fruit and veggies and protein. I’m all about trying new recipes and mixing up my dessert indulgences, but chocolate chip cookies are just one of those desserts that make me happy like nothing else can. They are an easy go to dessert – I can practically make my favorite recipe in my sleep – so they were naturally one of my first attempts at gluten-free baking. (more…)
