One Girl Cookies

I recently took a vacation to visit my family and escape the NATO craziness in Chicago. While I was in Omaha I went to one of my favorite places, The Bookworm in Countryside Village. My Mom and I love the bookstore and the coffee shop, Village Grinder, attached to it. I ended up buying a couple of books this time around (support your local independent businesses!!). One of the books I purchased was a recipe book called One Girl Cookies from the bakery in Brooklyn of the same name. Today I made the recipe that made me want to buy the book...Apricot Jam-Filled Almond Butter Cookies. Apricot and butter...Y-U-M! My apartment smells like butter...and the cookies taste wonderful. The book is filled with great recipes with wonderfully simple ingredients. My next recipe to try will be: Honey Apricot Granola.

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Dad's Birthday & American Thanksgiving

I went to see my parents in Omaha for Thanksgiving...American style. I arrived the day before Thanksgiving, which was my Dad's Birthday. We celebrated his birthday with dinner at Zio's Pizzeria. We all started with a house dinner salad. Dad added HIS favorite, anchovies, to his salad. Mom and I did NOT. We shared the 3 cheese bread and then moved on to our individual slices of New York Style pizza...Y-U-M! If that wasn't enough...we arrived back at my parents' house and Mom surprised my Dad with cupcakes (2 chocolate with chocolate frosting, vanilla with vanilla frosting and a red velvet) from Jones Bros. Cupcakes (above). The graphic designer in me loves their fabulous logo, package and menu design and lovely web site. Oh and yes, they taste soo good, especially at the store with their coffee. But as always, those who know me best know that nothing beats Sweet Mandy B's cupcakes.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious as always (No photos we ate too fast!). This year we had filet mignons from where else, but Omaha Steaks. They were a gift to my Dad from a vendor who happens to be a Canadian, a T.O. resident in fact! We also had mashed potatoes, King's Hawaiian rolls and I made the ever-so-tough to make green bean casserole. And of course for dessert, Mom's amazing Pumpkin Pie.

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Mom's Hot Chocolate

Hello Blog. Sorry it's been so long since the foreign correspondent checked in. Many weddings and other fun times this fall have kept me away from blogging. But I have many images from the archives to share. I was just in Omaha for Thanksgiving. Family, fun and delicious food. One of the many culinary highlights...Mom's hot chocolate. It really doesn't taste the same without the sprinkles. What I wouldn't give for some of this hot chocolate in this "blizzie blizzardo" weather outside my window tonight!

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Stewed

My parents and I had gone out to dinner two nights in a row in Omaha and needed a break from dining out. So we stayed in and Mom made beef and veggie stew.  Veggies invited into the pot included: parsnips, carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes and potatoes.  Perfect on a cold winter night with family.  Or you could make it tomorrow and eat it while watching the hockey game at Wrigley Field.  What?!

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Enchiladas!

I just cannot get enough of my Mom's cooking when I am in Omaha.  Another one of her meals I cannot get enough of:  Chicken Enchiladas.  These were a little hotter (spicy) than normal due to the peppers sprinkled on top, but it cleared my sinuses before I hopped on the plane back to Chicago that night.  I did take a picture of an individual enchilada on my plate, but it wasn't styled and art directed by my Mom so it didn't make the cut!

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Christmas Dinner: Dessert

Christmas Cookies!  Two fabulous words. First, clockwise, sugar cookies in the shape of train engines, boxcars and cabooses.  Trains are a big thing in my family, well, on the male side of the family.  Don't get me started.  Next are salted peanut chews (YUM!!!).  These are one of my favorites and Mom made many, many batches of these for the wide variety of bake sales during my high school years. The pumpkin cake/bread with a cream cheese filling and the peppermint chocolate cookies round out the rest of the canape plate.  I was able to take some of these cookies back to Chicago and yes, there are still some left...but who knows for how long!

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Christmas Dinner: Baked Ham & Potato Pie

The menu this year in Omaha for Christmas dinner was baked ham and potato pie.  The first 2 images of potato pie are pre-oven.  Even before it's baked it looks delicious.  My Mom got this recipe from a Susan Branch cookbook.   Susan Branch is an illustrator which makes her cookbooks wonderful to peruse.  There's something great on every page, an illustration, a small story, a cute saying and of course a recipe.  

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Peppermint Chocolate Cookies

My Mom found this recipe in a past holiday issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine.  As with most of Martha's creations it was a very involved process and time consuming, but like the true chef/baker/Mom, she pushed through and made these yummy cookies above.  It's a chocolate cookie topped with white chocolate and crushed peppermint candy canes.

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Pears & Pumpkins

Back from Christmas in Omaha and I've got a plethora of food to blog about.  My first night at the parents' house and their friends stopped by with an annual gift of pumpkin cake/bread filled with cream cheese and dusted with powder sugar...one of my favorites. This year they also brought Asian Pears with them as well.  They are crispy and delicious.  The pears can be pricey, my local market has them priced at $2.69 each and 1/3 the size of the ones above.

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Mom's Reuben Sandwich

The Reuben sandwich is said to have originated in Omaha, maybe that's why I love it so much. But really I think I love it because of my Mom's version.   She made the one above the first night I was in Omaha for American Thanksgiving.  Fresh from the oven bread filled with: Sauerkraut, Thousand Island dressing, corned beef, and swiss cheese...I can't wait for Christmas in Omaha.  

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Red, White & Green?

I was introduced to Mache in Las Vegas by Broccoli and Fusilli and now I just can't get enough of it.  While Mom and I were at Whole Foods we picked some up and used it as a bed for our caprese salads on Sunday night.  The tomatoes are from the Omaha's Farmer's Market, the basil is from Mom's back deck and the yummy mozzarella was thankfully prepared pre-sliced from Whole Foods.  

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Sunday Morning Should be Every Morning

I know all of my Canadian friends are cringing right now at the sight of Log Cabin Maple Syrup. But to this American girl, it's heaven. What a great Sunday morning, Seattle's Best Javanilla coffee made by Mom, blueberry pancakes made by Mom and the Sunday Target ad.  I love Sunday morning during vacations.

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Omaha, somewhere in middle America...

I traveled to Omaha, Nebraska (my hometown) this past 4 day weekend to see my Mom.  My Dad was out of town on his annual fishing trip to Oh, Canada. So it was a Girls' Weekend of shopping, eating, drinking, movie watching, Nebraska Cornhuskers & Chicago Bears football and relaxing. One of my favorite things to do when I am home, besides hang out at Mom & Dad's house, is to head to the Old Market. Mom and I ventured down on Saturday morning for the Omaha Farmer's Market, we bought croissants and blue cheese bread from Le Quartier's booth and yummy tomatoes from another. We then went to one of our favorite places for lunch in the Old Market, M's Pub. It was pretty chilly, so no alfresco dining for us. We stayed warm starting with an appetizer of one of "M's Renowned Baked Dishes". There are 3 choices of shrimp scampi, escargot or our choice, mushrooms.  They serve it in a small casserole dish and fill each spot with garlic butter and mushrooms and then melt Havarti cheese on the top of it. We couldn't wait for a picture to be taken of the Baked Dish...we know how delicious it is... 

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