Baked Fire Roasted Tomato Pasta

Making meals from a new cookbook is always fun, but one problem is making them an appropriate size for just two people. Sometimes the leftovers can be frozen for a meal another time, but most of the time we just eat it until it is gone over the next few days. No matter how good …

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Sunday Chat – Garden, Sewing, and Cookbook Winner

Spring is arriving when the ajugas bloom, although this week has been a full-on Blackberry Winter with lows near freezing, and that will continue into next week. It may damage the plants that have already begun to bloom, like the azaleas, but these ajugas can take it. We have lots of clumps all over the …

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Spring Ideas with Rabbits and Eggs

Now that spring is here, lightening up the home decor with fresh flowers and garden themes suits me. Today, I have a roundup of ideas for tablescapes along with some delicious ideas for meals. So, let's start with setting a table. I did this one for Easter dinner in 2017. It has the fun Easter …

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Cooking from Backroads Italy

One of the great benefits of my collaboration with Milk Street is sometimes getting a new cookbook before it publishes. One came last week, and I have been devouring the recipes and stories it contains. It is Milk Street Backroads Italy: Finding Italy's Forgotten Recipes by Christopher Kimball and J.M. Hirsch. It was apparent that …

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Asian Influence for Spring

Warmer weather brings out the desire for lighter dishes and interesting flavors for meals. I love Asian influences in food and tablescapes, and today I'll share a new table along with some of my original recipes for the food. This would be so fun to share with friends! A few years ago, I did an …

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Sunday Chat

It was a fun week this past week, with a couple of days to sew, plus Virtual retreat on Friday. I got out the scraps from the mis-cut pajama pants, and I think I may have enough fabric to get a top, if I find the right pattern. Going through my pattern boxes, I did …

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It is February Already!

I have a couple of days to sew this week, and I am looking forward to Virtual Retreat on Friday as a sew day too! I have started a secret project, and all I can show you for now is this. It is going to be so fun! More details later when I can reveal …

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Sunday Chat

Since we didn't do the house party because of the snow, I had two pints of blueberries to use up. I decided to do some blueberry muffin tops, with a basic muffin recipe from my Good Housekeeping cookbook. I use a Muffin Top Pan, one that doesn’t have a deep well.  This gives you beautiful …

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Hen Party

This week, I planned to have a couple of friends over for a day of sewing and chatting, and maybe just a touch of stitch-and-bitch. My Sweet Babboo always calls this a Hen Party, so I got out my chicken table topper for a nice tablescape for lunch. I put my gold chargers at the …

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Stuffed Peppers for Two and More

When it is cold outside, I get a craving for a comfort food dish like this one. Since there are only two of us in the household, I need recipes that serve just us, with not much in the way of leftovers. When I hit upon this idea, it seemed perfect. The stuffed peppers are …

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